~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Los Angeles Times

Leading Mexico drug gang suspect arrested

The capture of Jose de Jesus 'El Chango' Mendez, a top leader of La Familia, is considered a significant blow to the cartel, analysts say. But other factions are likely to fill any void.

by Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

June 22, 2011

Reporting from Mexico City

A top leader of the notorious La Familia drug-trafficking gang, locked in an especially deadly internal fight in recent months, has been captured by Mexican federal police, authorities announced Tuesday.

Jose de Jesus Mendez, alias "El Chango," one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords, was taken into custody in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes, apparently without a struggle, authorities said.

Mendez led a faction of La Familia, the ruthless and sometimes cult-like network that authorities say specializes in producing and shipping methamphetamine to the United States. La Familia is based in Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon and a region strategically important for drug trafficking because of its rough terrain and large seaport.

"With this capture, what was left of the command structure of this criminal organization is destroyed," Alejandro Poire, the government's security affairs spokesman, said in a statement to reporters.

Poire described Mendez as La Familia's most important operations chief and blamed him for a long list of crimes, including murder, kidnapping, extortion and grenade attacks on civilians — attacks that the government had previously attributed to another organization, the Zetas. The government had offered a reward of more than $2 million for Mendez's capture.

Eliminating Mendez, whose alias means the Monkey, is a significant blow, analysts said, because he was the brains behind much of the organization's vast trafficking operation as it grew by leaps and bounds in the last six years.

But La Familia has morphed into a number of heavily armed factions that are still active and are moving tons of cocaine and marijuana, along with meth, into U.S. markets, authorities say. Moreover, the capture of Mendez could clear the way for the even more violent Zetas to make further headway in La Familia's territories of Michoacan and Guerrero, both Pacific states with long coastlines.

La Familia began to splinter after the death of its founder and top leader, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, known as "El Mas Loco" (the Craziest). He was killed by Mexican security forces in a major offensive in December.

With Moreno gone, Mendez disputed over control of La Familia with Servando "La Tuta" Gomez Martinez. The two split violently this year, with Gomez creating a faction bizarrely named the Knights Templar, after the Christian warriors of the Crusades.

Fighting between the two, as well as with government troops in April and May, displaced several thousand residents in Michoacan as families fled and schools and businesses were forced to shut down.

The bodies of about 50 people have turned up across Michoacan this month alone in what authorities say is a spate of attacks and reprisals. Most of the dead appeared to have been from Mendez's ranks, killed by Gomez's followers. Signs left on 22 of the bodies, found over the weekend, were signed by the Knights Templar.

Facundo Rosas, the federal police general commissioner, said three weeks ago that he believed Mendez's group was substantially weakened after several arrests, shootouts with security forces and desertions to Gomez's faction.

Calderon, in a message on his Twitter account Tuesday, congratulated the federal police for dealing a "big blow" to organized crime with the Mendez capture.

Nearly 40,000 people have been killed since Calderon launched a war on drug cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-familia-20110622,0,3665530,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Santa Barbara police dig near 101 Freeway in search of Ramona Price remains

With the help of search dogs and heavy equipment, police excavate a 101 Freeway embankment in the hopes of solving what is believed to be a 50-year-old murder.

by Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times

June 22, 2011

Reporting from Goleta, Calif.

Seeking the remains of a little girl thought to have been murdered 50 years ago, Santa Barbara police on Tuesday started excavating an embankment beside a freeway bridge.

Layer by layer, heavy equipment dug into a hillside 15 to 18 feet high. By afternoon, nothing had been found and the mystery of Ramona Price's disappearance remained unsolved.

Ramona was 7 years old when she took a walk on Sept. 2, 1961, near her parents' home in Santa Barbara and disappeared. At about the same time, Mack Ray Edwards, who later confessed to killing six California children, was a heavy-equipment operator helping to build the bridge that spans U.S. 101.

Lt. Donald Paul McCaffrey, a Santa Barbara police spokesman, said Tuesday that searchers had unearthed more than 3 1/2 feet of soil and were removing only a few inches at a time to allow for closer scrutiny. He said it was unclear how long the operation would continue.

Last week, four dogs trained to detect years-old human remains alerted authorities to the area now being dug out. The reaction of the dogs, which are owned and handled by members of a Santa Clara County search-and-rescue unit, was seen as "very strong evidence," McCaffrey said.

Three other dogs were put to use Tuesday as searchers commenced their work.

Over the last few days, the California Department of Transportation has partially demolished the old bridge as traffic streamed across its replacement several hundred yards down the freeway. The long–planned project gave police an opportunity to excavate with minimal disruption, McCaffrey said.

Edwards' first known victim, 8-year-old Stella Darlene Nolan, disappeared in 1953. Her remains were found years later beneath a bridge abutment in Downey. Edwards, who killed himself in San Quentin State Prison in 1971, had worked on that job. Before he died, he boasted to fellow inmates that he had kept more than a dozen murders secret. Many of the victims, he said, were buried beneath freeways.

In Santa Barbara, McCaffrey said he had no estimate of the operation's cost. Caltrans provided the heavy equipment and volunteers provided the dogs, he said. Over the years, the department has looked elsewhere for the girl's remains, he said. Four years ago, an author researching Edwards told detectives about the killer's past job in Santa Barbara, a piece of information that led to the current effort.

Ramona's family members were not at the site, but McCaffrey said they had been told of the excavation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0622-ramona-price-20110622,0,3557361,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Costa Mesa hopes to keep police officers on school campuses

"The main focus is to have 100% coverage," Councilman Steve Mensinger told the Daily Pilot.

Despite fears that the city would make cuts to police stationed on school campuses, or try and replace them with non-sworn officers, Mensinger said the city wants to supplement the Student Resource Officer program with sworn reserve officers to fill in the current officers' four-day a week schedule.

The officers work with students and staff to help prevent crime and gang violence on campus, and handle any criminal activity that happens.

Currently, there are two full-time sworn officers — one at the combined Costa Mesa middle and high school campus, the other at Estancia and TeWinkle — who work four 10-hour shifts a week.

The city is looking into using sworn reserve officers to fill in on the fifth day, or possibly even more, Mensinger said.

"The schools are open five days a week," Mensinger said. "Why wouldn't you want coverage five days a week?"

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/costa-mesa-hopes-to-keep-police-officers-on-school-campuses.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Google News

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. immigration round up 2,400 illegal migrants in 7-day crackdown

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested over 2,400 illegal immigrants within seven days as part of the agency's Cross Check operation.

The intensified crackdown is a response of ICE to criticism by community activists and state officials of the agency's Secure Communities program that previous arrests were mostly non-criminals. It caused fear even among legal migrants to not to report a crime to the police or they may face arrest or deportation.

Since the ICE implemented Cross Check in December 2009 in 37 states, the agency had arrested more than 2,000 convicted criminals, fugitives and undocumented aliens who have reentered the U.S. illegally.

Several states such as Arizona, Alabama and Georgia have passed legislation that cracked down on illegal immigrants. However, some states are not in favor of a crackdown.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote recently to the Department of Homeland Security to suspend the state's participation in Secure Communities because of the program's impact on families, migrant communities and law enforcement in New York.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90052208?U.S.%20immigration%20round%20up%202%2C400%20illegal%20migrants%20in%207-day%20crackdown

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trial opens for La. cops charged in shootings

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday in a trial of five current or former New Orleans police officers charged in deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a bridge in Hurricane Katrina's chaotic aftermath.

Five former officers already have pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up to make it appear that police were justified in fatally shooting two people and wounding four others on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the 2005 storm's landfall.

Four other officers were indicted last year on charges stemming from the shootings, while two police investigators were charged in the alleged cover-up.

One of those investigators will be tried separately. The trial for the other five indicted officers is expected to last up to eight weeks.

.