Ponzi trial of former talk-radio star Craig Carton - Convicted

Former WFAN morning show host Craig Carton was found guilty on all fraud charges he faced in connection to a Ponzi ticket brokering scam. Carton could face as much as 45 years in prison at sentencing. The money he stole went to pay personal expenses, including his large gambling loans. Carton blew big bucks at casinos -- even borrowing money from loan sharks to fund casino trips. His defense admitted in closing arguments that he had lied to investors about how their money would be used.

Carton had maintained complete innocence leading into the trial, arguing that it was not a crime as long as he intended to eventually refund the money.

Former sports talk-radio star Craig Carton used his high-profile position to get people to invest with him and then cheated them, prosecutors said. Carton, the longtime host of a morning drive-time talk show with former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, was charged last year with using false statements to raise $4m from investors. Carton ran up millions in losses with two casinos, plus a debt of $825,000. According to authorities, Carton and co-defendant Michael Wright ripped off investors of as much as $4.6m in the Ponzi scheme.

"I'm not pleading to anything because I firmly believe that when the facts come out you'll see that I was running a legitimate legal business. I think my case stands up on its own merit." said Carton.

Dave 'Shaky' Atwell - HA police informer

Between 2005 and 2007, Dave 'Shaky' Atwell acted as a police informer, “ratting” on his fellow members of the Hells Angels in downtown Toronto. Wearing a wire, he gathered evidence that helped convict 15 men, mostly on drug trafficking charges. Atwell became a sergeant-at-arms of the Angels’ downtown Toronto chapter.

He became one of the highest-ranking members in the world to co-operate with the law.

His information lead to 169 charges against 31 people linked to the Hells Angels, as well as the seizure of $3 million in drugs, cash and property. Atwell, now 52, is living under a different name and says those who were convicted are now out of jail. His book is entitled "The Hard Way Out: My Life with the Hells Angels and Why I Turned Against Them." Atwell knows that the people he betrayed may still have an eye out for him but that the club has likely moved on and are focused on money.

Atwell was paid handsomely for working with the cops. In total, he netted about $450,000.

Leuze-en-Hainaut residents not overjoyed with HA clubhouse - Update

Leuze-en-Hainaut is in Belgium. It is home to a new chapter of the Hells Angels, opened 6 months ago. Residents in the area have complained of the noise and increased sense of insecurity. All prefer not to be identified. They complain of motorcycles at 2:00am and how the gang arrives in convoy, slamming doors and shouting. When approached they hurl obscenities and threats.

About a thousand people including 450 Hells Angels attended the funeral of Nyssen.

A trial for some 10 gangsters has concluded in Liège. 70 policemen were posted to Liege for the murder trial of victim Jean-François Nyssen. The Hells Angel died after being stabbed several times in the throat. 'Frédéric D' rode with Mongols and Black Pistons to Oupeye to attack the Hells Angels. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail.

The Outlaws have a strong presence in Belgium.

The Hells Angels have eight chapters in Belgium. The first was created in 1997 in Ghent.

Georgian Criminals flood Europe as 'asylum seekers'

In 2016, the EU and Georgia entered into a visa waiver agreement, and Georgians may now reside for up to 90 days at a time within the Schengen area without a visa. Since then, several countries have experienced a sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers from the former Soviet republic.

Danish police found a four-fold rise in Georgian asylum seekers was followed by a five-fold increase in crimes committed by Georgians. Police in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia warned this winter of a steadily increasing number of Georgian asylum seekers, who simply used the waiting period in the asylum system to commit crime in Germany.

A shadow economy, nepotism, and extreme corruption have always existed in Georgia. It is not a coincidence that Georgians constitute the majority of all thieves-in-law in the world.

No "Italian cafés" for Jonathan Mignacca - Parole Board

In the end he was left with a prison term of six years and seven months.

Jonathan Mignacca, 33, appeared before the Parole Board of Canada last week. In September 2011, Raynald Desjardins and Mignacca’s cars were parked in a way that allowed them to talk to each other while still in their vehicles. A hitman emerged from a nearby wooded area and opened fire on both vehicles using an AK-47. Mignacca discharged a Glock pistol in reply, while Desjardins fled. One of the bullets fired by Mignacca during the exchange struck a Laval city bus that happened to be passing by.

In December 2016, Desjardins pleaded guilty to plotting to kill Salvatore Montagna and was sentenced to a 14-year prison term.

His release comes with conditions, including one that forbids him from “Italian cafés” — namely the hangouts for organized crime figures. According to the summary, Mignacca “fully understand(s) what is meant by Italian cafés.”

Raynald Desjardins's BMW after the 2011 shooting.

Meth Lab bust in Enderby

It’s been a week since police first arrived on rural Trinity Valley Road near Enderby, B.C. The usually quiet area has been overrun by cops. Nothing has been released but most suspect a Meth lab is being dismantled.

In May 2014 the same Trinity Valley Road property was busted with a meth lab. 6 were arrested.

The Glasgow Smile

'Sons of Anarchy' actor Tommy Flanagan was given a Glasgow smile when he was attacked outside a bar in Scotland.

A Glasgow smile is a wound caused by making a cut from the corners of a victim's mouth up to the ears, leaving a scar in the shape of a smile. It leaves a scar which causes the victim to appear to be smiling broadly.

It is usually performed with a utility knife or a piece of broken glass. The practice is said to have originated in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1920s and '30s.

Cocaine overdoses up 22% in US, UK

Overdose deaths from cocaine rose 22 percent from a year earlier to 14,205, according to data from the CDC. U.S. deaths from cocaine have increased by more than 250% since the beginning of 2015. The trend is similar in the UK.

Cocaine purity has risen steadily with production while prices have fallen. The EU says the purity of street-level cocaine is at its highest levels ever. Crack carries a high risk of death as addicts often push cardiovascular and respiratory systems to collapse.

Former Hells Angels Richard 'Dick' Mayrand's 'quiet life'

The Parole Board of Canada praised former elite Nomads Hells Angels Richard Mayrand's "considerable" progress and efforts. It noted he has been "without incident" for three years. He will no longer need to disclose his personal finances to the federal correctional service, which is one of the conditions he had to comply with since serving the last third of his sentence in the community. Mayrand led the powerful Nomads when Maurice 'Mom' Boucher was arrested in December 1997 for the murders of two correctional officers. He was one of the influential HA who negotiated a truce with the Rock Machine and Bandidos in December 2000. It ended a biker war that killed more than 150 people in six years in Quebec.

August 5, 2000. From left to right top: Michel Rose (22 years), Donald 'Pup' Stockford (20 years), Gilles 'Trooper' Mathieu (20 years), Richard 'Dick' Mayrand (22 years), Denis Houle (20 years), David 'Wolf' Carroll (not arrested). From left to right bottom: Walter 'Nurget' Stadnick (20 years), René Charlébois (20 years), Normand Robitaille (21 years), Maurice 'Mom' Boucher (Life)

In 2004, he was sentenced to 22 years in jail for conspiracy to murder, drug trafficking and gangsterism. Mayrand left the Hells Angels on good terms in 2009, 25 years after refusing to turn his back on them when they killed his older brother Michel in the infamous 1985 Lennoxville massacre. It's said he turned to religion and philosophy while incarcerated. He volunteers with aid agencies for the poor.

Spanish Police land six tonnes of Cocaine

Spanish police seized over six tonnes of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas and arrested 16. The raid in the port of Malaga also netted 300,000 euros, guns and luxury vehicles.

The operation broke up a trafficking ring made up of well-known Dutch criminals based on Spain’s Costa del Sol. The cocaine was hidden in a banana shipment that arrived by boat in Portugal and was then transported by truck to Malaga in southern Spain. In April, Spanish police made a record seizure of nearly nine tonnes of cocaine in a shipping container that was also carrying bananas in the southern port of Algeciras.

Spain is the main entry point to Europe for cocaine, mostly from Colombia.

HA Larry Amero shoots for release before Trial

High profile HA Larry Amero was arrested in Ottawa in January and brought to B.C. on charges that he plotted to kill Sandip Duhre and Sukh Dhak. In 2012 Amero was arrested in Montreal and charged in a major cocaine trafficking case. He remained in pretrial custody in Quebec until his charges were stayed in 2017 after his lawyer successfully argued that the delay was unconstitutional. Amero's 3 day hearing will conclude Friday.

Pirates of the Mediterranean: Mafia-style fish poachers

France’s Calanques national park has stepped up patrols to protect its endangered species and ecosystem. It has fallen prey to a brutal type of organized underwater crime. Four men have been convicted over a major poaching operation.

For years, they had crept into the park’s protected sea zones and stole huge quantities of endangered fish to sell illegally to restaurants in Marseille.

They went out in the early morning, at night or in bad weather, dropping off divers by boat and hiding their catch underwater or in secret compartments under the boats. All had regular jobs. They made over $200,000 after stealing at least 4.5 tonnes of fish and seafood between 2015 and 2017. Their catch ranged from sea urchins and octopus to the endangered dusky grouper and corb – all stolen from protected no-fishing zones. Wire taps revealed the men who claimed they had “a passion for the sea” cared nothing for conservation, only money. The poachers believed that they could operate their crime with complete impunity. Experts pointed out that priceless marine life had been plundered for rock bottom black-market prices.

127 kg cocaine intercepted in blackberries

A Guelph man has been arrested after trying to cross from the United States to Canada with 127kg of cocaine in his transport truck. The man told officers he was transporting from Port Huron to Sarnia, via Texas. His truck underwent an x-ray, where four anomalies were found in the cab.

112 vacuum-sealed packages tested positive for cocaine. The man was arrested. He had crossed into the United States in the same truck 25 times since April.

Mick Hawi alleged killers in the news

Ahmad 'Adam' Doudar

The accused assassins of bikie crime boss Mick Hawi had access to internal police radio conversations using a black market transmitter. The Lone Wolf bikie gang members were allegedly eavesdropping on police. Tow-truck driver Moustafa Salami was arrested and charged with being an accessory after the fact of murder. Tusuf Nazlioglu, 37, and Ahmad 'Adam' Doudar, 38, have been charged with the targeted killing.

Yusuf Nazlioglu

Nazlioglu used to look at Hawi as a mentor. The Lone Wolf bikies were under pressure to pay Hawi $300,000 at the time of the killing.

See ----->Sydney Police raid homes in relation to Mahmoud 'Mick' Hawi's execution
See ----->Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi executed - Update