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SAN JOSE -- Police are looking for several men who stomped to death a 4-pound mini-Yorkshire terrier that was trying to protect its owner from an attack in San Jose over the weekend, authorities said. The dog's owner said he was walking the 6-year-old dog, Shadow, at Winchester Boulevard and Colonial Way about 2 p.m. Saturday when three men approached and asked if he was a gang member. The owner, a 32-year-old floor installer who asked that his name be withheld for safety reasons, said he had denied gang involvement, but the men attacked him anyway.

Video Linky Here It's one of the few politician-sponsored activities that should be free of controversy: a high school art contest. But an annual citywide competition to design the stickers affixed to every windshield in Chicago has suddenly become a public relations nightmare. The sticker, designed by 15-year-old Herbie Pulgar, depicts Chicago's famous skyline inside of a heart, with a backdrop of the city's blue and white flag. Extending up from the heart are four hands, and above them, symbols representing police officers, firefighters and paramedics.

<p>Chicago - City Clerk Susana Mendoza is investigating whether gang signs are in the artwork of the new Chicago city sticker just days before the sticker is set to be printed.</p> <p>The sticker was picked as the winner in a city-wide contest and was designed by a 15-year-old boy who attends a school for troubled youth.</p>

SNIPPET: "Chicago gangs are still spray-painting their graffiti on alley walls, train cars and viaducts — but they’re also using their smart phones and computers for “cyber-tagging,” according to the Chicago Crime Commission, which released an updated book on the city’s street gangs Thursday. They’re provoking their rivals with Internet graffiti and using social media to keep in touch with their associates, according to the commission. “They’re tagging websites with information that is provocative and incites violence,” said Jody Weis, former Chicago Police superintendent and president of the commission." SNIPPET: "Web chatter is a valuable tool for law enforcement officials...

The victim served in Vietnam until he was shot in the eye, McClay said. Since then, the Purple Heart recipient has worked in veterans support services, helping others find jobs. Police are searching for a gang of six teens who allegedly beat and seriously injured a 64-year-old Vietnam War veteran apparently "just for sport" in Olney Tuesday evening. The victim, whose name has not been released, was walking on the 5000 block of North 5th Street on his way to a bus stop about 6 p.m. when the assailants pounced. The teenagers were walking a short distance behind him when...

Member of Knesset Ahmad Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al-United Arab List) is scheduled to introduce a bill in the Knesset, Monday, that would deny approval to textbooks that use of the terms "gang" or "gang leader" to refer to Arabs who fought against the Jews before the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948 and would refer to them as "fighters". Under the measure, a team of Arab and Jewish historians would have to re-approve existing textbooks for further use. Knesset Legal Advisor Eyal Yinon cleared the bill for introduction, who did not view the proposal as seeking to undermine Israel's...

An anti-gun rights organization released their spin on a study regarding murder rates of 10 to 24 year olds in California. But, there is a disproportionate number of gang members included. What their spin omitted was the fact that the ten top counties for youth homicides in California are the hottest areas of the state's gang activity. And, even more relevant, how does any anti-gun rights group propose to disarm gang-bangers? There is no answer to that. But, there's plenty of propaganda. They listed the ten top California counties by homicide rate in the 10 to 24 year old group....

The U.S. government is reaching out to the private sector for help in implementing a new municipal crime-prevention program across the nation -- across the nation of El Salvador, that is. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates just a $25 million price tag for the "El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project" (Solicitation #SOL-519-12-000002); it should be noted, however, that the endeavor is only the latest in a series of such multi-year, U.S.- funded initiatives in El Salvador, which the agency says has "one of the highest rates of non-political violence in the world." In the last four...

"Mean looks" between groups of teens Tuesday night sparked a confrontation that led to the shooting deaths of two teens, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Thursday. Two other teens -- Jarrad Beard, 19, and his 16-year-old brother -- were arrested after the shootings. Dyer said the brothers, who were booked on two counts of murder each, are gang members. Beard was booked into the Fresno County Jail, while his brother was booked into the Juvenile Justice Center. Before announcing the arrests, Dyer expressed his condolences to the families of shooting victims Justin Hesketh, 18, and Brandon Moore, 16, both...

NOTE The following text SNIPPET is a quote: newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo082410.htm Two Additional Arrests Made of Members of Violent International Organized Crime Group Albanian Government Aide Arrested; Newly Unsealed Indictment Charges 17 Defendants with Murder, Kidnapping, and Other Racketeering Offenses PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JANICE K. FEDARCYK, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), and RAYMOND W. KELLY, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, announced the arrests of FLORIAN VESHI and ALMIR RRAPO for their roles in a racketeering enterprise that engaged...

When teen hoop star Tayshana Murphy was chased and shot dead by gang members in her project in Morningside Heights in September, few knew her death was a double tragedy. Despite being one of the city’s best high-school basketball players and a likely WNBA draft pick, Murphy had been drawn into a deadly street crew and was killed because of a rivalry with another gang. Cops now have revealed that Murphy was caught in a troubling new trend: good girls recruited by neighborhood gangs into lives of violence, where carrying weapons and committing crimes is as commonplace as shooting a...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A soldier and his wife stopped a robbery on Tuesday night when the soldier pulled a gun on the assailants and fired, police said. The husband and wife had just been transferred from Fort Hood to Colorado Springs. They were taking a walk in their new neighborhood at 10 p.m. when they were approached by two masked assailants, police said. When the assailants ordered the soldier and his wife to the ground, the soldier told police he pulled out his handgun. The soldier told police the men started to run off, but when one of them...

The Rev. Miriam Méndez admitted to the crowd of about 50 gathered Monday at the East Portland Community Center that Julio Cesar Marquez's life was short. But his 13 years were influential, she said: "We know he has touched many." Mendez spoke at an anti-violence vigil honoring the teen, whose body was found two weeks ago in a Northeast Portland alley. He died of blunt-force trauma and gunshot wounds, becoming the city's youngest gang-involved homicide victim in at least a decade. Marquez's family, friends and other community members braved a cold rain to remember the eighth-grader, who liked to dance...

Authorities say Mexican drug cartels are becoming a growing presence in parts of northern New Mexico. The Farmington Daily Times reports ( http://bit.ly/sTqxR7 ) that Region II Narcotics Task Force Director Neil Haws says the Juarez cartel has been operating for two years in San Juan County, for example, but that the Sinaloa and Michoacan cartels also have gained ground

HAMMOND-- Two Chicago police officers who are alleged to have been paid by the Latin Kings street gang to shake down rivals of drugs and cash were among 15 people added to a growing federal probe of gangs operating on the Southeast Side of Chicago and Indiana cities near the Illinois border. Charges unsealed Friday in federal court in northwest Indiana alleged that plainclothes Officers Alex Guerrero and Antonio C. Martinez wore their badges and police gear while making bogus traffic stops targeting rival drug mules or robbing members of other gangs.

The FBI Announces Gangs Have Infiltrated Every Branch Of The Military Robert Johnson | Oct. 22, 2011 The FBI has released a new gang assessment announcing that there are 1.4 million gang members in the US, a 40 percent increase since 2009, and that many of these members are getting inside the military (via Stars and Stripes). The report says the military has seen members from 53 gangs and 100 regions in the U.S. enlist in every branch of the armed forces. Members of every major street gang, some prison gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) have been reported on...

Attorney General Eric Holder steadfastly refused to take any responsibility for the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Terry was shot with a weapon that the Department of Justice helped transport to the Mexican gangs that have been smuggling drugs and aliens across the border. “I’m not going to apologize for anything,” Holder told a Senate Hearing. “I didn’t pull the trigger. That agent was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The border is an inherently dangerous place. You go there at your own risk. Certainly, Terry had to know that.” Holder also pointed out that...

Reporting from Capitol Hill--Attorney General Eric Holder gave testimony today about topics ranging from terrorism, cyber security, CIA interrogation investigations, GITMO, gay/lesbian bullying and even his baby boomer status, but Holder’s remarks surrounding the Obama Justice Department’s Operation Fast and Furious were highly combative. In his opening statement, Holder said he wanted to clear up and “correct some of the inaccurate and irresponsible accusations surrounding Fast and Furious.” The problem is, the only person or department that has been inaccurate and irresponsible surrounding Fast and Furious accusations are officials within the Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General Eric Holder,...

The FBI has classified fans of the Detroit-based hip-hop band Insane Clown Posse--who call themselves Juggalos and paint their faces like their heros--as a violent, fast-growing "gang" worth monitoring. News of the bureau's move first came courtesy of Wired reporter Spencer Ackerman.

TRANSCRIPT The study found that eighth–grade boys with at least one parent in the military were more than two times more likely to join a gang. Girls in the same grade were two times more likely to carry a weapon than their peers in civilian families. The likelihood of risky behavior and school fighting in these categories only increases with age. Lead researcher Sara Reed says the study gives insight into the under–recognized consequences of war. But she says there's also much more to learn. Reed: "This is the tip of the iceberg. Yes these are interesting and intriguing findings,...

Justice: Another border patrol agent faces prison after arresting an illegal alien smuggling drugs. When not being killed by guns funneled into Mexico by their own government, they are prosecuted for doing their job. In a case reminiscent of an earlier injustice against those protecting our borders, Border Patrol Agent Jesus E. "Chito" Diaz Jr. has been sentenced to two years in prison by U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludlum in San Antonio. The illegal alien he arrested for drug smuggling goes free. In November 2009, Diaz was named in a federal grand jury indictment after an October 2008 arrest...

News of the shootings at Ramón Villeda Morales international airport in San Pedro Sula on Friday evening has now begun to be splattered across the pages of newspapers around the world and broadcast via television and radio. The story has been picked up by the AFP, AP, EFE and UPI news wire services and reported by CNN International. Consequently, it has already been written up in newspapers such as The Washington Post, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, The Kansas City Star, and Newsday. The headlines read... "6 Killed, 3 Wounded in Honduras Airport Shooting" and "Gunmen Kill 6, Wound 3 in...

Mexican security forces have found 32 bodies at several locations around the eastern city of Veracruz, according to the authorities, only two weeks after 35 corpses were dumped on a busy street in the Atlantic port. Just two days after the Mexican government unveiled a plan to lay down the law in the state of the same name, police and marines found the bodies in three different areas of the city, the navy said in a statement on Thursday.

Whenever there’s trouble around the Chinatown and Gallery Place Metro stations in the District, the finger of blame often points to a most unusual group of suspects: a black gay gang called Check It. Depending on whom you talk to, they’re just a bunch of mischievous gender benders and drama queens, vulnerable gay youths seeking safety in numbers. Or, they’re one of the largest, more aggressive gangs in the city.

Glendale police are investigating graffiti tied to an East Los Angeles gang that appeared in parts of the city, prompting concerns from residents. Police noticed the graffiti about a month ago in the area surrounding Fremont Park in the 600 block of Hahn Avenue, said Lt. Susan Hayn, who oversees the department’s Criminal Investigations Bureau. “It scared the hell out me because I know what that could mean,” Glendale resident Lenore Solis told the Glendale News-Press. “If we don’t nip it right away, it could cause some problems.”

Students at the west campus of Urban Prep Academy say they’re being targeted, chased and harassed by gangbangers as they walk to and from school. Leaders of the college preparatory school and parents of students met Thursday night to discuss what can be done about the ongoing problem.

SANTA CRUZ - A 41-year-old Watsonville woman charged with a misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a felony gang allegation after her cheers at a fight between her daughter and another teen was posted in an online video has pleaded not guilty. Maribel Ibarra Rivas was arrested Sept. 14, after she was allegedly seen on a YouTube video shouting at least one gang slogan while watching her 16-year-old daughter fight another 16-year-old Pajaro Valley High student, police said. The fight was in the Harkins Slough area off campus Sept. 13, police said. Rivas declined to waive her...

San Jose has seen a sharp spike in graffiti, up 38 percent from a year ago to the highest number of documented tags since 1999. The surge comes at a time when budget cuts have forced the city to outsource its cleanup work. City officials say annual surveys done each January since 1999 noted 44,405 graffiti tags citywide this year, up from 29,285 in January 2010. That was the highest figure since the city first started tracking graffiti tags in 1999 and counted 71,541. The City Council will consider the issue Tuesday. "The volume of graffiti is higher," said Mike...

Well here is what happened to me last night: I went over to Youngstown Ohio around ten to take advantage of the lower gas prices. As I stepped out to insert my card, a car with three black males in their early 20s pulled up in a late model buick regal. Not to be stereotypical, but they were all dressed in typical banger attire, with one exception that really stood out to me: each one wore a black hat that was facing the right way and pulled down low. This struck me as odd. One went into the store and...

PHOENIX – Authorities confirm two weapons tied to the ATF's failed anti-gunrunning program 'Operation Fast and Furious' were found at a violent crime scene in Maricopa, Ariz., in 2010 -- marking the latest case in which such guns have been linked to violent crimes across the U.S. and Mexico. The two guns found at the scene were an AK-47 and a Beretta pistol, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The weapons were found inside a stolen truck in March 2010 after the driver slammed into two DPS vehicles while trying to evade members of the Arizona Vehicle Theft...

Two and a half minutes. That is the time it took for several armed men to storm a casino in northern Mexico, order the patrons to get out and torch the place with gasoline. Fifty-two people died in the blaze, mostly women and senior citizens who enjoyed playing bingo. The daylight attack at the Casino Royale happened a week ago in Monterrey, Mexico. It was the worst attack on civilians since the massacre of 72 migrants last year. ...The United States shares responsibility for the thousands of people dead, injured and displaced in the five-year drug war that Mexican President...

Recent flash mob violence has alerted Americans to a troubling wave of sadistic racial mayhem. A notable outbreak occurred in Denver in 2009, setting a pattern of delay, denial, and silence. Now that same scourge has returned to Denver, among many other places. In 2009, a four month wave of mayhem broke out in Denver. There were at least 26 violent robberies committed by two black gangs. The victims were -- without exception -- whites and Hispanics. When the dust settled from that initial spate of violence, victims were left with injuries ranging from a skull fracture to broken noses...

Criminals seem to have a thing for big vehicles. The Cadillac Escalade remains the car most likely to be stolen, according to new data from the Highway Loss Data Institute. This is the fourth year in a row the Escalade has topped this list. The rankings for most stolen cars are based on auto insurance claims data from 2008 and 2009.

A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed execution-style Sunday afternoon several blocks from the Austin neighborhood group home where he'd been staying the past month, officials said. Killed was Joseph Price, of the 600 block of North Laramie Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The boy's guardian insisted the teen wasn't a gang member, but police said he was. Police said the boy was walking on the street in the 500 block of North Long Avenue when his assailant approached on foot and shot him several times in his torso and head. The gunman then fled in...

DETROIT (WXYZ) - It was a deadly night in the city of Detroit. From 6:00 am Friday, August 12th to 6:00 am Saturday, August 13th, a total of fifteen people were shot in the city. Six of those victims died at a total of 9 separate shooting scenes. Mayor Dave Bing's office released the following statement: "Reducing violent crime is our number one priority. Chief Godbee and the men and women of the Detroit Police Department are working around the clock to bring these criminals to justice. Our community must continue to work with us to stop this kind of...

Seven members and associates of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang are charged with three murders as part of a squad that allegedly killed, robbed and dealt drugs on the streets of Houston, officials said Thursday. The defendants are tied to the gang, which is known as MS-13 and has roots in Central America, federal authorities said as they announced the unsealing of a federal indictment. "Gang activities reach out from far beyond the neighborhoods in which they are ongoing and into the communities in which we live," said Jose Angel Moreno, the top federal prosecutor for a region that stretches...

WEST ALLIS - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene. Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair. Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night. "It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near...

GOVERNORS at Britain’s top terror jail believe al-Qaeda extremists are planning a major attack as payback for Osama bin Laden’s death. Security has been stepped up to “unprecedented” levels at Belmarsh prison after warnings that the Muslim Boys gang is plotting a revenge mission. A 15-strong riot squad in stab-proof vests has hidden around the jail’s chapel during Muslim prayers on Fridays in case of an attack... Prisoners on House Block One, which includes 39 terror suspects, added to the tension by staging a mass show of defiance on Friday. Inmates refused to return to their cells and a source...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A reputed gang member is accused of using a box cutter to slash a man’s face and neck during a mugging in Stapleton last week, just one month after his release from prison for an earlier robbery. Police say John Pena, 19, of Warren Street — who authorities say is a member of the "Gorilla Stone Mafia" — and another suspect attacked their victim at about 4:20 a.m. Tuesday, outside of 180 Canal St. The duo first asked the man for a cigarette, then Pena’s accomplice started punching him in the face, and knocked him to...

KENT -- At least 11 people were injured in a mass shooting Saturday afternoon that may have started with an argument over a paint job at a low-rider car show off Pacific Highway.

Boston teens, urged by city councilors to speak out about crime, say helping cops will mark them as targets. “People wouldn’t want to say anything because they’re scared,” said Miguel Peguero, 15, of Dorchester, one of more than 50 youth workers who attended a roundtable yesterday about youth violence. Twenty-six people have been killed in Boston so far this year, including four on July 4 alone. As of June 13, police had reported 110 shootings in the city, a number that has spiked to more than 120 in recent weeks.

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Nearly 100 purported gang members have been arrested, along with weapons, cash and drugs, in what law enforcement officials are calling a devastating blow on local gangs and leaders of the notorious Mexican Mafia. Among those named in one of several indictments unsealed Wednesday was Peter Ojeda, a Santa Ana native indicted in 2005 and currently in federal prison. But despite his incarceration, Ojeda is accused of continuing to hold a grip in Orange County's Latino street gangs, ordering punishment on local gangs that refused to follow his commands and giving the "green light" on rivals...

Acting Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Director Ken Melson defied orders from the Obama Administration and testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif) over the July 4th weekend. The testimony concerned details on the growing “Fast and Furious” (also called “Gunwalker”) scandal in which the Administration facilitated the sale of weapons to Mexican gangs—weapons that have been linked with over 150 murders. Attorney General Eric Holder denounced Melson’s testimony as “completely unauthorized. It is not his responsibility to decide what information will be disclosed to Congress.” Holder warned that this “breach of...

Janice Hahn, congressional candidate in the special election to replace Democrat Jane Harmon in California's 36th District, is under fire for new charges that she used her position as a city councilwoman to funnel money to gang members and criminals in an effort to "keep the peace" between warring gangs in her Los Angeles district. This devastating report by the local Fox affiliate in Los Angeles comes just a few days before the special election.

Reporting from Mexico City— A Roman Catholic priest who has long championed the cause of migrant workers on Monday denounced what he said was another mass kidnapping of undocumented Central Americans purportedly yanked from a train by masked gunmen in southern Mexico. Father Alejandro Solalinde, who runs the Hermanos en el Camino shelter for migrants, said at least 80 people primarily from Guatemala and Honduras were apparently abducted Friday in Veracruz state. He based his claim on information from several members of the group who said they managed to escape.If the report is true, this will be the latest in...

PEORIA — Sixty or more young people fought and yelled racist comments at residents as they walked down Thrush Avenue toward Sheridan Road on Friday night, according to eyewitness accounts. “They were yelling ‘We’re gonna kill all the white people, this is our neighborhood,’” said Paul Wilkinson, 45, a resident who has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years and witnessed the incident about 11 p.m. He relayed the information over the weekend to police, city council members and at least one local blogger.

CHICAGO (WLS) - Chicago's new top cop says the accessibility to firearms in America is an extension "of government-sponsored racism" that goes back to the days of slavery and Jim Crow. Speaking to parishoners at St. Sabina Church earlier this month, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy took to the microphone after Father Michael Pfleger spoke about gun control. McCarthy said the topic of race is a sensitive issue "because everybody's afraid of race" but that he wasn't afraid to broach the subject.

Old airfield could host 600 sites, says National Park Service Roasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories and sleeping under the stars - in New York City? The National Park Service is planning a 600-site campground in Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, a onetime airport used by Amelia Earhart. The campground would be the largest urban tent-pitching site in the nation, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "We want to make New York the leading example of what we can do around the country with urban parks," Salazar said.

In an example of the increasingly voyeuristic behavior people are exhibiting on social media web sites, a pair of 15-year-old boys were arrested because of a video one of them allegedly posted on Facebook showing his friend beating another teenager unconscious. The 15-year old victim of the beating did not tell his parents or go to the hospital, police say. Rather, police were alerted to the beating and ultimately made the arrests acting off a tip from a witness who saw the video on Facebook. Police arrested David Wayne Howard Jr. and Anthony Vincent Faiola, both 15. They appeared before...

Sunnyvale police arrested four men ages 18 and 19 in connection with the stabbing Tuesday night of an 18-year-old man at the intersection of Ayala and Alamitos drives, according to Capt. Dave Vebrugge. The stabbing is being investigated as possibly gang-related. The 18-year-old told police that six Hispanic males assaulted him sometime around 8:30 p.m. During the assault, one of the assailants stabbed him multiple times in the back with a knife. The attackers took a cell phone and baseball cap and fled in a green van before officers arrived, according to police.