http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/NEWS/701070410/1001/DWEK01
"Violent gangs increase presence in Shore area
Bloods connected to 3 recent killings"
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/7/07
BY JAMES A. QUIRK
AND KAREN SUDOL
STAFF WRITERS
(FIRST OF TWO PARTS)
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Riding around Asbury Park, it's easy to mistake the red and blue scrawlings on street signs, pizza shops, convenience stores and apartment row houses as everyday graffiti.
But to the roughly 500 members of gangs such as the Bloods and Crips active in Monmouth County, the graffiti is a coded system of communication.
At the corner of Fisher and Bangs avenues in Neptune, the words "B's Up" have been painted in red on the asphalt. The message, short for "Bloods up," is a warning to other gang members that the entire area is owned by the Bloods, and any non-Blood dealing drugs there does so at his own peril, according to the State Police.
The signs spring up faster than people can paint them over. A close inspection of the concrete walls of Mr. Pizza in Asbury Park, on the corner of Ridge and Springfield, reveals at least four different layers of paint. Despite the cleaning attempts, a fresh tag of "Blood rule" has been added to the wall.
The message is clear: Gangs are here, just below the surface, and superficial attempts to remove them will not solve the problem.
The Bloods, in particular, are sophisticated, organized and violent. In the past five years they have taken over most of the illegal drug market in New Jersey, according to law enforcement authorities. And gang members are now extending their influence from urban centers to the suburbs — including Monmouth and Ocean counties.
"You can call them "street gangs' all you want," said Detective Mike Smith of the New Jersey State Police Street Gang Unit. "They are all organized criminal enterprises.""
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/01/05/armed-mexicans-attack-unarmed-national-guard-troops-on-us-soil/
"Armed Mexicans Attack Unarmed National Guard Troops on US Soil"
January 05, 2007
NewsLog
By Jim Kouri, CPP
COLUMN SNIPPET: "In a story that should have rang alarm bells in very newsroom across the nation, armed Mexican entered the United States and attacked unarmed National Guard troops working at a border patrol post near the US-Mexican border. The troops had to retreat to safety.
Not surprisingly, the news story received scant coverage by the mainstream news media and hardly a mention on the Fox News Channel. It’s a story that should outrage all Americans including President George W. Bush.
Unfortunately, President Bush and his Administration did not even comment on this vicious attack on unarmed US troops as well as the unbridled assault on American sovereignty. During a press conference held on Friday afternoon by Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, there was not one word about this unprovoked attack on soldiers.
According to syndicated columnist and journalist Sher Zieve, the attack was initiated by several Mexican nations at about 1:00 AM (et) Thursday morning at one of the National Guard entrance identification team posts near Sasabe. The troops retreated to safety. According to KVOA TV News reports in Tucson, AZ, no shots were fired and no one suffered injuries.
The US Border Patrol is conducting an investigation into the attack. Investigators are attempting to determine who the armed men were, what they were doing and why they approached the post before returning to Mexico.
A Border Patrol agent, who requested anonymity, says that the well-armed intruders were drug traffickers who are fully aware US National Guard troops are prohibited from carrying any type of weapon and have been ordered not to confront lawbreakers coming across the border. The Guard troops are not allowed to apprehend illegal entrants, as well.
“Basically, the National Guard troops are doing what private groups such as the Minuteman Project have done at US borders — observe and report,” said a Homeland Security Department official.
What he failed to mention is that the Minutemen didn’t cost taxpayers millions of dollars to just stand at the border unarmed and act as the eyes and ears of the already stretched-thin Border patrol agents."