LATIN AMERICAN TIMES

American 'illegals' in Mexico

When Jessica departed the US early in 2011, she left a country where illegal immigration is rarely off the political agenda. Little did she imagine she herself would become an 'alien' - in Mexico. She came to Puerto Vallarta, a tourist resort on the Pacific coast, to work legally for a Mexican company. She took a second job to earn extra money, first in an internet cafe and then a restaurant. Fines for overstayers But her employers - also Americans - never filled in the paperwork to make her second job legal. "I insisted, but they told me it wasn't necessary, that they would pay me in cash every night and it was fine," she tells the BBC. "It was clearly illegal for me to work there, but I did not take the authorities in Mexico seriously. My employers then found themselves in legal trouble and I feared I could face deportation, so I quit." Continue reading the main story Mexico City's bike revolution One Square Mile of Mexico Working Lives Mexico A Mexican footballing triumph Mexico's 2012 challenges Country profile: Mexico More from Mexico Direct Last year about 1,000 US citizens were questioned over irregularities in their immigration status, according to Mexican authorities. They face a modest fine - up to $50 - if officials find them working without a permit or living in Mexico without proper documents. Those who lose their visas or are asked to leave the country and then discovered to be overstaying are fined up to $400. But the National Migration Institute in Mexico has no idea just how many Americans are living or working illegally in Mexico. There are no advocacy groups defending American aliens in Mexico. Mexican politicians haven't raised it as a major issue - a far cry from the controversy around illegal migration on the other side of the border. With thousands of people from Central America crossing into Mexico illegally every year, and the threat from drug gangs and human traffickers on their way to the US, the presence of undocumented Americans is considered little more than a minor issue for Mexico's immigration services. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote No one really knows how many of them there are in Mexico.” Monica Mora National Institute of Anthropology and History Some are Americans tourists who decide to extend their stay in Mexico without notifying the authorities, or students who wish to earn extra money teaching English in Mexico City. Others just fall in love with the Latin American lifestyle. "No one really knows how many of them there are in Mexico. They are usually people who live for a while in Mexico and then return home. They do not stay indefinitely," says Monica Mora, an expert on American migration in Mexico. "Nowadays most Americans live legally in Mexico, working as employees of multinational companies for a couple of years here, but also retirees and students," says Mrs Mora, who is a researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History. Constant flow According to the last Mexican census (2010), more than 738,000 people born in the United States now live in Mexico. Some 60,000 of them are living in the country indefinitely, mostly in Baja California in the northwest of the country and in Mexico City. The rest are temporary visitors and legal employees of international companies. Most American visitors stay within the rules - but officials say thousands overstay Tropical weather, the cheaper cost of living and an exotic atmosphere a few hours from home have drawn curious Americans to Mexico since World War II. They are now the largest foreign group in Mexico, according to official records. Elaine Levin, an expert on international migration, was one of thousands of Americans who emigrated to Mexico 40 years ago. She came legally and now has Mexican nationality. She says the comfortable life of Americans in Mexico contrasts with the persecution and harsh immigration legislation Mexicans have to face in the US. Retirees' favourite "There havn't been any integration issues here because this has always been part of Mexico's history. Even the ancestors of a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, came to Mexico as immigrants," she tells the BBC. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote After my experience here I have come to support more illegal immigration” Jenny American overstayer "In fact, Mexico treats 'gringos' much better that the US does Mexicans," Mrs Levin says. There is little public debate about the issue - many Mexicans would be surprised that an American would want to come here and live illegally. The coasts of the Baja California peninsula, the idyllic town of San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico, and villages around Lake Chapala (by the Pacific coast) are favourite spots for retired Americans who come to spend their last years - and their life savings - in Mexico. "It's still to be seen whether the news reports about the drug violence from American networks will have an effect on this," Mrs Levin says. "Some people might think twice before going to some areas, but that hasn't happened yet," she adds. Even though US tourist numbers dropped 6% last year, towns like San Miguel de Allende are still full of American-run businesses and home owners from the US. Warm weather and an exotic lifestyle tempt some Americans south of the border Some Americans in Mexico are beginning to see a different side of the immigration debate. "I used to live in a large Mexican community, in Chicago. I always knew some of them were illegal and wondered how they could get away with it," Jessica says. She's now legally entitled to stay in the country and is living in Mexico City. "After my experience here I have come to support more illegal immigration. At the end of the day I would imagine most illegals have good intentions, working to support their family, wanting a new life," she says. "I don't think we should make it so hard for people to get that. Isn't that what America is all about anyway, freedom?"

American 'illegals' in Mexico

When Jessica departed the US early in 2011, she left a country where illegal immigration is rarely off the political agenda. Little did s...

France reporter Edith Bouvier asks for Syria evacuation

The French journalist who was wounded in an attack on the Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday has asked to be evacuated from Syria quickly, saying she needs urgent medical attention. Edith Bouvier was injured in the attack that killed journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik in the Baba Amr suburb. In a video posted online by opposition activists, Ms Bouvier says she has a broken femur and urgently needs an operation. She asks to be evacuated to Lebanon. There is growing pressure on Damascus to give access to civilians trapped by the onslaught. 'Very difficult' In the video, Ms Bouvier praises the doctors who have been treating her and says they are doing what they can. Photojournalist William Daniels, who is also French, appears alongside her and says she has not lost her smile. He was also caught up in the attack but says he was not injured. William Daniels says he was fortunate not to be injured Mr Daniels appeals to the French authorities to help them as soon as possible, as conditions "are very difficult". There is no electricity and not much to eat, he says, adding that they need to get out as quickly as possible using medically equipped transportation. The US, Europe and Arab countries plan to challenge President Bashar al-Assad to provide humanitarian access within days to the worst affected areas. They plan to present their ultimatum at Friday's international conference on Syria in Tunisia. Russia and China have said they will not attend the conference. The two countries have faced Western and Arab criticism for blocking a UN Security Council resolution that would have backed an Arab League peace plan for Syria. Meanwhile, a United Nations panel has drawn up a confidential list of Syrian military officials - believed to include President Assad - who could face investigation for crimes against humanity. It says these include shooting unarmed women and children, shelling civilian areas and torturing the wounded.

France reporter Edith Bouvier asks for Syria evacuation

The French journalist who was wounded in an attack on the Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday has asked to be evacuated from Syria quickly, s...

Violent gangs are deeply entrenched in Spanish Town, just west of Kingston, and in some residential sections of the northwestern parish of St. James, which includes the resort city of Montego Bay.

Fighting between the gangs for control of drug trafficking and extortion rackets has long been blamed for the majority of Jamaica’s homicides. Police Commissioner Owen Ellington said at a news conference with Bunting that much of the security forces’ resources are now focused on trying to contain 42 active gang conflicts. Ellington told reporters that the Shower Posse gang, which was controlled by convicted drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke from his slum stronghold of Tivoli Gardens, has been significantly hobbled since his capture in June 2010 but remains an active gang in West Kingston. Bunting said Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s nearly two-month-old government intends to fast-track anti-gang legislation and is crafting a new security policy meant to reduce crime to “First World levels” by 2017, when he hopes to have a maximum of just 321 killings. A U.N. study on the Caribbean released earlier this month said Jamaica has had the world’s third-highest murder rate over the past decade, with about 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Jamaica loses some $529 million a year due to crime, according to the report. Last year, Jamaica had 1,125 slayings, a roughly 22 percent drop from the 1,442 killings in 2010. A record 1,683 people were killed in 2009. Bunting said a major goal is to target gang kingpins and facilitators for organized criminal networks, not the people lower down the chain. Many of those arrested in previous years have been underlings who had little connection to gang leadership. Such workers are easily replaced. “We don’t always want to be chasing out the symptoms, we want to get to the infection,” he told reporters at the prime minister’s offices. Bunting intends to create a task force to identify and arrest crime facilitators, such as accountants, real estate brokers, lawyers and corrupt public officials. He also hopes to give courts greater power to seize their assets. He also said Jamaican society must undergo “mental reconditioning” to encourage more people to report crimes. Those who live in Jamaica’s slums are deeply distrustful of the police and authorities, and an anti-informant culture is widespread.

Violent gangs are deeply entrenched in Spanish Town, just west of Kingston, and in some residential sections of the northwestern parish of St. James, which includes the resort city of Montego Bay.

Fighting between the gangs for control of drug trafficking and extortion rackets has long been blamed for the majority of Jamaica’s homic...

Bolivian minibus gang murdered up to 69 people on their way to work

Police in Bolivia are blaming a gang for a spate of early morning murders in Bolivia where people have been strangled on minibuses while heading into work. Up to 69 people have been killed and dozens more were left for dead in El Alto, a working class city of one million people on an arid plateau above Bolivia's capital, La Paz. "This kind of assault came about because people, by necessity, take whatever transport they can get," said Felix Rocha, chief of Bolivia's police. Gang members would ride the buses posing as passengers, police said. After their victims had boarded, they were strangled with a rope or scarf and stripped of valuables that often amounted to little more than a mobile phone and the clothes on their backs. A 64-year-old man who said he survived an attack by the gang, recounted leaving his house at 4am on 5 February on his way to the bank where he collects his monthly pension. He said he boarded what he thought was a public transit minibus and as usual, his 25-cent fare was collected by "a cholita," or indigenous woman. "They had me sit in the front and suddenly I felt a scarf tightening around my neck. I fought back but they hit me in the ribs and face and I fell unconscious," said the man, who asked to be identified only by first name, Macario, because he fears for his safety. "I woke up later in a dumpster," Macario added. Gone was his mobile phone and the equivalent of £35 in the local currency. Police last week announced the arrest of eight alleged members of the gang, ranging in age from 30 to 45 and including a woman, Yuli Gutierrez Jimenez. Rocha said police seized four 14-seat minibuses used by the gang. Most of the killings occurred between 4am and 6am, when public transport is relatively scarce and only 400 police are on duty in the entire city, which is mostly unpaved and where many neighbourhoods lack running water and electricity. The gang is believed to have killed 69 people whose bodies have been found over the past 13 months, said Rocha, though prosecutor Santos Valencia said investigators are still trying to determine if the group was responsible for all those deaths. More than 70 people told police they had survived attacks after recognising gang members in local media reports, Rocha said. Other such gangs are known to exist, but the minibus gang seems to have been the best organised and most methodical, he added. Its alleged leader, Julio Edwin Valdez, 33, was arrested last week. Also captured was Galo Mamani, the bus's driver. Prosecutors said the two face murder charges but offered few other details. Valencia told reporters that police found wallets and the clothes of victims in the homes of those detained. Authorities did not say how they tracked down the alleged criminals. Rocha said police were investigating whether the group was also involved in the recent murders of several taxi drivers whose vehicles were stolen after the drivers were strangled.

Bolivian minibus gang murdered up to 69 people on their way to work

Police in Bolivia are blaming a gang for a spate of early morning murders in Bolivia where people have been strangled on minibuses while h...

Bloodstained Saturday in Mexico leaves 14 dead

Fourteen people were killed in gun violence in northern and central Mexico on Saturday, authorities said. In the metropolitan area of prosperous and industrial Monterrey, two police were among those slain in the early morning hours in a clash with unidentified assailants. “There was a chase situation. A car with four men in it went up alongside the police patrol car and opened fire,” a source with the state investigating unit told AFP. After a car chase the two police and another victim were slain in Apodaca, officials said. In troubled Ciudad Juarez, in the northern state of Chihuahua on the US border, prosecutors said two men were shot in the head and had signs of torture. In the south of the state, in the town of Parral, three bodies were found along a highway with a sign authorities said appeared to refer to ongoing clashes among rival drug gangs. In the state capital Chihuahua, two people were shot dead by gunmen in a vehicle as the victims stood watch near a hospital. And in the town of Ecapatec, in Mexico state, four men were gunned down in the early morning hours by a group of unidentified gunmen. Some 50,000 people have died in suspected drug violence since President Felipe Calderon began a military crackdown on organized crime in December 2006, according to media counts and official figures.

Bloodstained Saturday in Mexico leaves 14 dead

Fourteen people were killed in gun violence in northern and central Mexico on Saturday, authorities said. In the metropolitan area of pro...

Turf War in Central Mexico Leaves 8 Dead

Eight homicides earlier this week in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato stem from a turf battle between rival drug cartels, officials said, noting that one of the gangs claimed responsibility for the slayings by leaving threatening messages next to five of the bodies. All of the victims were killed with firearms under very similar circumstances, state Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre said. The most recent slaying occurred Thursday in the city of Acambaro, where a message was discovered that is “practically identical to the others that were found,” Zamarripa said. According to the state Attorney General’s Office, three people were killed in the municipality of Apaseo el Alto and one each in the cities of Celaya, Cortazar, Villagran, Acambaro and Salvatierra. Investigators found signs apparently signed by the Los Caballeros Templarios drug cartel at the crime scenes in Apaseo el Alto, Celaya and Villagran, officials said. The murders come approximately a month before Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to visit Guanajuato and a week after the discovery of 18 “drug messages” signed by Los Caballeros Templarios that ordered a rival gang to leave the state and avoid “generating violence” during the pontiff’s stay. Los Caballeros Templarios warned the Nueva Generacion cartel that “confrontations will be inevitable” and told its rivals to leave Guanajuato in peace. Neither gang, however, is based in that state, which has largely been spared the drug-related violence that has ravaged other parts of Mexico. The pope is scheduled to stay at the Colegio Miraflores in the Guanajuato city of Leon during his visit to Mexico. Benedict XVI will celebrate an open-air Mass in the morning on March 25 at the city of Silao’s Guanajuato Bicentenario Park, an outdoor venue that it is expected will accommodate about 750,000 people, who will need a ticket to enter, officials said. The pontiff is scheduled to visit three cities in Guanajuato state during his time in Mexico and will continue on to Santiago, Cuba.

Turf War in Central Mexico Leaves 8 Dead

Eight homicides earlier this week in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato stem from a turf battle between rival drug cartels, officials s...

Detectives investigating McNally's cold-blooded shooting in the first gang murder of the year now believe the chief suspect also killed his brother in February, 2009

. And, that the gun-for-hire carried out the pub murder of Paul ‘Farmer' Martin over three years ago. Our CCTV footage shows him entering the Jolly Toper bar in Finglas to carry out the hit on 39-year-old Martin in August, 2008. Five months later, Graham McNally's body was found in a ditch on the former Dublin to Derry road -- he had been shot at least five times in the head. "There are links to suggest that all three murders were carried out by the same man," said a source. "Alan McNally's fatal mistake was when he swore to avenge his brother's death." SHOT He was shot six times in the Cappagh Nua pub in Finglas on February 2 in a killing that was dubbed the Love/Hate murder because of its similarly to a scene from the RTE drama. As the garda probe intensified they questioned a sister and niece of the chief suspect but they were later released without charge. Detectives made a major breakthrough in the case when they obtained CCTV linking relatives of the chief suspect to the crime scene. However, they have still not recovered the handgun used to shoot Alan McNally six times. The Herald previously revealed that McNally was murdered on the order of a violent thug who himself survived an assassination attempt in December 2010. McNally (36), from Cappagh Avenue, Finglas, had been warned by gardai that his life was under threat after rowing with criminal elements in Finglas and Coolock. He had been warned by gardai to be inconspicuous as they feared there was an imminent danger to his life. However, sources say that he ignored gardai and publicly boasted about getting revenge for his brother's death. This is thought to have led his killers to adopt a "let's get him first" approach. Graham was 34 when he was shot dead by slain crimelord Eamon 'The Don' Dunne's gang in January 2009. Alan was in jail at the time after he had a falling out with his former close associate Dunne who had suspected that he was trying to murder him. He was only released last October having served five and a half years for having €200,000 worth of heroin. Sources say that despite the warnings he made himself an easy target for a gunman by drinking in the same pub for 14 hours. Gardai are anxious to apprehend the hitman who could also be responsible for other gangland assaults in the city. 'Farmer' Martin was a known criminal believed to have been involved in over a dozen bank robberies in the late 1980s and 1990s. Speaking at his funeral, Paul Martin's local priest branded his killers as "sick people not fit to be called men".

Detectives investigating McNally's cold-blooded shooting in the first gang murder of the year now believe the chief suspect also killed his brother in February, 2009

. And, that the gun-for-hire carried out the pub murder of Paul ‘Farmer' Martin over three years ago. Our CCTV footage shows him enter...

'IRA' drug-gang linked to double British murder

The "IRA" gang referred to in a British murder trial last week as running the drugs trade in Liverpool is almost certainly a mixture of local gangsters and their Dublin and Limerick-based associates, gardai believe. The mention of the gang came in the murder trial of Thomas Haigh, 26, who was convicted last week of the double murder of two men referred to as gangland "enforcers", David Griffiths, 35, and Brett Flournoy, 31. Both men were shot dead, their bodies burned in a car and then buried on a remote Cornwall farm in June of last year. The court heard that Haigh was a low-level member of a Liverpool drugs gang. He said he had been forced to carry out a drugs run to South America and to oversee the cultivation of cannabis plants at the farm in Cornwall to pay off a €40,000 debt to the gang which he insisted, in statements to police, was run by the IRA. When the two enforcers came to the farm there was a confrontation and Haigh shot the two dead and buried their bodies. He was convicted by a jury at Truro Crown Court last Tuesday and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years. In the UK a minimum term is the set time a prisoner must serve before he or she is eligible for parole. Garda sources last week said there has never been any evidence of an organisational link between the IRA and drugs criminals in the UK, but they are aware that former IRA members, including members of one well known family with both IRA and criminal links in south inner Dublin, has links to organised crime and drug dealers in Liverpool and the Midlands of Britain. These links, gardai say, go back for at least two decades and one of Liverpool's biggest drug dealers also was a close associate and bought drugs off John Gilligan and his gang. After Gilligan's gang was broken up during the investigation into the murder of Veronica Guerin in 1996 these links continued. Gardai know there were strong links developed by the major Dublin and Liverpool gangs as they rubbed shoulders in Costa del Sol holiday resorts where they owned villas. Liverpool, Dublin, Limerick and even Belfast-based ex-loyalists all became interlinked as they shared drug trafficking operations. Over the past two decades there have been persistent disputes and dozens of murders in the UK, Spain and Holland -- the centre of drug trafficking in Europe. Gardai said the most likely figures that Thomas Haigh was referring to as the "IRA" in Liverpool are members and associates of a south Dublin family-centred gang with close links to the criminal "Fat" Freddie Thompson. This family and their close associates are central to the drugs supply in Dublin and have well-established links with UK criminals. Ironically, gardai point out, the same IRA and Sinn Fein figures were closely involved in the anti-drugs movement known as "Concerned Parents Against Drugs" which was active in Dublin in the Eighties, picketing the homes of heroin dealers and carrying out vigilante attacks. During the Nineties this IRA group eventually became involved in extorting money from certain drug traffickers and then became centrally involved in drug trafficking. One of their associated former IRA families from Ballyfermot in Dublin became one of the biggest suppliers of heroin in the State, at one stage using private jets to import large quantities of pure heroin supplied by Dutch-based Eastern European traffickers. The major Irish drugs cartel in Spain, broken up by joint Spanish and European police action in the summer of 2010 also had strong links to Liverpool and London gangs. Gardai believe that the "IRA" associates of the Liverpool gang, referred to in the Haigh trial, are almost certainly the "ordinary" Dublin traffickers and their associates who were formerly in the IRA but who have continued "trading" on the IRA name in order to scare opponents. On Friday convicted drug dealer John Gilligan was given a further six-month sentence by the Special Criminal Court after he pleaded guilty to possession of a mobile phone at Portlaoise District Court in 2010.

'IRA' drug-gang linked to double British murder

The "IRA" gang referred to in a British murder trial last week as running the drugs trade in Liverpool is almost certainly a mixtu...

Pair Of Late Night Shootings In Coachella Valley

Two shootings happened within minutes of each other in the Coachella Valley Saturday night. The first, a drive-by in a Cathedral City neighborhood, according to police. It happened around 8:30 P.M. near the intersection of Shifting Sands and Ortega. A vehicle pulled up along side a car and someone inside the first vehicle opened fire, hitting a man inside the car, said officers on scene. The suspect vehicle then took off before officers arrived on scene. Emergency crews took the victim to the hospital, but there is no word yet on his condition. Investigators have not provided a suspect description, nor have they provided any information on the suspect's vehicle. The second shooting also happened around 8:30 P.M., this one in Coachella. Two men shot at a home on the 1600 block of 6th Street, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. Deputies arrested the suspects, but are not releasing their names. No one was hurt in this incident. If you know anything about either of these shootings, call Valley Crimestoppers at 760 341-STOP. You can remain anonymous and could receive up to a $1,000 reward. PrintEmail

Pair Of Late Night Shootings In Coachella Valley

Two shootings happened within minutes of each other in the Coachella Valley Saturday night. The first, a drive-by in a Cathedral City neig...

FOUR men have pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to charges linked to the Gambino crime family.

The charges result from a variety of activities including assault, loansharking, drug trafficking and trying to recruit illegal aliens to work in adult entertainment clubs. The US Justice Department described the four, Alphonse Trucchio, Michael Roccaforte, Anthony Moscatiello and Christopher Colon, as being "a captain, two soldiers and an associate of the Gambino organised crime family of La Cosa Nostra." Attorney Preet Bharara said, "For those who believe La Cosa Nostra's criminal activities and influence are on the decline, the sweeping charges in this case and today's guilty pleas should disabuse them of that notion". According to the Justice Department, Trucchio and Gambino family captain Louis Mastrangelo - who had previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges - supervised crews of street level criminals, known as soldiers and associates. From the late 1980s through 2010, Trucchio and his associates oversaw the Gambino family's narcotics distribution network, which was based in Queens, New York, the Justice Department reported. "Numerous drug suppliers, wholesalers and street dealers operated under the authority and protection of the Gambino family, in exchange for paying the family a portion of their profits," it said in a statement. Drugs they distributed included cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and the narcotic pain killer, Vicodin. The accused men's other illegal activities included extorting payments from business owners and strip clubs, stabbing one person and hitting another with a car while trying to collect a debt and operating illegal gambling enterprises. Charges are pending against 11 more defendants.

FOUR men have pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to charges linked to the Gambino crime family.

The charges result from a variety of activities including assault, loansharking, drug trafficking and trying to recruit illegal aliens to ...

Deadly Honduran fire could be repeated in prisons across Central America, experts warn

The world’s worst prison fire in a century happened in a lockup like many in Honduras: a decrepit, suffocating place of overcrowded, dark ...

Nguyen, 44, also known as "The Godfather" "The Boss" and "The Old Man" was the leader of the violent street gang, “The Young Seattle Boyz”

Nguyen, 44, also known as "The Godfather" "The Boss" and "The Old Man" was the leader of the violent street gang, “The Young Seattle Boyz” according to a release from the office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. Nguyen pleaded guilty in November to drug conspiracy charges, in conjunction with murder charges and organized crime charges in King County Superior Court. In January, King County Superior Court Judge Julie Specter sentenced Nguyen last month for second-degree murder in connection with a Tukwila killing. U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez sentenced Nguyen to more than 25 years in prison to run concurrently. Working together, federal and local law enforcement have taken a very dangerous criminal off the street,” Durkan said.  “This case shows how the strong  cooperation between our office and the King County Prosecutor’s Office improves public safety,” For more than a decade Nguyen had been operating as leader of the crime organization and was involved in laundering millions of dollars from numerous marijuana grow operations, drug trafficking and gambling operations. Nguyen and his associates were linked to murder, assaults and shootings. Among his many criminal activities, Nguyen laundered illegal money by buying home in Tukwila and Seattle and turning the homes into marijuana grow operations. “Criminals and criminal organizations use money laundering as a means to infuse their illicit proceeds into our local economy,” said Kenneth J. Hines, IRS Special Agent in charge of the Seattle field office.  “Dirty money was used to purchase homes in Seattle and Tukwila and those homes were turned into illegal factories manufacturing a controlled substance. Law  enforcement will not stand by while our neighborhoods are put at risk.” In 2009, Nguyen was finally arrested as the leader of a criminal enterprise, and specifically in connection with the 2007 murder of his “right hand man” in the gang, Hoang Van Nguyen. Quy Dinh Nguyen, the hit man he hired, Jerry Thomas, and the go-between, Le Nhu Le, all pleaded guilty in King County Superior Court just  as the trial was getting underway. The murder was prompted by a feud within the gang.  The violence was a way of life for Quy Dinh Nguyen.  As prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo, “Quy Nguyen himself has admitted to engaging in a long-term pattern of violence that was designed to maintain the profitability of his marijuana and gambling enterprises.” Le Nhu Le was also sentenced today for his role in the murder and drug enterprise.  He  was sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervised release.  The sentence will  run concurrent with LE’s five year sentence in King County Superior Court.  A third defendant  Kristine Nguyen was previously convicted and sentenced for conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The case was investigated by a state and federal task force of law enforcement officers including agents and officers of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), Seattle Police Department, and Tukwila  Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg, and  Senior Deputy King County Prosecutor Roger Davidheiser.

Nguyen, 44, also known as "The Godfather" "The Boss" and "The Old Man" was the leader of the violent street gang, “The Young Seattle Boyz”

Nguyen, 44, also known as "The Godfather" "The Boss" and "The Old Man" was the leader of the violent street ...

India wants Italian ship captain to surrender

New Delhi wants the captain of Italian ship Enrica Lexia and two marksmen who shot dead two Indian fishermen to surrender to Kerala Police on Sunday after several rounds of diplomatic confabulations on Saturday culminated in a telephonic conversation between External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and his Italian counterpart. Rome wanted the three to be permitted to go in return for a joint investigation into the incident. But in the conversation late in the evening, Mr. Krishna turned down the offer an hour after Kerala Chief Minister Ooomen Chandy sought the Central assistance to persuade the captain and the two security personnel to give themselves up. Mr. Chandy said his government was left with no option but to arrest the Italians after receiving advice on the issue from the State's Attorney- General, said government sources here. Mr. Krishna and the Indian Ambassador in Rome told the Italians that this was not a diplomatic row that could end with discussions. The question was that those responsible for killing two Indians must submit to the law of the land. The call from the Italian Foreign Minister capped a hectic day of activity in Rome, where the Indian Ambassador was offered options such as the despatch of a multi-Ministerial team to Kochi and a high-level investigation of the incident.

India wants Italian ship captain to surrender

New Delhi wants the captain of Italian ship Enrica Lexia and two marksmen who shot dead two Indian fishermen to surrender to Kerala Police...