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MONTPELIER, Vt. — A prison inmate who makes stationery and license plates pulled a fast one on state police by adding the image of a pig to the state decal on their cruisers.

On the 16-inch car door decals, made by prisoners in Windsor, one of the spots on a cow in a scene with mountains and a pine tree has been changed to the shape of a pig, a derogatory term for police.

A Vermont state trooper discovered the pig while inspecting his vehicle on Wednesday. State police say they believe the decals have been added to about 30 cruisers in the past year.

About 60 altered decals were made over the last couple of years, said Andy Pallito, commissioner of the Department of Corrections, which is looking into who made the modification and when.

New decals will be made by Monday at a cost of $780. The expense will be covered by a surplus in the revolving fund that supports the offender work program, Pallito said.

State police Maj. Bill Sheets wasn't amused by the prank.

"While some may find humor in the decal modifications, the joke unfortunately comes at the expense of the taxpayers," he said Thursday.

The Burlington Free Press newspaper first reported the pig decals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/02/pig-added-to-decal-on-cop-car_n_1250933.html

LONDON — They trade jokes, chuckle and talk shop about a hacker plot called "Project Mayhem."

But at the heart of the conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard was a strategy aimed at bringing down the hacking collective known as Anonymous, which has launched a series of embarrassing attacks across the Internet.

Unfortunately for the cyber sleuths, the hackers were listening, too – and now so is the rest of the world.

Anonymous published the roughly 15-minute-long recording of the call to the Internet early Friday, gloating in a Twitter message that "the FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."

The FBI said the information "was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained" but that no FBI systems were breached. It added that "a criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."

It's not entirely clear how the hackers got their hands on the recording, which appears to have been edited to bleep out the names of some of the suspects being discussed.

Amid the material published by Anonymous was an email purportedly sent by an FBI agent to international law enforcement agencies. It invites his foreign counterparts to join the call to "discuss the ongoing investigations related to Anonymous ... and other associated splinter groups" on Jan. 17 at 4 p.m.

The message – addressed to law enforcement officials in the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and France – contained a phone number and password for accessing the call.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation, told The Associated Press that authorities were looking at the possibility that the message was intercepted after a private email account of one of the invited participants was compromised.

[ Read the rest ... ]

POLICE seized drugs and a pistol from the Ingleburn home of a suspected senior member of the Rebels motorcycle gang this morning.

Officers attached to the Gang Squad's Strike Force Raptor searched a home in Ingleburn about 6.45am this morning and arrested the man, 44.


Police allege he is a high-ranking member of the Ingleburn chapter of the Rebels.


They seized a .45-calibre revolver, two air guns which resembled semi-automatic pistols, almost 200 rounds of ammunition and a quantity of a drug believed to be methylamphetamine.


The man was taken to Macquarie Fields Police Station and charged with three counts of possessing an unauthorised pistol, possessing an unregistered pistol, possessing ammunition, not keeping a firearm safe, supplying a prohibited drug, possessing a prohibited drug, and dealing with the proceeds of crime.


He was refused bail and appeared at Campbelltown Local Court today.


Strike Force Raptor targets outlaw motorcycle gangs and theirassociated criminal enterprises.

http://www.macarthuradvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/alleged-ingleburn-rebels-bikie-on-drug-firearms-charges/2443218.aspx

A gunman remains on the loose nearly four months after shooting a bikie in a busy street in Melbourne's inner-north.

Police are today returning to the shooting scene in a bid to catch the would-be killer of Bandidos sergeant-at-arms Toby Mitchell.

Mitchell, 37, was shot in the stomach in a botched attempt on his life outside a gym in Weston Street, Brunswick on the afternoon of November 29 last year.

The former champion heavyweight kickboxer received surgery and lost his liver after receiving gun shot wounds to his stomach and shoulders.

Two men are believed to have been behind the failed hit.

A stolen four-wheel-drive used in the shooting was later found burnt out in Parkville.

Detectives from Taskforce Echo, set up to tackle gang violence including in bikie groups, will today doorknock homes and businesses in Sydney Road and Weston Street, Brunswick and Galada Avenue and Parkville Avenue, Parkville.

Members from the Operational Response Unit have also been called in to boost police numbers for the appeal.

Mitchell's family has asked the Royal Melbourne Hospital not to reveal any updates in relation to his condition.

Following the shooting, Mr Mitchell refused to speak with police about who may have gunned him down.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/hunt-for-bikie-gunmen-heats-up-20120203-1qwft.html

THREE shotguns and two rifles have been seized from a bikie gxxg associate's home in Sydney's southwest

Police raided the property at Leppington today and also seized almost half a kilogram of cannabis.

A 47-year-old man, alleged to be an associate of the Rebels bikie gxxg, was arrested at the property.

He was charged with aggravated possession of firearms, failing to keep the guns safe and cannabis possession and is due to appear at Parramatta Bail Court today.

The arrest was made by detectives attached to Strike Force Dareen, an ongoing operation targeting the illegal sale and use of guns.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/five-guns-seized-from-bikie-connected-house/story-e6frf7jx-1226262276146

WOUNDED bikie gxxg boss Vincenzo Focarelli's lawyer says police fears for his safety are no reason to refuse him bail.

Detectives arrested the 37-year-old for bail breaches, while he was in Royal Adelaide Hospital yesterday after being shot in an ambush on Sunday that killed his 22-year-old son Giovanni.

He was also charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Focarelli, who has rejected all police offers of protection, was linked from hospital via telephone today to the Adelaide Magistrates Court where his lawyers flagged an application for bail.

They intend to argue his case in the court on Tuesday, after requesting documents from prosecutors listing police objections to his release.

Focarelli's lawyer Michael Edwardson QC said police claims that Focarelli's life was under threat after attempts on his life did not justify resisting bail.

He wanted access to the two-page document listing police objections to bail, that would allow him to make submissions next week.

Mr Edwardson said it was not in the public interest for police to withhold the document.

"It's not good enough for police to say we don't want to disclose it," he said.

The Comanchero leader is recovering from four gunshot wounds and surgery to remove a bullet from his skull, after a fourth failed attempt on his life.

He has refused to co-operate with police.

The ambush in a northern suburb that killed his son has fuelled fears of a bikie war in the city, after a spate of bikie-related shootings.

Focarelli is expected to remain under police guard in hospital until at least Tuesday.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/bikie-boss-seeks-bail/story-e6frf7jx-1226262140497

PORTLAND, Maine — Richard Szpyt's conviction on drug trafficking charges was overturned last summer, but the former Haverhill man remains held without bail.

Szpyt's request for bail was denied Jan. 27 by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John Rich. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Perry, who is prosecuting the case, said Szpyt, 53, is in the custody of the U.S. marshals. He declined to say where Szpyt is being held.

Szpyt's codefendant — Ramon Dellosantos, 42, of Haverhill — was released several weeks ago. He is free on a $100,000 bond, secured by real estate in Haverhill, according to the clerk's office of the U.S. District Court.

Perry said Szpyt and Dellosantos will be tried again. A trial date has yet to be set, he said.

Szpyt and Dellosanto were charged with supplying drugs to customers in Maine through the Iron Horsemen motorcycle gxxg, based in Old Orchard Beach. A jury convicted them in May 2009 on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and more than five kilograms of cocaine.

Their convictions were overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in August. All three appeals court judges voted to overturn the verdict, which Haverhill defense attorney Stephen Colella called "significant."

Colella said the government failed to prove that Szpyt and Dellosantos were part of a conspiracy. Colella has represented Dellosantos and Szpyt in prior matters and served as co-counsel to attorneys Robert Levine and Eliot Weinstein during the March 2010 trial. Levine represented Szpyt while Weinstein defended Dellosantos.

Szpyt, former president of the Iron Horsemen, and Dellosantos were arrested in 2008 along with 18 other people and charged with selling marijuana and cocaine to customers in Maine.

[ Read the rest ... ]

THE Rebels Motorcycle Club looks set to move into Kingston and some locals are less than thrilled.

The outlaw bikie gxxg has turned a storage facility on a little-used road in a light industrial zone in the suburb into new clubrooms.

But it will be up to the council to give the final go-ahead.

The development application for the Browns Rd site was lodged with the Kingborough Council on December 22 and Kingston residents have until Tuesday to lodge an objection.

The application will be considered at a meeting on February 14.

"We have already received a number of formal submissions," development services manager David Masters confirmed yesterday.

"Several people have objected and we will take all representations into account when considering the application."

An anonymous resident who wants to keep the bikies out of their area has already distributed flyers throughout the suburb, alleging that the Rebels are involved in drugs and criminal activities, and warning people to lodge an objection.

But one resident told the Mercury she and others in her street were unwilling to do so because names and addresses were required on any submission.

"I don't want them here but I don't want to upset them, either," she said. "I'm very concerned."

It is understood the structural improvements required under council bylaws are likely to be met. The club has already obtained a liquor licence for their invite-only venue, conditional on the application being approved.

The application states the clubrooms would be open between 5pm and 3am, Thursday to Saturday, with four to six people onsite at any one time. The club does not intend to erect any signage and members will use a private rear carpark.

"As long as they do the right thing, I don't have a problem with it," said one Kingston resident who lives nearby.

Another said they did not care what the Rebels did "as long as they respect the neighbourhood".

"I'd be worried about the bikes being noisy but you'd expect they'd keep to themselves, which is fine by me," she said.

"But I do know some people are very unhappy thanks to those flyers."

The Rebels already have established clubrooms in North Hobart and at Sorell.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/02/03/297801_most-popular-stories.html

TWO men linked to the Coffin Cheaters outlaw motorcycle gxxg have had charges of lying to Western Australia's corruption watchdog about a gxxg brawl dropped.

Benjamin John Ortin and Paul Pellegrino Mule were among nine men charged with offences related to giving false or misleading evidence to the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).

But their charges were among 11 discontinued by the prosecution in the Perth Magistrates Court today.

Seven men - Aaron Dinesh James John, Danny Sydney Makin, David John Reid, brothers Troy and Clint Byfield, Mohammed Javier Alamdar and Todd Carl Lange - are still facing charges but some also had several charges against them discontinued.

John had one charge dropped but still faces two further charges.

Both Clint Byfield and Alamdar had two charges each dropped but still have one charge each to answer.

Lange had one charge against him discontinued but still faces four other charges.

Troy Byfield, Makin and Reid had no changes made to their charges.

The alleged offences all relate to a brawl between members of the Coffin Cheaters and Finks gxxgs at the Perth Motorplex in October 2009.

The maximum penalty for giving false evidence to the CCC is a three-year prison term in the magistrates court

The seven men had their bail renewed and will appear in the Perth Magistrates Court on April 10 for a trial allocation hearing.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/atwo-bikies-walk-free-seven-still-charged/story-e6frf7jx-1226261997839

POLICE seized drugs and a pistol from the Ingleburn home of a suspected senior member of the Rebels motorcycle gxxg this morning.

Officers attached to the Gang Squad's Strike Force Raptor searched a home in Ingleburn about 6.45am this morning and arrested the man, 44.

Police allege he is a high-ranking member of the Ingleburn chapter of the Rebels.

They seized a .45-calibre revolver, two air guns which resembled semi-automatic pistols, almost 200 rounds of ammunition and a quantity of a drug believed to be methylamphetamine.

The man was taken to Macquarie Fields Police Station and charged with three counts of possessing an unauthorised pistol, possessing an unregistered pistol, possessing ammunition, not keeping a firearm safe, supplying a prohibited drug, possessing a prohibited drug, and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

He was refused bail and appeared at Campbelltown Local Court today.

Strike Force Raptor targets outlaw motorcycle gxxgs and theirassociated criminal enterprises.

http://www.macarthuradvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/alleged-ingleburn-rebels-bikie-on-drug-firearms-charges/2443218.aspx

London police have arrested one of the city’s most wanted criminals, and a longtime outlaw biker, in an atmosphere of heightened secrecy that seems to be shadowing the department’s investigations into a brewing gxxg war over drug trafficking.

Thomas Harmsworth, 54, was arrested Jan. 27 without incident following a one-hour standoff that forced a west-end elementary school into a partial lockdown.

Although Harmsworth has a record of violence dating back to 1977, has connections to a biker gxxg that may be involved in the current drug war and was on the most wanted list, police did not reveal to the media or public that he was arrested.

But police said they were not being secretive in either the Harmsworth arrest or half a dozen other incidents that may be related to the gxxg war.

“There is no secrecy,” Det. Insp. Kevin Heslop of the criminal investigations branch said in a e-mail Thursday to The Free Press.

“We are diligently investigating each of the occurrences. There are many competing issues relative to the release of information, including the safety of victims, witnesses and the public. The public has a need and right to know certain information . . . There is also a need to maintain the integrity of ongoing investigations so as to not compromise the outcome or jeopardize an accused person’s right to a fair trial.”

Heslop also said, “We routinely make media releases about incidents as they unfold.”

But that doesn’t appear to be the case during a simmering war between bikers and what police are calling a street gang in London.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Senior Finks motorcycle gxxg member Troy Mercanti has been refused bail over charges that he repeatedly beat his partner in front of their two children and humiliated her by making her stand naked on the front lawn of their home.

Mr Mercanti today appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court via video link from Casuarina Prison.

He wore a chest catheter that helps cleanse his blood, as he continues to undergo dialysis to treat kidney failure following his arrest by police on January 22.

Mr Mercanti's lawyer Laurie Levy QC told the court his client was not in need of a new kidney but did require dialysis three times a week, leaving him lethargic and likely to suffer depression among ongoing symptoms of the treatment.

Mr Levy said Mr Mercanti was "not going anywhere" and was of the belief his partner Tammy Kingdon was in police protection and had no idea where she was.

Ms Kingdon has a violence restraining order against Mr Mercanti, he said.

Mr Levy applied to Magistrate Paul Heaney for Mr Mercanti to be allowed to be an outpatient for the length of his medical treatment, while under home detention and a strict curfew.

[ Read the rest ... ]

EVERETT -- A suspected outlaw biker nicknamed Bigfoot has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a man whose body was recovered last month from a shallow grave outside Granite Falls.

After two months of investigating a home invasion robbery that ended in gunfire, Snohomish County sheriff's detectives on Tuesday caught up with the suspected shooter, Johnathan Frohs. The Bonney Lake man, who reportedly stands 6 feet 6 inches and weighs in at 400 pounds, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of second-degree murder, robbery, burglary, kidnapping and assault.

Detectives believe Frohs is responsible for the death of Patrick Buckmaster. He and Buckmaster were reportedly part of a group of men who held a couple hostage in their Marysville home in December. The home invasion was in retaliation for the robbery and assault of a man who was staying on the property.

The posse, made up of various gxxg members, was heavily armed and threatened the couple at gunpoint for hours, according court documents.

Buckmaster, 30, of Tacoma went outside at some point and returned wearing a hockey mask. Frohs reportedly mistook him for someone else and shot him in the face, according to court papers.

[ Read the rest ... ]

2PM UPDATE: Fink bikie and former New Boy gang member Dylan Jessen has visited his former mentor and close friend, Vince Focarelli, in hospital.

Jessen, who left Focarelli's gang to join the Finks, arrived at the Royal Adelaide Hospital just after 1pm and spent an hour with Focarelli, who is under police protection recovering from several gunshot wounds.

Focarelli was shot during an ambush at Dry Creek on Sunday night which left his son, Giovanni, 22, dead.

Jessen, 21, of Elizabeth East, told AdelaideNow earlier this week that he had not left the New Boys because he was scared.

"I didn't leave the New Boys because I was scared. I wanted to join the Finks because they are the toughest club in Adelaide," he said.

Jessen was fined $2000 last month for his role in a brawl involving Focarelli, his close associate Michael Sfyris and members of the Hells Angels last April outside Focarelli's Ink Central tattoo parlour in Hindley St.

The tattoo parlour was taken over by the Finks on Tuesday - 24 hours after Focarelli and his son were shot.

Jessen did not speak to the media when he left the RAH just before 2pm and drove away in a hired red Holden SS Commodore which he parked illegally. He received a parking ticket.

[ Read the rest ... ]

A MAN arrested by Coffs Harbour police as officers raided a residence and body building business in Park Beach will face court this afternoon.

The 34-year-old, with alleged links to the Lone Wolf outlaw motorcycle gxxg, is facing firearm and drug charges.

It's alleged police seized a quantity of steriods, amphetamines, an amount of cash, ammunition and a .357 caliber revolver.

Documentation and a computer hard drive were also confiscated.

Police say the man is also being questioned in relation to two violent crimes which happened in the city last year.

Coffs Clarence Crime Manager Detective Inspector Cameron Lindsay said the man may be linked to an armed hold-up, where a security guard was robbed of takings from the Park Beach McDonalds in January and a violent home invasion in Cook Dr in September.

"Investigations are ongoing and we believe there were other people who were involved in those serious offences," Mr Lindsay said.

"We believe this arrest and the subsequent search warrants are significant steps forward in these investigations.

Mr Lindsay said the firearm would undergo ballistic testing to assess whether it had been used in other crime.

Police executed the first search warrant at a home in a Prince St holiday apartment at 7.30am where the man was taken into custody.

[ Read the rest ... ]

WHAT sort of a man allows his son to join a gxxg that gets the boy killed in a gunfight?

Then refuses to help police find the killer because of a "code of honour"?

Answer: Adelaide bikie Vincenzo Focarelli, who drove himself to hospital last Sunday with gunshot wounds -- and his 22-year-old stepson Giovanni dead beside him.

Focarelli senior has been shot before and the target of a failed bomb attack among other attempts on his life.

He is a self-styled leader of the Comancheros motorcycle gxxg. Young Giovanni was one of his members. Nice one, Dad.

In another matter entirely, Adelaide police are investigating a feud between Finks and Hells Angels following the shooting and wounding of a Finks member's son last year.

The boy is 11.

His life is at risk because he was born into a "band of brothers" who routinely put their own and other families in danger.

What sort of men build a remote control bomb, fit it to a car - knowing the owner will be carrying passengers and driving around in public - and then detonate it, killing two people just to get one?

Answer: the crew that killed former detective Don "the Silver Fox" Hancock and his friend Lew Lewis by blowing up Lewis's car as he dropped Hancock at his home in suburban Perth in September 2001.

Lewis was a totally innocent party.

But the bomb makers apparently believed Hancock had shot one of their mates after a stupid confrontation in his pub near Kalgoorlie the previous year.

These were Gypsy Jokers - another outlaw motorcycle gxxg, naturally.

What sort of men send a warning - or a twisted "reward" - to a jailed former associate by ordering the murder of the prisoner's ex-wife?

That's what happened when Vicki Jacobs, a Ballarat clergyman's daughter, was shot dead as she slept beside her young son in their Bendigo unit in June, 1999.

Vicki's "crime"? She had given evidence against her ex-husband, the father of the little boy who woke to find his mother's cold, blood-soaked body.

The father, by the way, had been convicted over shooting three men in Adelaide on the orders of a Hells Angel who had befriended him in jail earlier.

And what was all this bloodshed about?

It was no crime of passion.

Not even revenge, really.

It was nothing but a turf war over drugs.

[ Read the rest ... ]

FITCHBURG, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts mother says the FBI used a chain saw to cut through her door and held her at gunpoint for at least 30 minutes before agents realized they were conducting a raid at the wrong home.

Judy Sanchez, of Fitchburg, says she awoke to heavy footsteps in the stairwell on Jan. 26 and walked into her kitchen in time to see a blade chop through her door.

She says she was held face down, on the floor, at gunpoint while her 3-year-old daughter cried in another room.

It turns out agents were after the other tenant on the same floor of the multi-unit building. That tenant was suspected of dealing drugs.

Sanchez says she and her daughter now have trouble sleeping.

An FBI spokesman in Boston said Wednesday that the agency is paying for the damage. He said the arrest team was only in the wrong apartment for about 15 minutes, and that the special agent in charge at the scene repeatedly apologized for the mistake. But those words didn't satisfy Sanchez.

"Just a little pat on the back and saying 'I'm sorry' is not OK," Sanchez told The Sentinel and Enterprise of Fitchburg.

The botched raid was part of a two-year probe by federal and state authorities into illegal gun sales, drug trafficking and gang activities they dubbed Operation Red Wolf. FBI agents said they were looking for a suspect they identified as 41-year-old Luis R. Vasquez, who uses the street name "Joker," when they went into Sanchez's apartment.

They later arrested Vasquez and charged him with conspiracy to distribute cocaine base and other crimes that have him facing up to 40 years in federal prison.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/16649728/fbi-cuts-down-mass-moms-door-in-wrong-home-raid

[Submitted by DOUBLEDUCE]

Former Outlaws motorcycle club president Mark Lester has been released from a federal prison in North Carolina to a halfway house in Knoxville. Lester got caught up in a federal investigation of the national club and was convicted of a RICO charge since he was head of the Knoxville chapter. He was sentenced in Virginia and served 18 months in the slammer.

Lester is a welding engineer who is often called on to handle high-tech jobs, like containment vessels for the U.S. Navy’s nuclear powered aircraft carriers. The Knoxville club was raided two years ago by local cops but Lester was turned over to the feds for prosecution in the Virginia case.

http://www.metropulse.com/news/2012/feb/01/outlaws-club-president-mark-lester-released/