Robert Schultz shot Carlton Ewing with a .40 caliber semi-automatic gun on the evening of Aug. 17, which was a Latin King organized "Hood Day,"

Robert Schultz shot Carlton Ewing with a .40 caliber semi-automatic gun on the evening of Aug. 17, which was a Latin King organized "Hood Day," Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Antara Nath said. "Hood Days" are designated days when gang members look for for rival members so "shorties" — or those hoping to join the gang — can target enemies. Ewing did not belong to a gang, Nath said. Ewing, who was wearing a red baseball cap, was traveling in a car with three others in the 9800 block of South Ewing when Schultz's co-defendant Juan Macias yelled out, "GD killers" and motioned for Schultz to fire, Nath said. Schultz, then 17, sprung from the gangway he was hiding in and allegedly shot eight times at the car. One of the bullets went through the truck and hit Ewing in the back, Nath said.
The now 18-year-old Schultz, of the 9500 bock of South Avenue L, was arrested on Sunday in Crown Point, Ind. The 5-foot-5 alleged shooter, who goes by the nick name "Lucky Charms," looked nervous and gripped on to the table as Judge Donald Panarese told him he was charged with first-degree murder.
"Do you speak?" Panarese asked the part-time carpenter and roofer.
"Yes," Schultz replied. Schultz has no prior convictions.

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Ayala, better known as "Angelo Millones," was captured last month

Ayala, better known as "Angelo Millones," was captured last month following a seven-year investigation."It was his domain," Pedro Janer, assistant special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Puerto Rico, said of the Jose Celso Barbosa project, a collection of concrete, three-story yellow buildings in the San Juan suburb of Bayamon. "He lived there his entire life. People liked him. They protected him."Arrest teams from the DEA, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Puerto Rico police assembled at a nearby Army base, Fort Buchanan, before speeding into the complex before dawn."We use overwhelming force to guarantee the safety of our agents," DEA spokesman Waldo Santiago said.Suspects were rounded up without incident and loaded onto a bus for processing at a sports stadium in San Juan. By midafternoon Friday, 38 of 65 defendants indicted by a U.S. grand jury on drug trafficking charges had been arrested at the project and other spots in the metropolitan area."I think we've cut this tree down," said Joseph Shepherd, acting special agent in charge of the DEA in this U.S. Caribbean territory.Despite the project's grim exterior, there was clear evidence of drug riches inside.At one apartment, FBI agents broke down the door and found leather couches, custom recessed lighting and a lavish entertainment system including a large flat-screen television. Luis Fraticelli, the top FBI official in Puerto Rico, said the traffickers used that unit as a command center.Ayala, who was targeted by a long-running DEA investigation, is accused of importing cocaine from Colombia, often by way of the Dominican Republic, and distributing the drug to the U.S. mainland and other cities in northern Puerto Rico. Cocaine was allegedly shipped to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida.Ayala's lawyer has said his client is innocent of charges that could send him to prison for life.
U.S. prosecutors say the ring generated roughly $100 million in profits since the mid-1990s. Authorities have seized cash and property in that amount from the defendants, including a $250,000 Lamborghini.Ayala was generous with the project's poor residents.For Christmas he put on lavish parties featuring well-known reggaeton artists, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said. She said at a news conference that Ayala used drug profits to pay for the parties "as a way to maintain control over the housing projects."The trafficking ring also used violence and intimidation to control the Barbosa project, according to Rodriguez, who said the gang installed iron bars at some building entrances to facilitate drug sales and block the way for police. Ayala is suspected of ordering the slaying of rival traffickers, including a shooting that killed a 3-year-old girl in May.The DEA says Ayala used his wealth to provide back the career development of the island's reggaeton acts. Two that performed at his holiday parties, Don Omar and the duo Wisin y Yandel, were among witnesses called to testify before the grand jury.

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Charged Hector Portillo, a member of the international MS-13 street gang and seven others with multiple crimes, including 29 counts of murder

Charged Hector Portillo, a member of the international MS-13 street gang and seven others with multiple crimes, including 29 counts of murder, attempted murder, assault, racketeering, and illegal use of firearms. The charges were announced by Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Peter J. Smith, special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office of investigations in New York City; Richard A. Brown, Queens Country District Attorney, and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department. The indictment alleges that on December 24, 2006 three of the defendants, Hector Portillo, Javier Irheta and Luis Bonilla, murdered 15 year-old Pashad Gray in Flushing.Beginning in 1998, the defendants served as members and associates of MS-13, also known as "La Mara Salvatrucha," and engaged in a series of violent crimes in Jamaica and Flushing, New York, including conspiracy to murder and assault members of rival gangs, such as the Crips, the Bloods, and the Latin Kings. During one particularly violent 13 month period, the defendants allegedly assaulted or attempted to murder seven victims by stabbing and shooting.Portillo, who was previously charged with racketeering and murder conspiracy, is now charged with a pattern of violent attacks, including, in addition to the Pashad Gray murder, the non-fatal shooting of a teenager on February 17, 2006, and the stabbing and beating of two teenagers in August 2006."The indictment of this dangerous MS-13 gang member is a positive step toward ridding our communities of the violent transnational street gangs that have instilled fear in our citizens and taken our communities hostage for far too long," stated ICE Special Agent-in-Charge Smith. "Through Operation Community Shield, ICE and its law enforcement partners will continue to conduct aggressive enforcement actions against members and associates of violent street gangs like MS-13.""The defendants have spread fear in our community through wanton violence, including shooting, stabbing, and beating their victims," stated United States Attorney Campbell. "Today's charges reflect our unwavering commitment to bring members and associates of violent street gangs to justice." Mr. Campbell thanked the New York City Department of Probation for its assistance.
Queens County District Attorney Brown stated, "Rivalries among criminal street gangs all too often turn neighborhoods into urban battlefields with innocent victims being caught in the crossfire. Only through the joint and committed efforts of law enforcement on all levels of government can we reduce gang-related violence and reclaim our streets for law-abiding residents."NYPD Commissioner Kelly stated, "New York City has not experienced the explosion in gang violence experienced elsewhere, in part, because of continued, successful crime suppression and arrests by the NYPD with support from our federal partners."If convicted, the defendants face maximum sentences of life imprisonment.The MS-13 is comprised primarily of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, many of whom are in the United States illegally. With hundreds of members locally, it is the largest street gang on Long Island and has a major presence in Queens, New York. Over the past four years, the coordinated efforts of United States Attorney's Office, ICE, the NYPD, and the Queens District Attorney's Office have resulted in felony convictions of nearly two dozen New York City members of the MS-13.

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"Red Command" The caimans are a symbol of power of the traffickers. When they catch a rival, they kill him and feed him to the caimans

Rio de Janeiro police found two caimans in a raid on one of the city's slums on Wednesday, saying the crocodile-like reptiles were used by drug traffickers to intimidate their enemies and dispose of bodies.Police were conducting a raid in the west of the Brazilian city looking for a drug gang boss when they came across the animals in the backyard of a house in the Coreia slum."The caimans are a symbol of power of the traffickers. When they catch a rival, they kill him and give him to the caimans," Ronaldo Oliveira, head of the robbery and car theft unit, was quoted as saying on O Globo newspaper's website.Television footage showed police officers carefully placing the small reptiles in the back of a truck.
Rio's heavily armed drug gangs, with names like "Red Command" and "Friends of Friends," control many of the city's hundreds of slums and regularly battle over territory.Some slums are next to the city's tropical forest areas, where gangs have been known to train and launch invasions of rivals' territories.

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