World leaders gear up for G-20 and G-8 summits in Canada

The leaders meeting in Ontario this weekend have divergent views on how best to prop up the shaky global recovery, and risk sending a message of disunity and disarray by the time they adjourn.

By Christi Parsons

June 26, 2010

Reporting from Toronto and Washington

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been harshly criticized at home for the nearly $1-billion price tag of hosting overlapping summits of world leaders in Ontario this weekend.

Most of the money has been spent on the security measures deemed necessary to protect the leaders of 20 industrial and emerging economies who will gather in Toronto for two days starting Saturday. But some of the money has gone to more dubious investments, such as an artificial lake built for the media center, meant to convey a proper Canadian allure to the 3,700-strong global media posse that will not be allowed anywhere near the real lakeside retreat where leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized nations began their separate annual meeting Friday.

Harper better hope the charm pays off. The leaders gathering to offer their views on the best way to prop up the shaky global recovery risk sending a message of disunity and disarray by the time they adjourn Sunday.

The participating nations range from those that want to extend the spending spree they believe essential to spurring growth (the United States) to those suddenly alarmed by the power of financial markets to punish them for soaring debt levels (just about every country in Europe) to those enjoying a relatively solid economic growth (many emerging economies, especially in Asia).

A year ago, when the global financial meltdown threatened a corresponding economic collapse, the G-20 leaders gathered in London and pledged to work in concert to stimulate growth. That meant opening the taps for more than a trillion dollars in public spending and confidently predicting it would save jobs and increase output.

It also added trillions in new debt to government books in many parts of the world.

Despite facing a political backlash over the rising debt, the Obama administration remains committed to a policy of spend now, cut the deficit later. And the administration has urged its G-20 partners to do the same. In a letter to his fellow leaders released last week, President Obama warned against cutting back on spending before a full recovery takes hold.

The Europeans are no longer in the mood to listen. In recent months, they have hit a debt wall, forced into collectively bailing out Greece and watching the value of their common currency, the euro, sink. That pushed austerity to the top of the policy agenda, with several countries announcing — if not imposing quite yet — a series of spending cuts and tax hikes.

A few days ago, the newly installed British prime minister voiced concern about government borrowing and unveiled a budget that would dramatically reduce spending. Despite massive public protests, the French government has announced a series of tax hikes aimed at bringing its deficit under control, as well as pledging to raise the retirement age to 62, up from 60.

And German Chancellor Angela Merkel explicitly said Friday that leaders should trim deficits, setting aside concerns that this would slow or reverse the economic recovery.

"It is time to reduce the deficits," Merkel said as she arrived in Toronto, reflecting her country's historical revulsion for deep debt and the possibility of high inflation. "Europe has experienced what it means to have too-big deficits," she said.

U.S. officials downplay the level of disagreement with the Europeans. The Obama administration says it is not asking countries to commit specific amounts of money to stimulus, and they point out that the president has argued all along that deficit reduction should be part of the recovery strategy.

The administration has promised to sharply reduce the U.S. deficit to more manageable levels once the recovery takes hold, though it has not said how it would do so. Obama reiterated that point during a working lunch in Muskoka on Friday, said a senior administration official, briefing reporters on the basis of anonymity. But the official added that the president also called on leaders to remain "committed to durable growth."

Administration officials praised the G-20 process for its ability to get countries to focus on the need to cooperate.

"The process has already been successful," White House economic advisor Lawrence Summers told the Times in an interview Friday. "In terms of the major international economic challenges, particularly as it relates to rebalancing global demand, a good deal of progress has taken place in the run-up to the meeting."

Now the test will be whether, one year on, with the aura of crisis gone but many economies still in trouble, the same group of leaders can tailor policies that fit their nations' interests without undermining one another.

"We need to act in concert for a simple reason," Obama said Friday as he made his way to Ontario's lake country. "This crisis proved, and events continue to affirm, that our national economies are inextricably linked."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-global-finance-20100626,0,3816192,print.story

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EDITORIAL

Wake up and pass the DREAM immigration reform act

The bill would give undocumented young people the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency if they meet certain requirements.

June 26, 2010

May, the deadline by which advocates had hoped comprehensive immigration reform legislation would be introduced in Congress, has come and gone. It is time to accept that no matter how badly the nation needs this reform, Washington does not have the political will to act on such a divisive issue. So it is time to change tactics. Leaders of the immigration reform movement, who so far have insisted on pushing for an omnibus package of bills, should heed the young people in their ranks calling for a stand-alone effort to pass the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors legislation, or the DREAM Act.

The bill would give undocumented young people the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency (which can lead to legal permanent residency and then citizenship) if they graduate from U.S. high schools, have been in the country continuously at least five years before the legislation's enactment, and meet certain post-secondary educational or military service requirements. This is the only aspect of immigration reform — other than those related to enforcement — with any steam behind it. Backers of the bill — known among themselves as "Dreamers" — have been fasting and marching and demonstrating for months. Some have publicly outed themselves as undocumented. They have put faces and names to the 65,000 students who graduate each year from high school into permanent limbo, unable either to work legally or, often, go to college.

Until now, reform advocates have been reluctant to separate the DREAM Act from the broader immigration reform package, for fear they were removing the most politically palatable piece. But that may be a miscalculation. The plight of undocumented students has not inspired a sense of urgency for reform in the political mainstream even though the students are in many cases both deserving and blameless.

Most of those who would be affected by the legislation were brought to the United States by their parents. Many remember no other home and, like their peers, are eager to pursue the American Dream. Such is the case of Eric Balderas, the 19-year-old Harvard University student whose status became the subject of national attention when federal authorities learned he is undocumented. Balderas was brought to the country at age 4 and grew up thinking he was a U.S. citizen. Not until his mother refused to let him get a driver's license did he learn the truth. Still, he became valedictorian at his Texas high school and is now studying molecular and cellular biology. His deportation has been indefinitely deferred, but in our view, he shouldn't be deported at all.

Opponents of the DREAM Act say the parents of such students are to blame. Maybe. But the fact remains that the children did not trap themselves. And permitting them to go to college is a smart investment — students like Balderas will become successful professionals and gainfully employed taxpayers. Sacrificing the future of talented students does not serve the greater good; it is time to pass the DREAM Act.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-dream-20100626,0,5983503,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Thousands of Egyptians Protest What They Call Police Torture

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) — Several thousand Egyptians, joined by a prominent opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei , protested Friday what they said was the government's systematic use of torture. It was the largest demonstration to date in response to the June 6 death of a young man in which the police are suspected.

The death of the man, Khaled Said, has become a rallying point for advocates of reform and human rights workers who say that police abuse is rampant and made possible by a three-decade-old emergency law.

“It's a clear-cut message to the regime that the Egyptian people are sick and tired of practices that are inhumane,” Dr. ElBaradei told reporters after the protest. “If they don't get the message, then there is a problem with the regime; the writing is on the wall.”

He described Mr. Said's death as a “heinous crime.”

Witnesses say that police officers dragged Mr. Said, a 28-year-old businessman, out of an Internet cafe in Alexandria and beat him in the entrance of a nearby building.

The government maintains that Mr. Said was a criminal suspect who suffocated after swallowing a packet of drugs.

Photos of Mr. Said's body were widely circulated, showing his body covered with bruises, his teeth broken and jaw smashed.

Dr. ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate and former chief of the United Nations atomic agency, has become a leading voice for reform in his homeland. But until Friday, he had largely remained apart from street protests since returning to Egypt , focusing instead on his campaign to change the Constitution.

He joined about 3,000 protesters here in Alexandria after noon prayers. Demonstrators chanted slogans against President Hosni Mubarak and Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, who heads the police.

Riot police officers formed a cordon around the mosque, but the protest ended after several hours without significant violence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/world/middleeast/26egypt.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Facing Deficit, Oakland Puts Police Force on Chopping Block

OAKLAND, Calif. — Already saddled with a reputation as one of the nation's most violent cities, Oakland may be forced to cut its police force by 10 percent under a budget deal struck Thursday night.

Facing a $31 million deficit, the Oakland City Council narrowly passed a budget that includes layoffs for 80 police officers. Pink slips were sent out Friday. But the city has arranged negotiations with the police union for Sunday and Monday in a last-ditch effort to avoid layoffs and reach agreement on pensions, which have been a sticking point.

Mayor Ronald V. Dellums said the police force would need to make sacrifices like all other city departments.

“There are some voices that are saying, ‘No, before you cut one police officer, decimate the rest of government,' ” Mayor Dellums said. “I reject that, I reject that out of hand.”

The city, with a population of more than 400,000, is currently served by a force of 776, short of its target of 803. The police have been asked to contribute part of their salaries to their pensions. On Friday, the police union said its force was already stretched to its breaking point on city streets troubled by an entrenched crack cocaine trade, gangs and a large population of parolees and probationers.

“We do more with less than a lot of police forces in California,” said Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, the president of the Oakland Police Officers Association.

The Oakland police force, whose past instances of police brutality and other malfeasance have led to an extended period of federal oversight, has had a good streak of crime fighting in 2010, with double-digit declines in violent crimes like murder, rape and robbery over the previous year.

The force — whose new chief, Anthony W. Batts, took over last fall — has also been challenged in other ways, including the March 2009 killings of four officers by a parolee. And two months earlier, several riots broke out downtown after an officer from another force, the Bay Area Rapid Transit police, shot and killed an unarmed man. That officer, Johannes Mehserle, is currently on trial in Los Angeles, where the case was moved because of fears that an impartial jury would be difficult to assemble in Oakland.

At the Council meeting on Thursday night, where a crowd of hundreds filled the chambers and spilled out the door, city officials said that their hands were largely tied by contracts with the fire and police departments, which comprise nearly 75 percent of the city's $400 million general fund.

“Even if we wanted to, and we don't want to, if we closed every senior center, every library, every park and rec and city hall, we could not balance the budget without going to police and fire,” said Jane Brunner, the City Council president.

For its part, the police force says a reduction in officers will cause changes in enforcement strategy. “Our main focus will be responding to 911 calls,” said Jeff Thomason, a police spokesman.

And while crime is down, Oakland has shown a propensity for violence, a trend continued this week when a 19-year-old woman was shot and killed and five others were injured at a vigil in West Oakland for the victim of another shooting across town.

As the Council prepared to vote Thursday for reductions in the police force, the corner where the vigil shooting occurred was quiet, with four Oakland police cruisers, and a half-dozen officers standing by. One area resident, Pam Robinson, said she had heard about the possible layoffs and was angry.

“I hate it,” she said. “Because we need them.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/us/26oakland.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Seeing ‘Crying Girl' as a Con, Residents Cull Clues Online

DAVIS, Calif. — A weeping young woman approaches strangers, tells them a wrenching story about an abusive boyfriend and pleads for $37 for a train ticket. The routine has played out many times on the streets of this college town over the last six months, so many times that some residents have concluded that the woman is a con artist. She is known as the Crying Girl.

Frustrated by a hamstrung police department, citizens here have taken to the Internet to digitally tar-and-feather her.

Sunjeet Baadkar, 28, is one of the dozens who have been duped. “Unfortunately, my white-knight complex kicked in,” said Mr. Baadkar, who was approached by the Crying Girl one evening in late March in the parking lot behind the bookstore where he works. In the fading light she looked like a teenager, he recalled, an Amtrak schedule clutched in her hand and makeup streaked down her face.

“It was the crying that really got to me,” he said.

He gave her $37 and hugged her goodbye, imagining her purchasing a ticket and boarding a westbound train to some city where a loving mother would welcome her home and dry her eyes.

Two weeks later, he saw the same girl. Still crying.

“I'm not the vengeful type, but I was angry,” Mr. Baadkar said.

Bernie Goldsmith, a former Wall Street lawyer who moved home to Davis last year, said he was approached by the Crying Girl in March with the same story, tears once again pooling in her eyes. But he was not fooled.

Mr. Goldsmith, 27, called the police but says he got no response. So he decided to post a description of the Crying Girl and the details of her scheme to Daviswiki , a local Web site that allows residents to post and curate geographically specific information on topics as varied as historic buildings, multicultural poetry nights and Davis trivia.

Soon, dozens of amateur sleuths had posted information about her, including a license plate number for her getaway car, a photograph of her in a red sweatshirt, meticulous details about encounters with her, links to her supposed Facebook and MySpace profiles, a flier warning of her swindle and information about how to file a police report.

“People ran away with it,” Mr. Goldsmith said. “Daviswiki allowed the community to be their own detectives.”

Some of the information gathered has been the type of hard evidence that the police appreciate. The Crying Girl has been spotted outside the Safeway, trolling the Target parking lot, stationed on downtown corners and outside bars. Described as a round-faced, buxom woman in her early 20s, the Crying Girl is sometimes referred to simply as “The CG.”

City police say the popularity of the Web site post prompted the department to take notice of the Crying Girl, though they say she has not committed any crimes. Officers have responded to more than a dozen reports, but, “it's not illegal to ask people for money,” said Lt. Thomas Waltz of the Police Department.

Lieutenant Waltz likened the situation to an unruly campground bear.

“The parks department doesn't want campers to feed the bears because the bears get used to being fed and they come back looking for more,” he said. “Same thing with this girl, the more people give her money, the more she'll come back.”

Mr. Baadkar, meanwhile, says he has been approached by the Crying Girl three times. He posted the warning flier in the store window.

“Davis is a homely town,” he said. “She preys on us and our nice, small town feel.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/us/26crying.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Michigan: Cereal Is Recalled

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Kellogg Company is voluntarily recalling about 28 million boxes of Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks cereals because an unusual smell and flavor from the packages' liners could make people ill, the company said Friday. Kellogg said about 20 people complained about the cereals. It said the potential for serious health problems was low.

A 15-year-old Mexican boy shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent on June 7 had been arrested at least four times since 2008 on suspicion of smuggling illegal immigrants across the border, according to federal arrest records. The boy, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka, was repeatedly arrested near downtown El Paso, not far from where he was killed, but was never charged with a crime by federal prosecutors. Mexican officials have called the killing a murder, and some have demanded that the agent be extradited to Mexico to face criminal charges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/us/26brfs-TEENAGERSHOT_BRF.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Fighting Crime Where the Criminals Are

THERE was a predictable chorus of criticism from civil rights groups last month when the New York Police Department released its data on stop-and-frisk interactions for 2009 . The department made 575,000 pedestrian stops last year. Fifty-five percent involved blacks, even though blacks are only 23 percent of the city's population. Whites, by contrast, were involved in 10 percent of all stops, though they make up 35 percent of the city's population.

According to the department's critics, that imbalance in stop rates results from officers' racial bias. The use of these stops, they say, should be sharply curtailed, if not eliminated entirely, and some activists are suing the department to achieve that end.

Allegations of racial bias, however, ignore the most important factor governing the Police Department's operations: crime. Trends in criminal acts, not census data, drive everything that the department does, thanks to the statistics-based managerial revolution known as CompStat. Given the patterns of crime in New York, it is inevitable that stop rates will not mirror the city's ethnic and racial breakdown.

CompStat embodies the iconoclastic idea that the police can stop violence before it happens. The department analyzes victim reports daily, and deploys additional manpower to the places where crime is increasing. Once at a crime hot spot, officers are expected to look out for, and respond to, suspicious behavior.

Such stops happen more frequently in minority neighborhoods because that is where the vast majority of violent crime occurs — and thus where police presence is most intense. Based on reports filed by victims, blacks committed 66 percent of all violent crime in New York in 2009, including 80 percent of shootings and 71 percent of robberies. Blacks and Hispanics together accounted for 98 percent of reported gun assaults. And the vast majority of the victims of violent crime were also members of minority groups.

Non-Hispanic whites, on the other hand, committed 5 percent of the city's violent crimes in 2009, 1.4 percent of all shootings and less than 5 percent of all robberies.

Given these facts, the Police Department cannot direct its resources where they are most needed without generating racially disproportionate stop data, even though the department's tactics themselves are colorblind. The per capita rate of shootings in the 73rd Precinct — which covers Brooklyn's largely black Ocean Hill and Brownsville neighborhoods — is 81 times higher than in the 68th Precinct in largely white Bay Ridge. Not surprisingly, the per capita stop rate in the 73rd Precinct is 15 times higher than that in the 68th.

Crime rates are not the only thing that drives police strategy — so do requests for assistance from communities besieged by lawlessness. If residents of an apartment building ask their precinct commander to eliminate the drug dealing on their street, officers will likely question people hanging out around the building and step up their enforcement of quality-of-life laws, resulting in more stops. Requests for crackdowns on street sales come far more frequently from minority neighborhoods, because that is where most open-air drug dealing occurs.

Some critics charge that the more than half a million stops last year indicate that the department is out of control. But the ratios of stops to population and of stops to total arrests in New York are very close to those in Los Angeles, where last summer a judge lifted a federal consent decree under which the police department had operated for the last eight years. The police stop data in Los Angeles are as racially disproportionate as New York's, yet the judge deemed them consistent with civil rights.

For several years, the ratio of stops in New York that resulted in an arrest or summons — about 12 percent of the total — was identical for whites, blacks and Hispanics, suggesting that the police use the same measure of reasonable suspicion in stopping members of different racial and ethnic groups. Just because a stop does not result in an arrest or summons does not mean that it did not interrupt a crime. Someone who is casing a victim or acting as a lookout may not have inculpatory evidence on him on which to base an arrest.

No public policy change of the last quarter-century has done as much for the city's poor and minority neighborhoods as CompStat policing. More than 10,000 black and Hispanic males are alive today who would have been killed had homicide rates remained at the levels of the early 1990s.

Most minority-group members in the city recognize the enormous benefit from CompStat policing. A poll released last month by Quinnipiac University found that 68 percent of black respondents approve of the job Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly is doing, suggesting that the city's civil rights activists do not speak for their purported beneficiaries on this issue.

The attack on the Police Department's stop-and-frisk data is based on the false premise that police activity should mirror census data, not crime. If the critics get their way, it would strip police protection from the New Yorkers who need it most.

Heather Mac Donald is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the author of “Are Cops Racist?”

The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace

Cyberspace has become an indispensible component of everyday life for all Americans.  We have all witnessed how the application and use of this technology has increased exponentially over the years. Cyberspace includes the networks in our homes, businesses, schools, and our Nation's critical infrastructure.  It is where we exchange information, buy and sell products and services, and enable many other types of transactions across a wide range of sectors. But not all components of this technology have kept up with the pace of growth.  Privacy and security require greater emphasis moving forward; and because of this, the technology that has brought many benefits to our society and has empowered us to do so much -- has also empowered those who are driven to cause harm.  

Today, I am pleased to announce the latest step in moving our Nation forward in securing our cyberspace with the release of the draft National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC).  This first draft of NSTIC was developed in collaboration with key government agencies, business leaders and privacy advocates. What has emerged is a blueprint to reduce cybersecurity vulnerabilities and improve online privacy protections through the use of trusted digital identities. 

The NSTIC, which is in response to one of the near term action items in the President's Cyberspace Policy Review , calls for the creation of an online environment, or an Identity Ecosystem as we refer to it in the strategy, where individuals and organizations can complete online transactions with confidence, trusting the identities of each other and the identities of the infrastructure that the transaction runs on. For example, no longer should individuals have to remember an ever-expanding and potentially insecure list of usernames and passwords to login into various online services. Through the strategy we seek to enable a future where individuals can voluntarily choose to obtain a secure, interoperable, and privacy-enhancing credential (e.g., a smart identity card, a digital certificate on their cell phone, etc) from a variety of service providers – both public and private – to authenticate themselves online for different types of transactions (e.g., online banking, accessing electronic health records, sending email, etc.). Another key concept in the strategy is that the Identity Ecosystem is user-centric – that means you, as a user, will be able to have more control of the private information you use to authenticate yourself on-line, and generally will not have to reveal more than is necessary to do so.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a key partner in the development of the strategy, has posted the draft NSTIC at www.nstic.ideascale.com . Over the next three weeks (through July 19 th ), DHS will be collecting comments from any interested members of the general public on the strategy. I encourage you to go to this website, submit an idea for the strategy, comment on someone else's idea, or vote on an idea. Your input is valuable to the ultimate success of this document. The NSTIC will be finalized later this fall.

Thank you for your input!

Howard A. Schmidt is the Cybersecurity Coordinator and Special Assistant to the President

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/25/national-strategy-trusted-identities-cyberspace

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From the FBI

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Defendant Sentenced to Nearly 24 Years for Forcing Minors and Women Into Prostitution

Used the Internet to Advertise Sexual Services

On June 24, 2010, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Jamali Brockett was sentenced to 287 months' imprisonment on his convictions for sex trafficking young girls and women and interstate transportation of women for the purposes of prostitution. He was also ordered to comply with sex offender registration. Brockett's victims ranged in age from 14 to 19 years, and included four minors. The sentencing proceeding was held before United States Senior District Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr.

The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, George C. Venizelos, Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.

On November 4, 2008, FBI agents arrested Brockett at a Long Island hotel where he was engaged in the act of prostituting two of his victims, one of whom was a 17-year-old girl. Brockett pleaded guilty to all charges in the indictment on October 16, 2009, and has remained in custody since his arrest.

As detailed in the sentencing letter filed by the government, Brockett used violence, coercion, and intimidation to force his victims to work as prostitutes. Two of the victims, ages 17 and 19, were physically grabbed off of the street by Brockett. To evade detection by law enforcement, Brockett moved his victims every few days between various hotels located in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island, and transported some to Washington D.C. and South Carolina for prostitution. Brockett posted sexually explicit ads for each victim under the “erotic services” section on Craigslist, and included his own phone number as the point of contact. Customers were directed to local hotels where Brockett forced his victims to perform sex acts for money and then pocketed all of the proceeds. If his victims attempted to escape, Brockett used violence against the victims and threatened their families. He also had sexual intercourse with his victims, including a 15-year-old girl.

Brockett came to the attention of law enforcement when a 14-year-old girl escaped from a hotel room in Manhattan and reported him to local law enforcement.

In announcing the sentence, Ms. Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the FBI and the New York City Police Department, the agencies responsible for conducting the government's investigation.

The government's case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Licha M. Nyiendo, Melissa Marrus, and Lan Nguyen.

The Defendant:
Name: JAMALI BROCKETT
Age: 26

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo062510.htm

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From the ATF

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Eleven Metro Denver Men Indicted for Gun Crimes as Part of “Cripland” Investigation

DENVER — The ATF led Project Safe Neighborhood ( PSN ) Task Force arrested eight people on charges of gun and drug trafficking crimes in early morning raids yesterday, United States Attorney David Gaouette and ATF Special Agent in Charge Marvin Richardson announced. The arrests are the second phase of a one and one half year investigation named “Operation Cripland.” Nine additional defendants were arrested in October of 2009 in phase one of this investigation. Some of the eight defendants appeared yesterday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Denver, where they were advised of the charges pending against them. Those who didn't appear in court yesterday will appear in court today.

Those involved include:

• Reginald Cotton, aka “Rock”, of Aurora, arrested yesterday. He was indicted on June 7, 2010, and faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000).
• Clarence Antoine, aka “PK”, of Denver, arrested on June 21, 2010. He was indicted on June 7, 2010, and faces two counts of knowingly possessing with intent to distribute more than five grams of cocaine base (punishable by not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $2,000,000).
• Brandon Hamilton, aka “Knight”, of Denver, arrested yesterday. He was indicted on June 22, 2010, and faces three counts of knowingly possessing with intent to distribute more than five grams of cocaine base (punishable by not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $2,000,000 per count), as well as three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000) and one count of possessing a sawed-off shotgun (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000).
• Jerome Bennet, aka “Cross”, of Aurora, who is a fugitive. He was indicted on June 7, 2010, and faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000).
• Torrence Triplett, aka “Blue”, of Denver, who was in custody prior to today's arrests. He was indicted on June 7, 2010, and faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000), one count of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000), and one count of knowingly possessing with intent to distribute more than five grams of cocaine base (punishable by not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $2,000,000 per count).
• Lane Smith, of Denver, who was arrested yesterday. He was indicted on June 7, 2010, and faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000).
• Michael Richardson, of Denver, who is a fugitive. He was indicted on June 7, 2010, and faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000), and two counts of knowingly possessing with intent to distribute powder cocaine (punishable by not more than 20 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000).
• Walter Johnson, aka “Lil Walt” or “Colfax”, of Denver, was arrested yesterday. He was indicted on June 22, 2010, and faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000), and one count of knowingly possessing with intent to distribute more than five grams of cocaine base (punishable by not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $2,000,000 per count).
• Kenneth Riggs, aka “Ken Dog”, of Aurora, was arrested yesterday. He was indicted on June 7, 2010, and faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000).
• Isaac Alexander, of Aurora, who was in custody prior to today's arrests. He was indicted on June 7, 2010, and faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000).
• Anthony Hobbs, aka “KC”, of Denver, who was arrested yesterday. He was indicted on June 22, 2010, and faces six counts of knowingly possessing with intent to distribute more than five grams of cocaine base (punishable by not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $2,000,000 per count), and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm (punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000).

Thanks to the hard work of the members of the Project Safe Neighborhood Task Force, felons who are in our community possessing firearms will be brought to justice, said U.S. Attorney David Gaouette.

Today's arrests send a unified message that law enforcement will continue to target those criminals who plague our streets with their illegal firearms and narcotics, said ATF Special Agent in Charge Marvin Richardson. ATF , along with our partners, remain steadfast in protecting the public and will continue to target violent gangs to make our streets safer.

Collaborative investigations of this nature strengthen law enforcement's ability to make our streets safe from these dangerous individuals, said Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman.

I am grateful for the work of the members of the PSN Task Force and congratulate them on a successful operation, which resulted in the arrest of nearly a dozen violent offenders from Aurora and Denver, said Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates. The PSN Task Force continues to have a positive impact on the safety of our communities. They do an outstanding job.

This case was investigated by the ATF led Project Safe Neighborhood ( PSN ) Task Force. The Task Force includes: the ATF , Denver Police Department, Aurora Police Department, and the Lakewood Police Department.

The defendants are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Conner.

The charges contained in the indictments are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/06/062410-denv-eleven-men-indicted-on-firearms.html

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Twenty-Six Alleged Bloods Gang Members and Associates Indicted on Federal Racketeering, Firearms and Narcotics Charges

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Nashville, Tenn., has indicted 26 members and associates of the violent gang known as the Bloods, for various charges, including conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to use and carry firearms during and in relation to crimes of violence, and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine, cocaine, hydromorphone and marijuana. The indictment was announced today by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Jerry E. Martin and Deputy Director Kenneth Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ). The indictment was returned under seal last week and unsealed Wednesday upon the arrests of the defendants.

The Department of Justice is committed to protecting our nation's communities from the violent and dangerous crimes alleged in this indictment, said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. We will continue to use all resources and tools at our disposal to disrupt and dismantle gangs wherever they exist and we will be aggressive in bringing to justice the members of these violent organizations.

We believe the individuals named in the indictment have been responsible for multiple attempted murder conspiracies and numerous violent crimes in the Nashville area, stated U.S. Attorney Martin. We have also alleged that many of these individuals were involved in substantial narcotics distribution. These arrests are merely the next logical step in the on-going investigation. I am confident that as we continue to unpackage and piece together the illegal activity of these individuals, our community will be a safer place as we prepare to present our cases against these individuals and insure they are removed from our community for a long period of time.

The message today is clear for violent criminals: you have nowhere to hide, said ATF Deputy Director Kenneth Melson. The gang members arrested during this operation have allegedly victimized families in the Nashville area for too long. This round up will give grandparents, parents and their children piece of mind and a safer place to call home, as we send a message to criminals that ATF will not tolerate acts of violence in our communities.

This indictment is the result of the hard work of our law enforcement community, particularly members of our Gang Unit who discovered that several seized firearms were involved in a number of shootings that were ultimately linked to the Bloods gang, Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said. The indictment accuses these individuals of very violent crimes that are most deserving of the full attention of our police department, the ATF , the U.S. Attorney's Office and the District Attorney's office.

Multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agents, executed arrest and search warrants yesterday morning in connection with the indictment. Twenty-one defendants have been arrested and 15 made their initial appearance yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Clifton Knowles.

According to the indictment, the defendants were members and associates of the Bloods, a violent street gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1970s, and ultimately migrated to cities throughout the United States, including Nashville. The Bloods gang has a hierarchal structure and a long-term and often lethal rivalry with the Crips gang.

The indictment charges that from in and around 2006 until June 2010, Bloods gang members conspired to commit crimes including attempted murders and murders, robberies, narcotics trafficking, bribery and extortion. The indictment alleges that the Bloods gang members met regularly to plan and agree upon the commission of crimes; maintained and circulated a collection of firearms for use in criminal activity by Bloods members; distributed controlled substances including cocaine, cocaine base, marijuana and hydromorphone and used the proceeds to of those drug transactions to help finance the gang's illegal activities. The indictment also alleges that Bloods gang members committed acts of attempted murder and murder and other acts of violence against rival gang members and others.

For example, the indictment alleges that on March 30, 2010, Bloods gang members attempted to murder Kenny Ellis, a rival gang member. Specifically, Lonnie Newsome, who was in a vehicle with other Bloods gang members, allegedly told Alonzo McLaurine, who was in a vehicle with Aaron Gooch to shoot Ellis. Shortly thereafter, Bloods gang member Aaron Gooch exited the vehicle and shot Kenny Ellis with a firearm.Gang members also allegedly committed numerous other shootings. The indictment also alleges that Lonnie Newsome, Jermaine Coward, Alexander McDonald, Torey Cohen Boseman, Jeffrey Albea and Anthony Brooks conspired to murder any and all suspected Crips gang members in and around Nashville.

The indictment also alleges that, Lonnie Newsome's father, Lonnie Greenlee, co-founder of the Galaxy Star Drug Awareness and Gang Prevention Center located in Nashville, allowed Bloods gang members to use the facility to conduct gang meetings. In addition, Lonnie Greenlee and a Galaxy Star employee Rodney Britton provided numerous Bloods gang members with fraudulent documentation of court-ordered community service hours in exchange for money.

The indictment charges the following defendants with conspiracy to participate in the racketeering activities of the Bloods:

• Lonnie Newsome, aka “Big Lonnie,” age 24;
• Ricky Williams, aka “Big Rick,” age 24;
• William Bartlett, aka “FaceMob,” age 27;
• Tim Allen, aka “Lil Tim,” age 20;
• Anthony Brooks, aka “A.B.,” age 23;
• Anthony Lampkins, aka “Doo Daddy,” age 21;
• Antonio Washington, aka “T.O.,” age 21;
• Kerry Pettus, aka “Lil Kerry,” age 21;
• Joedon Bradley, aka “Jo Jo,” age 22;
• Deshaune Jones, aka “Mexico,” age 21;
• Donald Dowell, aka “D-Dow,” age 23;
• Alonzo McLaurine, aka “Zo,” age 20;
• Aaron Gooch, aka “A-Ron,” age 21;
• Jermaine Tate, aka “Maine Maine,” age 21;
• Shayne Gibson, aka “Alief,” age 18;
• Alexander McDonald, aka “Dominique,” age 20;
• Jermaine Coward, aka “Maine Maine,” age 19;
• Jeffrey Albea, aka “Lil Jeff,” age 18;
• Torey Cohen Boseman, aka “Torey,” age 24;
• Karlos Taylor, aka “Los,” age 19;
• Anthony Campbell, aka “Dante,” age 20;
• James House, aka “Bam,” age 37;
• Rodney Britton, age 22; and
• Lonnie Greenlee, age 51.

Additionally, the indictment charges Brandon Prince, age 21, and Shawn Howell, age 23, with misprision of a felony, for their failure to notify law enforcement officials of the March 30, 2010, attempted murder of a rival gang member.

The case was investigated by the ATF ; the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department; the Gallatin Police Department; and assisted by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Davidson County District Attorney's Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly D. Young and Trial Attorney Cody L. Skipper of the Criminal Division's Gang Unit.

An indictment is merely an accusation and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants have the right to a trial at which the government would have to bear the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/06/062410-nash-gang-members-indicted-on-firearms-drugs-racketeering.html

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TTP Bloods Leader Sentenced to 30 Years for Gang Racketeering Activities

Female Gang Leader Wrote a Poem Claiming the Victim Wore the Wrong Colors

Baltimore, Maryland — U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced Michelle Hebron, a/k/a “Michelle Hell” and “BG,” age 25, of Hagerstown and Annapolis, Maryland, today to 30 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for participating in a racketeering conspiracy through the Tree Top Piru Bloods ( TTP Bloods), which engaged in narcotics trafficking and robbery. Hebron pleaded guilty to that offense on the second day of her trial.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy; Special Agent in Charge Joseph Riehl of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Ava Cooper-Davis of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III; Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Wicomico County State's Attorney Davis Ruark; Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis; the Washington County Narcotics Task Force led by Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore; Anne Arundel County Police Chief James Teare, Sr.; Acting Salisbury Police Chief Ivan E. Barkley; and Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith.

Michelle Hebron committed a murder and then wrote a poem claiming that she shot the victim for wearing the wrong gang colors, said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. She held a leadership role in the TTP Bloods gang and helped the gang spread throughout Maryland, until local, state and federal law enforcement agencies worked with corrections officials to prosecute 28 members and put the gang out of business.

TTP Bloods, a violent gang, originated from a street gang known as the Bloods that was formed in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s. The Bloods broke into individual sets including a subset known as Tree Top Pirus ( TTP ). TTP spread throughout the country, including Maryland. TTP in Maryland has its roots in a local gang which began in the Washington County Detention Center in Hagerstown, Maryland in about 1999. The gang was formed for mutual protection in response to the aggression of other inmates from Baltimore and spread throughout Maryland mostly by recruiting from inside Maryland prisons. Over time, a group of female gang members formed a subset of TTP known as the Tree Top Pirettes.

According to trial testimony and her plea agreement, from 2007 to February 2008, Hebron was a member of TTP and regularly met with other TTP gang members to discuss, among other things, past acts of violence and other crimes committed by gang members against rival gang members and others; to notify one another about gang members who were arrested or incarcerated; to discuss the disciplining of TTP gang members; to discuss police interactions with gang members; to share with one another the identities of individuals who may be cooperating with law enforcement and propose actions to be taken against those individuals; to plan and agree upon the commission of future crimes, including robberies, drug trafficking, and assaults, and the means to cover up these crimes; and to reinforce gang rules.

According to Hebron's plea agreement, she was one of the leaders of the Tree Top Pirettes and corresponded on a regular basis with Steve Willock, the TTP leader in Maryland, regarding TTP business. Hebron also admitted committing the murder of a person she believed to be a rival gang member. Law enforcement recovered the gun used in the murder and a poem that Hebron had written about the murder during a search of her apartment on October 10, 2007.

This case is the result of a long-term joint investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Baltimore City Police Department, the Baltimore County Police Department, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office and the United States Attorney's Office. Twenty-two defendants have been convicted of the RICO conspiracy and 16 of those have been sentenced to between 21 months and 30 years in prison. Four other defendants have pleaded guilty to related charges. Charges filed against two remaining defendants are pending.

Two of the defendants convicted at trial, Sherman Pride, a/k/a Dark Black and DB, age 35, of Salisbury, Maryland; and Ronnie Thomas, a/k/a Rodney Thomas, Skinny Suge and Tall Vialz, age 36, of Baltimore, are scheduled to be sentenced this Friday, June 25, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., respectively. Pride faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, and Thomas faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Mr. Rosenstein and Ms. Jessamy gave special thanks to Secretary Gary Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Commissioner J. Michael Stouffer of the Maryland Division of Correction; Director Patrick McGee of the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation; and the officers at the Western and North Branch Correctional Institutions and the Wicomico County Detention Center for their work in the investigation and prosecution of this case.

Mr. Rosenstein and Mrs. Jessamy also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hanlon, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Mason, a cross-designated Baltimore City Assistant State's Attorney, who are prosecuting the case and Assistant State's Attorney LaRai Everett who assisted in the prosecution.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/06/062310-balt-ttp-leader-sentenced-on-racketeering.html

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Three Indictments Announced Charging 14 With Conspiracy, Gun Crimes and Drug Trafficking Near the “Tot Lot” Playground in Cincinnati's West End

CINCINNATI — Teams of federal, state and local law enforcement agents today began arresting 14 people accused in three federal indictments charging them with conspiracy, trafficking cocaine and crack cocaine within 1000 feet of a child's playground, and illegal firearms sales.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Christopher Sadowski, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ), and Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas H. Streicher, Jr., announced the arrests today. A federal grand jury here returned the indictments on June 16. They were unsealed following the arrests.

A list of those charged is attached. All defendants will appear in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati for initial appearances on the charges.

The charges grew out of an investigation connected with the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) in the West End neighborhood of Cincinnati. The federal charges are based on evidence gathered during an 18-month investigation by ATF , Cincinnati Police, the Hamilton County Probation Department, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, and Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. In addition to today's federal indictments, Mr. Deters announced state charges against other people arising out of the same investigation.

The 14 people named in these three federal indictments face lengthy terms in federal prison if convicted, Stewart said. These charges allege an ongoing pattern of drug trafficking and violence in the affected neighborhoods.

The indictments unsealed today allege that the defendants conspired to possess and distribute quantities of crack cocaine and sold it within 1,000 feet of a playground in the West End known as the Tot Lot. The charges cover alleged criminal activity dating back to February, 2009.

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by ATF agents with officers from the Cincinnati Police District One Violent Crime Squad, Cincinnati Police Homicide Unit, Intelligence Unit and Vortex Unit, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl P. Kadon and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Tierney, who are prosecuting the case.

He also acknowledged the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST) in making the arrests.

An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants should be presumed innocent until and unless the government proves their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in court.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/06/062210-col-fourteen-indicted-on-trafficking-conspiracy.html

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