True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

15-Year-Old Charged in Carjack Murder of Retired Chicago Firefighter

By HardBoiledNews Staff

These carjackers fatally shot retired firefighter Dwain Williams

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the carjacking slaying of a retired Chicago firefighter earlier this month outside a Chicago popcorn shop.

Prosecutors say the teen, who is not being identified because he is charged as a juvenile, was part of a carjacking crew that had been working the area. On Dec. 3, the gang set their sites on 65-year-old Dwain Williams, following him in a stolen car to Let’s Get Poppin’.

“The time it took to follow and lay in wait for the victim shows a calculated plan,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Sophia David.

Surveillance camera video showed Williams walking toward his Jeep with a bag of popcorn in his hand, when is approached by two people with guns, authorities said.

Williams then retreats behind his car as one suspect rushes toward him with a gun. Williams pulls out his own gun and fires. The suspect falls to the ground, fires off a shot and jumps back in the car and flees.

In the altercation, Williams was shot in the stomach. He later died at a local hospital.

Authorities say the teen was unarmed at the time of the shooting and doesn’t appear to be the gunman who killed Williams. Police, however, have recovered a weapon and are testing it to see if it was used in the shooting.

The judge ordered him held in custody.

The gang’s stolen vehicle was found abandoned two days later. Prosecutors said DNA and fingerprints recovered from the car, as well as witnesses who identified him in still photos taken from surveillance footage, eventually led to the teen’s arrest.

He faces multiple counts of first-degree murder, as well as a count of armed robbery, officials said. No charges against any other suspects have been announced.

Cops say detectives are interviewing an adult, allegedly involved in the murder, and were still searching for two other adults.

Williams was a Chicago Fire Department lieutenant and retired about two years ago, officials said. He was about to return to work as a civilian employee at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Wanted Drug Kingpin Caught After Decades Using Dead Infant’s Name

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Howard Farley had gotten numerous passports and driver’s licenses in the dead child’s name

OCALA, Florida — A wanted drug kingpin who had been on the lam for 35 years has finally been caught after authorities caught him trying to renew a passport using the identity of an infant who died in 1955.

Federal prosecutors say 72-year-old Howard Farley disappeared in 1985 after being indicted with 73 others, for running a major drug ring out of Nebraska. 

Authorities described Farley as the kingpin behind the ring, known as the Southern Line, a railroad line the traffickers used to distribute drugs around the country.

At the time, prosecutors alleged Farley, known by the nickname the “Big H,” began running the drug ring in June 1979, bringing in narcotics, including cocaine and LSD, through Florida before shipping them north.

While his 73 co-defendants were tried, Farley was never apprehended and had lived in plain sight in Weirsdale, Florida ever since, prosecutors say.

But earlier this year, the feds began zeroing in on him when he tried to renew a passport using the name, social security number and date of birth of a 3-month-old child who died in 1955.

An investigation revealed that Farley had been using the identity since the 1980s and had gotten driver’s licenses and even a pilot license in that name. He had even travelled abroad using the assumed identity.

On Dec. 2, Farley was arrested at his Florida  home on charges of passport fraud.

A fingerprint comparison confirmed that he was  indeed Howard D. Farley, Jr., the same person wanted in Nebraska since 1985. 

At the time of his arrest, Farley was attempting to board his private aircraft in the hangar at his home.  During the execution of a search warrant, authorities recovered a firearm from inside Farley’s home. 

He faces up to 10 years in federal prison on the passport fraud charge and will now finally face the music on the decades-old drug charges.

Eleven Shot in Wild Mississippi Biker Bar Gun Battle

By HardBoiledNews Staff

11 bikers were wounded in the gun fight at this Mississippi biker club

GRENADA, Mississippi — At least 11 people were wounded during what cops said was a “mass shooting” at a Mississippi motorcycle club. 

The shooting occurred at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday at the SSMC private club, a popular biker spot in the town of Grenada, cops said.

No one was killed, but multiple people were treated for gunshot wounds and at least one was airlifted to the hospital. 

Police say it was unclear what triggered the gun battle and no arrests had yet been made. Cops said some of those injured were from outside the county and had gone home shortly after receiving treatment at the local hospital, which had slowed the investigation’s progress, according to the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi. 

Biker Racing With Big Bag of Meth Wrecks, Shoots Self, is Hit by Car, Lives

By HardBoiledNews Staff

KANSAS CITY, Kansas — It just wasn’t his day.

A man carrying a large bag of meth wrecked his motorcycle during a drag race and then accidentally shot himself before being hit by a passing car, cops said.

The Kansas City, Kansas police department said the man was racing on his bike Thursday night when he “lost control and wrecked.”

During the crash, a gun the man had tucked into his waistband went off, shooting him in the hip. After he came to a rest, a passing car hit him and fled the scene, cops said.

He was taken to a local hospital with critical but non-life-threatening injuries. 

The man, whose name was not released, had a felony record, and officers discovered a “large bag of suspected methamphetamine” in his motorcycle, cops said.

Former Ga. Cop Gets 15 Years For Moonlighting as Gang Member

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Vancito Gumbs

ATLANTA — A former  Georgia cop convicted of moonlighting as a hitman for a violent criminal gang has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Vancito Gumbs, 28, of Stone Mountain, Georgia had boasted of being a hitman for the Gangster Disciples while working as a Dekalb County cop, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities said Gumbs had relayed sensitive law enforcement information to the gang and provided a firearm to a fellow gang member.

Gumbs’ family has argued that he was never guilty of being a killer but rather prone to boasting about himself. A military veteran, they have said he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

At the heart of the case against him was a 2015 text message Gumbs sent to a woman in which he claimed: “I’m a gd hitman.” Prosecutors said he was talking about the Gangster Disciples, although his lawyers argued “gd” meant “goddamn.”

He was convicted of racketeering in 2019.

The Gangster Disciples are a national gang with roots in Chicago dating back to the 1970s and have held responsible for 24 shootings from 2011 through 2015, including 12 murders, prosecutors said.

They say Gumbs had been photographed flashing a hand sign used by the Gangster Disciples and had been caught on recorded calls talking to a chief enforcer for the gang while employed as a DeKalb County police officer.

Evidence showed that during these calls, Gumbs relayed law enforcement information to the gang and provided a firearm to a fellow gang member. On later calls, the enforcer noted that he had Gangster Disciples police officers at his disposal.

The jury found that Gumbs remained involved with the gang even while knowing they were involved in murder.

Illegal ‘Rumble in the Bronx’ Fight Club Busted for Not Social Distancing

By HardBoiledNews Staff

NEW YORK — The first rule about fight club is not to violate Covid restrictions.

An illegal New York fight club, known as the “Rumble in the Bronx,” was busted up when authorities found more than 200 people crammed into a warehouse and many not wearing masks.

The New York City Sheriff raided the Bronx club over the weekend and found drugs guns and booze being illegally sold in addition to the unlicensed combat. 

Ten organizers were arrested and hit with charges for breaking social-distancing orders, illegally warehousing alcohol and running an illegal fight club.

The fight club would have been illegal before the pandemic, but got caught up as New York officials crack down on large scale gatherings as the number of coronavirus cases in the city has been on the rise.

The state recently capped private indoor and outdoor gatherings statewide to 10 people, and gyms, bars and restaurants must close at 10 p.m.

Man Gets Life for Chopping Off Marijuana Dispensary Owner’s Penis

By HardBoiledNews Staff

 

Hossein Nayeri had believed the victim was stashing cash in the desert

SANTA ANA, California — A man who burned a marijuana dispensary owner with a blow torch and cut off his penis during a brutal shakedown attempt has been sentenced to three life sentences.

Hossein Nayeri, 41, was one of four men charged with the vicious kidnapping and assault on the dispensary owner in an effort to get him to reveal places in the desert the co-conspirators believed he had been stashing money, prosecutors said.

“The devastating depraved heart and extreme intelligence allowed this individual to inflict unimaginable horror on his victims,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Despite his best efforts to avoid capture, Orange County law enforcement was relentless in pursuing justice.”

The terrifying plot began in 2012 when one of Nayeri’s pals, Kyle Shirakawa Handley, 41, met the victim during an extravagant weekend in Las Vegas he hosted for his marijuana suppliers. Handley had been a grower and sold marijuana to the man.

After the trip to Las Vegas, Handley told Nayeri and their friend, Ryan Kevorkian, that the victim was extremely wealthy and they hatched a plan to kidnap and rob him.

Prosecutors say the men followed the victim for weeks as he made frequent trips to the desert, believing he was stashing cash there. In fact, the victim had been making trips to discuss a possible investment deal.

On Oct. 2, 2012, Handley, Nayeri, and Kevorkian broke into the victim’s Newport Beach home, zip-tied his wrists, severely beat him and forced him into a van. They also kidnapped the girlfriend of his roommate and drove them to the desert. They then sexually mutilated the victim by cutting off his penis, according to prosecutors. 

They then poured bleach on the victim in an effort to destroy any DNA evidence and dumped both zip-tied victims on the side of the road. The woman was not physically harmed.

The men took the victim’s penis with them so that it could never be reattached. The woman managed to get her feet free and ran over a mile to a main road in the dark, where she flagged down a police car. The dispensary owner spent an extensive period of time in the hospital recovering from his injuries. 

Cops were able to tie Handley to the attack after reviewing security footage from near the victim’s home and spotting Handley’s car surveilling the man’s house. Investigators later discovered Nayeri’s DNA on evidence linked to the kidnapping. Handley was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to two life terms. 

Nayeri then fled to Iran but was captured by the FBI in 2013 as he travelled through the Czech Republic to visit family in Spain. In 2016, he escaped from the Orange County Jail with another man and kidnapping a cab driver and forcing him to drive them to an Francisco where they were eventually caught.

Kevorkian and his ex-wife, Naomi Josette Rhodus, who was involved in formulating the plot, are awaiting trial.

Russia’s Sausage King Killed in Crossbow Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Vladimir Marugov owned some of Russia’s largest sausage factories

MOSCOW —  The Sausage King is dead. All hail the king.

Several intruders broke into a sauna at the home of a Russian meat tycoon known as the “Sausage King,” tied him and a woman up and demanded money before killing him with a crossbow, authorities said.

The woman managed to escape the attack in the Moscow region and alert the police but when officers arrived, 54-year-old Vladimir Marugov, owner of the “Ozyorsky” and “Meat Empire” sausage factories, was dead.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said the intruders had demanded that Marugov hand over cash kept at his home but then opened fire with the crossbow before fleeing in a car.

Investigators managed to find the weapon and the getaway vehicle in a village in the suburbs of Istra, a town west of Moscow where some affluent Russians have weekend homes.

Police say they have taken a 49-year-old Moscow man into custody in connection to the slaying.

Cop Charged With Making Illegal Guns for Outlaw Biker Gangs

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Gregg Marinelli is charged with making guns to sell to biker gangs

PLATTEKILL, New York — A New York police officer has been charged with manufacturing dozens of illegal handguns and assault rifles and selling them to outlaw motorcycle gang members, authorities said.

Gregg Marinelli, 38, who is a sergeant with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection Police, is accused of making the guns — including at least one fully automatic assault rifle — in his Plattekill home.

He then allegedly sold them to people who are legally barred from possessing weapons because they had felony convictions, such as members of outlaw motorcycle groups.

Marinelli is accused of using his marked police car to sometimes deliver the guns, which had no serial numbers, making them hard to trace.

Authorities say the investigation into Marinelli arose out of a recent drug trafficking case, dubbed “Operation Bread, White and Blues,” which looked as cocaine and pain pill trafficking by members and associates of self-professed “outlaw” motorcycle clubs. During that probe, investigators learned that Marinelli alerted a suspect that he was a target.

Investigators recovered numerous guns, gun parts and tools used to manufacture weapons at Marinelli’s home. State Police have also recovered 13 handguns and assault rifles from others which were manufactured and sold by Marinelli.

He faces a slew of charges including criminal sale and criminal possession of a firearm and hindering prosecution. He is being held on $600,000 bond.

Woman Named Meth Jailed For Killing Prison Inmate With Meth

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Johna Martinez-Meth lived up to her name

FAIRFIELD, California — What’s in a name?

A woman whose last name is Meth has been sentenced to two years for smuggling meth into a prison, killing an inmate who died after swallowing balloons containing the drugs, authorities said.

Johna Martinez-Meth, 46, of Clearlake, California, had been accused of sneaking the drugs to an inmate at a prison medical facility in Vacaville in May 2018, prison officials said,

The scheme was uncovered when the inmate,  Adrian Sepulveda, 46, who was serving a life sentence for murder, died, An autopsy showed he had swallowed several balloons filled with methamphetamine, officials said.

When investigators realized that Martinez-Meth was the last person to visit Sepulveda, they got a search warrant for her house where they found more meth, balloons and glue. She was arrested and later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

“[The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] is committed to stopping the flow of drugs into our prisons,” said Bryan Shill, deputy chief of CDCR’s Office of Correctional Safety. “Our investigators will diligently pursue those who smuggle narcotics into any state correctional facility, and we will seek justice through aggressive prosecution of violators.”

 

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine Faces Life For Alleged Role in Violent Street Gang

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The 22-year-old rapper has openly boasted in his songs about his gang connections

NEW YORK — Platinum-selling rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has been charged with being part of a vicious street gang that pushed drugs and shot numerous people, including an innocent bystander at the Barclays Center earlier this year.

The 22-year-old rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was one of five alleged members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, a brutal Brooklyn street gang, charged in a federal racketeering indictment. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

At 6ix9ine’s arraignment, the judge deemed him a danger to the community and a flight risk and ordered him held without bail.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman noted that there was “troubling” evidence offered by prosecutors that showed that 6ix9ine directed or participated in multiple acts of violence over the last eight months.

“The defendant is quite violent,” prosecutor Michael Longyear said.

Longyear said 6ix9ine was captured on surveillance video sitting in a car and filming his co-defendants carry out a violent robbery against a rival gang member in Times Square.

6ix9ine also was caught on video boasting about shots recently fired by a co-defendant inside the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, Longyear said.

The rapper’s lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, said his client had fired some of his co-defendants as part of his management and security team last week and was offered protection by federal agents on Saturday after some of them were overheard on wiretaps threatening his life. 6ix9ine refused the offer, Lazzaro said.

6ix9ine’s album “Day69: Graduation Day” was among the top records on iTunes following its February release. He is known for the multiplatinum hit “Fefe” with Nicki Minaj, which peaked at No. 3 on the pop charts, and “Stoopid,” featuring the incarcerated rapper Bobby Shmurda.

But 6ix9ine also has had a series of run-ins with law enforcement and has publicly identified himself as a member of the violent Bloods gang.

Prosecutors said the gang carried out acts of murder, robbery and narcotics trafficking in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn since at least 2013.

6ix9ine recently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Brooklyn in connection with a May traffic stop.

In a 2015 case in New York, 6ix9ine was sentenced to probation for his involvement in a sexually explicit video of a 13-year-old girl.

The video, posted on social media, showed the girl performing a sex act on another man while 6ix9ine “stands behind the child making a thrusting motion with his pelvis and smacking her on her buttocks,” according to court documents.

 

NJ Shrink Busted for Paying Gangster to Disfigure Man Shaking Her Down

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The NJ shrink thought she was hiring a paid killer, but was stalking to an undercover FBI agent instead

CAMDEN, New Jersey (Nov. 8, 2018) — A screwy shrink has been busted for trying to hire a hitman to brutally beat a man who she said was shaking her down for cash, saying: “he needs his pretty little face bashed in.”

Diane Sylvia, 58, a mental health counselor in Linwood, New Jersey, began trying to arrange to attack in September, when she asked one of her patients — a former member of a violent gang — if he could help her kill someone, prosecutors said.

She said the man, who lives in Massachusetts, “had been bilking her for money over the years,” and she wanted him hurt, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

The former gang member, however, contacted the FBI, who had him introduce Sylvia to an undercover agent acting as a hitman. She told the agent that she didn’t really want the target dead, but rather beaten and permanently disfigured.

“He needs his pretty little face bashed in, that’s what I really want,” she was quoted as saying. She later added that “a broken arm would help, too,” explaining that “all he has is, like, his big muscles and his cute face.”

She later repeated, “I really just want his face punched in, I swear to God. And his arm broken, that’s what I want.” When the undercover agent asked why Sylvia wanted to do this, she claimed the man “ended up with some stuff on me that he was gonna report me to the licensing board, which means I have no job.”

When asked how assaulting this man would help Sylvia, she replied, “It’s just gonna make me feel better” and “it’s the only way I can get him back.”

The agent then told her to get a pre-paid phone for them to further discuss the assault. In further meetings, at Sylvia’s officer, she said she wanted an attack, that would disfigure the target.

“Something that makes him not so cute,” she said, while making a slashing motion on her chee. “Something so he can’t do push-ups, so he can’t work out.”

Sylvia then agreed to pay the undercover agent $5,000 and she was arrested. She was charged with one count of solicitation to commit a crime of violence, which carries a sentence of up to five years if she is convicted.

Heroin Dealer Connected to 27 Overdoses Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Karon Peoples admitted he’d communicated with 27 people who later suffered overdoses

BALTIMORE — A 24-year-old heroin dealer linked to 27 overdoses — nine of them fatal — has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Karon Elijah Peoples pleaded guilty in July to taking part in a drug ring that distributed between nine and 10 kilos of heroin in Baltimore from 2015 until early this year, federal prosecutors said.

Investigators began investigating Peoples in late 2017 after learning that he was supplying significant quantities of heroin to customers throughout Maryland.

Undercover officers bought drugs from Peoples on several occasions and a subsequent raid of his stash house in December netted 900 grams of heroin; $405,000 in cash, a money counter and digital scales. Officers also recovered 68 grams of heroin from his car.

As part of the haul, investigators discovered 49 cell phones that Peoples and his crew had been using. A search of the phones’ records revealed that Peoples had been contacted by 27 people who later suffered overdoses. Nine of those people died.

The victims hailed from Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, prosecutors said.

Investigators were unable to prove that Peoples had sold the people the drugs on which they overdosed, so he only pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin. Peoples was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison.

“Heroin dealers like Karon Peoples sell death and despair.  Heroin is one of the leading causes of death in Maryland—and many victims are teenagers,” said Maryland U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.  “We will continue to work with our local, state, and federal partners to attack this problem from all sides to reduce overdose deaths.

 

Women Charged With Selling Marijuana Edibles at Georgia Church

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cops say the women were selling edible marijuana baked goods, puddings and cereal bars

SAVANNAH, Georgia — Holy smokes!

Two women were arrested after undercover narcotics agents caught them openly selling marijuana edibles at a Georgia church, officials said.

Ebony Cooper, 28, and Leah Presley, 26, were busted after the event for entrepreneurs at the church in Savannah, where Cooper had been selling baked goods, puddings and other treats laced with marijuana.

When agents with the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team spotted the sale, they purchased several items from Cooper. They then followed her after she left and eventually pulled her and Presley over and searched their vehicle.

Inside, officers found a large amount of pot edibles plus $1,000 in cash and a loaded handgun, cops said.

Both women face felony drug charges, although cops say Presley didn’t appear to be involved in the sale at the church event. Officers also determined that Cooper had been actively hawking her wares online as well.

Leah Presley (L) and Ebony Cooper

Police say the event at the church was run by an outside vendor, and that church officials appeared to have no knowledge of the drug dealing. The other vendors at the event all appeared to be involved in legal businesses, cops say.

Authorities Discover Crack Pipe Vending Machines Installed in Public Places

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Officials found three such vending machines seling crack pipes

CORAM, New York — Officials seized three vending machines that purported to be selling pens but actually dispensed carefully disguised crack pipes.

The blue-and-white dispensers mysteriously appeared outside a housing complex, a Home Depot and shopping mall on Long Island.

But while the machines offered “pens” for $2, a close inspection of what came out revealed a hidden glass tube and set of filters — a virtual crack pipe kit.

Authorities were alerted to the machines after residents grew angry and, in one case, smashed one of them open with a sledgehammer.

“There are some people who think they’re going to make some money out of this and prey on a community and promote drug use in a community,” Brookhaven Town supervisor Ed Romaine said at a news conference. “They’re going to be sadly mistaken.”

Officials pulled up three machines over the weekend on the grounds that they violated local codes against alerting public property.

While three machines have been located, officials said they couldn’t be certain there weren’t others and asked the public to report any more that they had seen.

 

Cops Discover Police Arsenal Has Been Secretly Replaced with Toy Guns

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cops only realized their guns were missing when they started showing up on the black market

CAPIATA, Paraguay — Talk about stealing someone’s thunder.

Police in Paraguay discovered that a cache of their weapons had been stolen and replaced with plastic toy guns.

An inspection of the department’s armory revealed that at least 42 FN-FAL battle rifles had gone missing, the BBC reported.

The probe was triggered after cops realized that their rifles had fallen into criminal hands.

The weapons had been stashed in the armory in the city of Capiata as the department was in the process of upgrading its officers weapons.

Authorities believe the guns are likely destined for the black markets in Argentina, Brazil and beyond.

Fugitive Eco-Terrorist Nabbed In Cuba After 12 Years On the Run

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Fugitive Joseph Mahmoud Dibee was last seen in the U.S. in 2005.

PORTLAND, Oregon  — One of the last remaining fugitive members of a dangerous eco-terrorist group behind a string of arson fires that caused millions of dollars in damage has been caught after more than a decade on the lam, the FBI said.

Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, 50, was apprehended after investigators got a tip he was traveling through Central America on his way to Russia with a planned stop in Cuba, according to court documents.

With the help of Cuban authorities, Dibee was arrested there before boarding a plane bound for Moscow and was then sent back to the United States to face justice.

Dibee was a member of “The Family,” a notorious band of environmental radicals who set more than 40 arson fires at development sites in the Western United States between1995 and 2001. The fires caused more than $45 million in damages, with a 1998 arson attack on a ski resort in Vail, Colorado its most brazen act. That blaze caused $26 million in damages.

A fire set by The Family at a Vail, Colorado ski resort in 1998

Dibee fled the U.S. in December 2005. The following year, he was indicted along with 11 co-conspirators and has been on the run since.

“The crimes they committed were serious and dangerous,” said Special Agent Tim Suttles, who has been working on the investigation since 2004. “Just because time passes doesn’t mean the FBI forgets. We are very gratified to have Dibee in custody.”

Dibee’s capture leaves one fugitive from the group still at large. Josephine Sunshine Overaker, a U.S. citizen believed to be either 43 or 46 years old, fled to Europe in late 2001 and hasn’t been seen since.

“She’s the last one,” Suttles said, explaining that Overaker faces 19 felony counts in Oregon, Colorado, and Washington State. “We will continue to pursue her and to run down every lead that comes to us. We’re not going to give up just because time has passed.”

Georgia Sheriff in Hot Water for Buying $70K Muscle Car With Federal Grant

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The Gwinnett County sheriff bought this $70K muscle car with cash it got from a federal grant

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia — The U.S. justice department is demanding tis money back from a Georgia sheriff who used a government grant to buy a $70,000 muscle car that he uses to drive to and from work.

In a letter to Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway  the DOJ characterized the purchase of a Dodge Charger Hellcat — a 707-horsepower muscle car that some have called the fastest sedan ever built — as “extravagant.”

The purchase of the vehicle, which was paid for with federal asset forfeiture funds, was initially approved, but now the feds are questioning if the Hellcat is being used for what the department said they planned to use it for.

Conway stands behind the purchase.

“Sheriff Conway maintains that this vehicle is an appropriate purchase, especially for an agency with a $92 million budget and the opportunity this vehicle provides in making our roadways safer,” Deputy Shannon Volkodav, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The initial application said the car could  be used for a program that stages drag races in controlled environments to educate drivers about the dangers of illegal street racing. The department also said the car could be sued to undercover and covert operations.

But the DOJ questioned the car was a legitimate purchase.

“The vehicle in question is a high-performance vehicle not typically purchased as part of a traditional fleet of law enforcement vehicles,” the department wrote in a letter to the sheriff.

The sheriff’s office defended the claim, saying he sheriff also used it “when he participates in field operations, covert and otherwise, with our deputies.

13-Year-Old Beheaded by Drug Dealers After Seeing Grandmother Killed

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Oralia Mendoza (l) was stabbed and 13-year-old Mariah Lopez beheaded in a drug deal gone bad

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A 13-year-old girl with special needs was beheaded by drug dealers after witnessing them stab her grandmother to death in an Alabama cemetery, investigators said.

The grisly slayings came at the end of a drug deal gone bad, as the grandmother, Oralia Mendoza, who was associated with the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, went with three others, including her boyfriend, to pick up a batch of methamphetamine in Georgia.

After one of Mendoza’s drug partners grew suspicious that she was going to set them up, the gang drove her and her granddaughter, Mariah Lopez, to a cemetery in Owens Cross Road.

There they stabbed Mendoza and left her to die. They then marched Lopez into the woods where they beheaded her, Investigator Stacy Rutherford told a Madison County judge, according to AL.com.

Israel Palomino, 34, and 26-year-old Yoni Aguilar — who was Mendoza’s boyfriend — have been charged with two counts each of capital murder. Investigators say Aguilar confessed and also pointed the finger at Palomino.

The cross-state drug trip began on June 2, when Palomino, Aguilar, Mendoza and a woman named Leticia Garcia went to pick up a quarter kilo of meth in Norcross, Georgia. At some point, on the way back, Palomino grew concerned that Mendoza was setting them up, Rutherford testified.

On June 4, Mendoza was told she and Lopez would be taken somewhere safe, but were instead taken to the cemetery where Mendoza was killed.  Because Lopez witnessed the slaying, the suspects took her to a secluded area in the woods to kill her.

Yoni Aguilar (l) and Israel Palomino face capital murder charges

In his statement, Aguilar said Palomino forced him to kill the girl. “He said he was fearful of Israel,” Rutherford testified.

Three days later, Lopez’s body was found. Less than an hour after police released a description of the girl’s clothes to the media, her mother came in and said she believed it was her daughter who had been missing. Mendoza’s body was found a week later after cops zeroed in on Aguilar and Palomino.

 

Gang Members Charged With Carving Crew’s Name on 15-Year-Old’s Chest

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The attackers were members of M.O.B. 662, a Bloods gang affiliate in Michigan

FLINT, Michigan — Four ruthless gang members have been charged with brutally beating a 15-year-old boy and carving their crew’s name on his chest with a knife, prosecutors said.

The assault occurred last November, when the four members of M.O.B. 662 — a local affiliate of the notorious Bloods — spotted the teen selling marijuana in Genesee Township, Michigan. They then assaulted the boy, robbed him and carved their crew’s name into his chest, federal prosecutors said.

“This case is a stark reminder that the influence of violent street gangs extends beyond the big cities and into smaller communities such as our own,” said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton.

Doniel “Dee Red” Heard of Canton, Talasha Willis of Flint, Kimberly “Boss Lady” Perryman of Mt. Morris, and Alina White of Waterford are each charged with a count of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, and a count of interference with commerce by robbery.

Prosecutors say the gang members committed the vicious attack in order to “gain entrance to, maintain, and increase their positions in the gang.”

Inmate Convicted in Plot to Kill Ex-Wife With Mail Bomb from Dark Web

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Michael James used a contraband cell phone to organize the mail bomb plot from behind bars

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — A jail inmate serving a 50-year sentence for killing his father-in-law, has been convicted of trying to murder his ex-wife with a package bomb he had bought on the dark web from behind bars.

Michael James Young, Jr., 32, had hatched the elaborate plot while serving time in a maximum security prison in South Carolina for a 2007 shopping mall shooting in which he wounded his wife and killed his father-in-law when he got in the way. Young pleaded guilty in 2011.

The bomb plot to get back at his ex-wife began when Young was able to get a cell phone and get onto the dark web — a secretive part of the Internet where illicit activity occurs, such as drug dealing, gun-running and the exchange of child pornography.

Early last year, Young made contact with a person he thought was a European arms dealer, but was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent. “Let me ask you this … could u possibly booby trap a box? So that as soon its opened … boom? Just curious,” Young asked.

Through the exchange, Young arranged for the purported arms dealer to send a package bomb to friend’s home in Irmo, South Carolina. A second pal, Vance “Dank” Volious received a shipping label with Young’s ex-wife’s name and address on it.

The person who received the bomb and Volious, then handed the package and address label to Tyrell Fears, who brought it to the post office and mailed it. The whole exchange was monitored by the FBI, and after Fears posted the package, he, Volious and Young were all arrested.

In addition to the bomb plot, Young had similarly used his contraband cell phone to operate an illicit marijuana dealing operation with Volious.

At the time of their arrests, the State newspaper reported that it was believed that Young wanted his ex-wife dead so she couldn’t testify against him if he were to win a retrial on his original conviction.

He and Volious face 45 years in prison when they are sentenced in the bomb plot. Fears pleaded guilty last year.

Brooklyn Mobsters Threatened Doc to Write Scripts for 230K Oxycodone Pills

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The mobsters admitted capitalizing on the opioid epidemic

NEW YORK — Two mobsters strong-armed a Brooklyn doctor into writing prescriptions for hundreds of thousands of Oxycodone pills by threatening to put a bullet in his head if he stopped, federal prosecutors said.

Anthony Grado, a 54-year-old foot soldier in the Luchese family, was caught on tape telling the doctor that he would feed him “to the f**king lions” if he ever wrote prescriptions without the family’s permission, prosecutors said.

The shakedown came to light as Grado and his accomplice, Lawrence Tranese, 55, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone in Brooklyn federal court.

The men admitted that they enlisted the help of other gangsters to fill the prescriptions and they would then sell them, the US Attorney’s office said. In all, they purloined 230,000 of the highly addictive pills through the scheme.

Grado used a mixture of threats and violence to keep the doctor in line.  At one point, Grado was recorded saying, “I’ll put a bullet right in your head,” if the doctor’s new prescription pads “go in anybody’s hands” but his.

Later, the doctor was stabbed by a Luchese associate on Grado’s orders, prosecutors said.

“Lucchese family member Grado imperiled our community, threatening a doctor to force him to write prescriptions for Oxycodone and then trafficking in the addictive drugs,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue. “Violent threats to a doctor by Mafia defendants, combined with their trafficking of Oxycodone pills, posed an especially serious danger to our community.”

The defendants face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million when sentenced.

 

3 Nine Trey Gangsters Convicted in 2015 Murder Spree That Killed 5 in Virginia

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Malek Lassiter (l), Nathaniel Mitchell and Anthony Simmons were convicted in a brutal 33-day killing spree

NORFOLK, Virginia — Three members of a brutal gang dubbed a “fraternity of death,” by prosecutors, have been convicted of a violent 33-day crime spree in 2015 in which five people were murdered and six others wounded.

It took a federal jury just five hours to convict the three members of the Nine Trey Gangsters who killed the victims for reasons stemming from witness intimidation, retaliation against perceived disrespect and robbery.

In one case, a woman was shot and killed because two gang members were vying to see who could kill more people and she was simply walking on the wrong side of the street, prosecutors said.

Antonio Lee Simmons, 38, who prosecutors described as the gang’s leader, faces multiple life sentences. Nathaniel Mitchell, 25, one of the gang’ “shooters” was found guilty of four of the killings and also faces numerous life sentences.

Malek Lassiter, a 22-year recruit who took part in the spree as part of his initiation into the gang,  faces a minimum of 85 years on racketeering and assault charges.

Three other gang members had previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the murder spree that stretched from Chesapeake, Norfolk and Portsmouth to Virginia Beach during the holiday season in 2015.

Trial testimony revealed that the bloody orgy of violence was triggered when Simmons got into trouble with his superiors for messing up the gang’s finances. The hope was that the spree would help him pay back the money. But it also stemmed from a war between Simmons and the leader of another line of Nine Trey Gangsters, which is a branch of the United Bloods Nation.

From approximately Thanksgiving through Christmas of 2015, the gang members murdered two men and three women, most of whom had no affiliation with the gang, prosecutors said.

Among the victims, Linda Lassiter, 48, and her boyfriend Wayne Davis, 48, were killed just weeks after speaking to the police about a gang-connected shooting at her daughter’s house.

Another victim, Al-Tariq Tynes, 26, was killed because gang members thought he was talking to police. His body was stuffed in the trunk of his car and driven around for days before he was dumped into a ditch.

Jamesha Roberts, 25, a young mother of two children under the age of five, was gunned down in Norfolk after her shift at the airport Starbucks. Trial testimony revealed that Mitchell was in a competition with another Nine Trey member to see who could shoot the most people,  and killed her for “walking on the wrong side of the street.”

Pimp Turned in By High School Teacher Mom After Prostituting Her Student

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Pimp Sean Hayes hit a little too close to home in finding a new worker for his escort business

MILWAUKEE — A mother’s love only goes so far.

A Milwaukee pimp was busted after his mother, who is a high school teacher, turned him in for prostituting one of her students.

Sean Hayes, 50, is accused of approaching the 17-year-old girl who was living in a group home as she waited for the bus, telling her she could be a model and giving her a card for “Shining Stars Adult Entertainment,” cops said.

The following day, Hayes had sex with her and then got her into the sex trade. Between August and October of last year, he had the girl — who worked under the name “Honey” — travel to Waukesha, Wauwatosa, Green Bay and Chicago to have sex for money, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, citing the criminal complaint.

But then the girl told her teacher at James E. Groppi High School, who happened to be Hayes’ mother, that she was working for him as an escort. She then called the cops.

Hayes has denied the allegations. He says he was approached by a girl by the name Honey, but that he wouldn’t let her work for him because she wouldn’t show him identification.

Hayes is scheduled to go to trial June 18 on sex trafficking charges.

 

Tennessee Drug Lord Who Shot His Own Son Convicted in Trafficking Case

By HardBoiledNews Staff

James “Boogie” Simonton’s drug empire was brought down after he shot his own son

GREENEVILLE, Tennessee — A cocaine kingpin was convicted of running a drug trafficking empire that only came to light when he shot his own son for knocking over his motorcycles.

James “Boogie” Simonton, 50, of Kingsport, Tennessee, faces a minimum of 15 years for his conviction in federal court on drug conspiracy and weapons charges.

Police initially caught wind of Simonton when his 23-year-old son, James Jr., and a 14-year-old pal, showed up at a local hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and in a car riddled with bullet holes.

The day before the shooting, police say the younger Simonton had knocked over four of his father’s motorcycles with his car, causing thousands of dollars in damage. The son had apparently accused his father of stealing his cell phone.

As detectives investigated they discovered that the elder Simonton and another of his sons had been involved in smuggling large amounts of crack cocaine from Georgia into Tennessee. They also found the weapon he used to shoot his son — a Hungarian-made AK-63 assault rifle — as well as other guns.

After his arrest, and while in a federal lock-up, investigators say Simonton threatened a cooperating witness against him in an effort to influence the person’s testimony.  Simonton was also convicted of intimidating a witness.