-from mykawartha.com-

By Mary Riley

Twenty men face charges after police raided a marijuana grow operation worth an estimated $3 million.
OPP Superintendant Frank Elbers held a press conference in Lindsay on Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by duffel bags bursting with pot and weapons police seized during the raid.
He said that on Monday afternoon, the Kawartha and Huronia Combined Forces Drug Unit found the grow operation in an area near Highway 118, about 15 km west of Carnarvon in Minden Hills Township.
Officers seized 1,500 pounds of marijuana, two loaded handguns and a Taser stun gun. A further 200 marijuana plants were found still growing on the property.
Several of the suspects were wearing body armour, which police also seized.
Supt. Elders, who heads the OPP’s Drug Enforcement Section, said when officers arrived on a secondary road in the area, “numerous” suspects fled in all directions.
Several jumped into a rowboat and tried to escape, but were later caught.
Police say 10 men were arrested at the scene without incident and 10 more were arrested that evening.
Eighteen of the accused, who face numerous drug and weapons charges, are from the Toronto area. Two are from Peterborough.
Supt. Elbers said police are “very concerned with the growing number of armed suspects” police face when busting grow-ops.
“It is dangerous for police officers and dangerous for the public,” he said.
The officer commented part of the grow operation problem in Canada is the exportation of marijuana to the U.S. “It’s a major cash crop that is exchanged for cocaine and cash.”
He also mentioned the lighter sentences in Canada, compared with the American justice system.
“[American] sentences (for drug offences) escalate with the amount seized,” he said. “[Offenders] can be looking at serious, serious jail time.”
“In the last four years, grow operations have skyrocketed,” he continued. “There’s just so much money to be had.”
In the same time period, police have seized about 3,000 weapons.
Supt. Elbers said the Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton areas are prime growing regions for marijuana, and encouraged residents to be careful. He said criminal organizations sometimes purchase rural property to grow large quantities of marijuana.
Others use Crown land or simply start a grow-op on a large, private acreage for example, a farm whose owners don’t ‘patrol’ every corner.
“We get farmers’ calls after they find [pot] growing among the corn,” he said.
He warned of booby-trapped properties and cautioned against confronting strangers.
“People in small towns know everyone, and they need to be aware. If you see strangers coming and going, especially in farm or wooded areas, call the police. Be careful walking through the bush, and if you see something suspicious, don’t try and handle it yourself.”

-from zwire.com-

By Tony Regina

The Gloucester Township Police Department broke up a drug ring on Saturday with the arrest of three individuals at Skeeters Café in the Blenheim section.
Erik Vollmer, 18, of the Glendora section, and Anthony Camacho, 25, of the Erial section, were arrested along with a 17 year-old juvenile from Runnemede, whose name isn’t being released because of her age, police said.
All three were charged with possession with the intent to distribute ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana, Deputy Chief Nort Davis said. Police recovered over one ounce of ecstasy - about 100 tablets - and marijuana as well as a quarter ounce of cocaine and 27 tablets of Oxycodone.
Police also recovered $1,800. The arrests concluded a two month investigation that was being conducted by the township’s narcotics unit, Davis said.
Vollmer and Camacho were also charged with employing a juvenile in a drug distribution scheme, police said. They were remanded to the Camden County Jail in default of $150,000.
The female was sent to the juvenile detention center in Lakeland, police said.

-from leisure.newstimeslive.com-

WATERBURY — State troopers arrested two men after allegedly finding them with 800 bags of heroin, along with a stash of crack, cocaine and cash.

Eugene “Honeyblue” Easton and Anthony Wall, both of Waterbury, were stopped by police Wednesday on Route 8. Their vehicle was searched by a dope-sniffing canine. Along with the drugs, police found $2,429 in cash.

Turns out the pair was the target of a long investigation by the Statewide Narcotics Task Force, who were looking to bust up a heroin ring operating in greater Waterbury.

They were charged with possession of heroin, possession of more than a 1/2 ounce of heroin, possession of crack cocaine and possession of cocaine.

Both men are scheduled to appear in court today. Police said the investigation is continuing and more arrests are expected.

-from modbee.com-

By Adam Ashton

Four arrested; guns, cash taken; Modesto patients must now go to Bay Area

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Wednesday busted up Modesto’s only medical marijuana dispensary just one day after the City Council discussed a strategy to shut it down.

A morning raid on the California Healthcare Collective and seven homes associated with its directors netted four arrests, three handguns, $16,000 in cash, 60 pounds of processed marijuana and 34 pounds of baked goods laced with the drug.

Authorities also froze eight bank accounts linked to the collective’s directors.

The raid followed a 15-month investigation in which Modesto police and DEA agents purchased cannabis from the clinic with fake doctor recommendations and repeatedly found medical marijuana bought from the collective in the hands of healthy people, according to an affidavit the Department of Justice filed in federal court.

Authorities arrested Healthcare Collective directors Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Montes, both 26. They are due to be arraigned in federal court in Fresno on Friday on suspicion of distributing marijuana and conspiring to distribute marijuana.

Employees Jose Malagon, 33, and Antonio Malagon, 28, also were arrested and face the same charges and also will be arraigned Friday in Fresno. Authorities said the Malagons live together, but it was unknown if they are related.

If convicted, they would serve a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Brown.

‘This is organized crime’

DEA Agent Gordon Taylor said the clinic’s directors shielded a drug ring behind Proposition 215, a state law that allows chronically ill people to use medical marijuana. Federal law does not permit marijuana use.

“This case is just another example of where state medical marijuana laws have been exploited to the point of being a joke,” said Taylor, calling the clinic’s directors “common drug dealers.”

An attorney defending the clinic’s directors said they were in compliance with state law.

“They pay their taxes,” said Robert Forkner. “They provide a necessary service for the citizens of the community and they’re not guilty of all the charges.”

Brown described the collective as a “flagrant violation” of federal law.

He and Taylor pointed to the $4.5 million the collective earned since it opened in late 2004 to show that it was violating a state law that allows only nonprofit cooperatives to distribute the drug.

The affidavit depicts the clinic directors as criminals who carried guns and stacks of cash.

“This is not a medical marijuana issue. This is a lot of drugs getting into our community,” Police Chief Roy Wasden said.

Scarmazzo recently released a music video in which he raps, “I’m a businessman. Let me do my business, man.” The song includes a line “Put your fingers in the air and yell (expletive) the feds.”

“This is organized crime,” police Sgt. Craig Gundlach said. “It’s sickening to see someone like this take advantage of something the California voters thought was compassionate.”

Forkner said the collective opened its books to the city to show it was operating as a nonprofit. He said the directors carried cash they intended to deposit. They sometimes had guns for security, Forkner said.

The raids began about 8 a.m., with agents serving warrants at the clinic and the seven residences around the city.

Santos Lopez, a clinic employee who drove to one of the homes on Edgebrook Drive, was detained and released by DEA agents.

He said he was roughed up by agents who kicked him and rubbed his face in the ground even though he complied with their demands. He had a reddish bruise under his right eye.

“They were basically manhandling me,” he said.

Gundlach said Lopez’s detainment was appropriate because he drove up to the house and tried to speed away.

“I know that he may feel differently, but as far as the indicators we see, this was a justified detention and a justified use of force,” Gundlach said.

Brown, the federal attorney, said the arrests would not do anything to clear confusion between state and federal marijuana laws. He and Taylor refused to describe the criteria they use when deciding whether to break up a pot dispensary.

Council: Timing just coincidental

Some medical marijuana advocates note that raids tend to take place where local governments oppose any use of the drug, such as in San Diego County.

Other communities that regulate pot dispensaries, such as Oakland, tend to avoid conflicts with federal drug agents, said William Dolphin, a spokesman for the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.

“When local authorities become antagonistic to medical marijuana patients, then the DEA becomes more active,” Dolphin said.

Wasden said it was a coincidence that the raids took place a day after the council discussion.

The council first tried to close the clinic in December when it passed a law banning for-profit pot dispensaries; the collective later registered as a nonprofit in the secretary of state’s office.

City Manager George Britton declined to say whether he knew about the raids in advance. He said it was unlikely that the failure of the city’s first attempt at banning medical marijuana dispensaries prompted the crackdown.

Councilman Will O’Bryant said he “had an inkling” about the investigation that led to the raids, although he said it was a coincidence they took place a day after the council discussion.

He said he sympathized with people who need medical marijuana to ease the symptoms of chronic illnesses, but he said the clinic made it too easy for young people to get drugs from others who used the collective.

“It really did have a heavy influence on the youth and I’m glad it’s gone,” he said.

Some of the patients who got marijuana from the clinic said they were dismayed they would have to travel to the Bay Area to find a cannabis dispensary.

“I’m not sure where I’d go,” said Louis Sun, 50, a Modesto man who suffers from arthritis.

Patrick Clements, 39, said the crackdown would most harm seriously ill people who cannot leave town or grow their own marijuana.

“The people getting hurt are the ones who need it most. They’re going to have to go the Bay Area,” said Clements, a collective customer who carries a doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana.

-from cnn.com-

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) — A federal prosecutor said Hells Angels motorcycle gang members plotted a deadly attack on a rival gang, showing jurors Tuesday a security video of leather-clad bikers wielding guns, knives, hammers and chairs in the bloody brawl at a southern Nevada casino.

Defense lawyers for the 11 Hells Angels have said their clients were attacked first in the April 27, 2002, melee that left three people dead and at least a dozen injured.

Each has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the brawl, which was recorded from at least a half-dozen angles by the Harrah’s Laughlin hotel-casino’s surveillance cameras.

They are the first of 42 men — from California, Washington, Arizona, Alaska and Nevada, and ranging in age from 28 to 63 — to stand trial in the brawl. All face the possibility of life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, racketeering-attempted murder.

“This wasn’t self-defense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson told the jury on the first day of the trial. “Tensions were high. The Hells Angels, as a group, brought the fight to (the Mongols) at the hotel.”

Johnson promised a broad prosecution of what he called “essentially a cult,” with a disciplined and merciless gang structure based on drug-running, turf warfare and violence.

The prosecutor relied heavily on repeated loops of video — enhanced by zooming in and other special effects. Arrows were superimposed to follow individuals through the seething mass of leather vests who battled amid rows of glittering casino slot machines. Technical glitches interrupted him several times.

Gang members on both sides are shown pointing and firing guns. Others punch, stab and kick each other. One Hells Angels member wearing a black helmet and sunglasses clobbers a passing Mongols member in the head with a wrench.

Each of the 11 Hells Angels sat quietly in court, most wearing shirts and ties and subtle gang markers. Some wore long hair in ponytails. One wore a belt bearing the words “Hells Angels.” Another wore an earring with the club’s trademark death’s head wing.

“Openings are one-sided,” said defense lawyer, Tom Pitaro, who showed colleagues outside court a poster-sized photo of a Hells Angel from Stockton, California, who was shot and killed in the casino brawl.

“In the next couple of days, we’ll answer,” Pitaro said. “We’ll explain everything.”

-from cnn.com-

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the mob case against John A. “Junior” Gotti — the third time in a year a jury deadlocked over his claim that he quit the family business.

“It’s enough now. They got to let go,” Gotti told reporters, in urging prosecutors to drop the racketeering case so that could move to the Midwest with his family and go to college.

“If they let us alone, I’ll leave,” he said. “I’ll take my family and I’ll go.”

Prosecutors did not immediately ask for a fourth trial for the 42-year-old Gotti, who has become a fixture in federal court in the past year as the government tried three times to prove he has followed in father John Gotti’s footsteps.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin declared the mistrial, and told jurors it was “not your failure” and acknowledged “the case has its difficulties.”

A relieved Gotti hugged his brother Peter and other supporters, then wiped his eyes. “It was a tough one,” Gotti said. “This one drained the life from me.”

If convicted, Gotti could have gotten up to 30 years in prison. He is free on $7 million bail.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia said, “We are disappointed by today’s outcome.”

Three anonymous jurors who spoke to reporters afterward said the jury had agreed unanimously that Gotti was responsible for two 1992 attacks on Guardian Angels founder and radio talk show host Curtis Sliwa, including a shooting that nearly killed him.

The finding was not enough to convict him of racketeering because the jury could not agree on whether Gotti had quit the Gambino family by July 1999. If he did, in fact, quit the Mafia by that date, the statute of limitations for prosecuting him would have expired.

The jurors said eight found he had not quit; four believed he had quit.

Prosecutors maintained the Gambino family targeted Sliwa to stop him from badmouthing Gotti’s father on talk radio.

Sliwa said he was left with “the most miserable feeling in the world,” while Gotti was “the luckiest person in the world.”

Gotti’s lawyers argued the second-generation mobster had years ago severed his ties to organized crime and had no role in the Sliwa attack.

-from freep.com-

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is expected to announce today that her office has shut down one of the largest chop shop rings in the Detroit metropolitan area, with the assistance of Detroit police.

Generally, a chop shop is an operation where stolen cars are stripped, sometimes for parts or scrap metal.

It’s believed that hundreds of cars may be involved in the ring, said Maria Miller, Worthy’s spokeswoman.

A press conference to announce charges is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

-from winnipegsun.com-

By Tamara King

Winnipeg police have announced a pair of large but unrelated drug busts by the canine unit.

The first involves over half-a-million dollars of cocaine seized from a speeding vehicle on Portage Avenue late last Thursday night.

The 20-year-old Ontario man was pulled over by traffic cops, who noticed what police described as “suspicious” behaviour.

A drug dog sniffed out 16 kilograms of coke with a street value of about $560,000.

The second drug bust involves pot at Winnipeg’s train station.

Officers doing training with their dogs at Union Station Monday found two suitcases stuffed with marijuana.

Almost 47 pounds of pot worth $140,000 was recovered.

The alleged Alberta-based owner of the luggage was also on the train was arrested in Winnipeg.

Read More in tomorrow’s Winnipeg Sun