World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #10 Security Watch

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 08/25/2007 | Rich Lowry

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.nagia.org/Gang%20Articles/Mara%20Salvatrucha.htm

Mara Salvatrucha

A SOUTH AMERICAN IMPORT
by Investigator Al Valdez
Orange County District Attorney’s Office

Street gangs form for a variety of reasons. The United States has experienced the growth of many types of street and prison gangs within the last 20 years. During this time period, influxes of legal and illegal refugees into the United States have had a documented effect on the formation of new street gangs.

In the early 1980s, a violent civil war began in El Salvador which would last more than 12 years. Approximately 100,000 people were killed in the war, and more than one million people fled from El Salvador to the U.S. The Salvadorian refugees and immigrants initially settled primarily in southern California and Washington, D.C.. Some of the refugees and immigrants had ties with La Mara, a violent street gang from El Salvador. Others had been members of paramilitary groups like the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMNL) during the civil war. FMNL was made up of Salvadorian peasants who were trained as guerilla fighters. Many were adept at using explosives, firearms, and booby traps.

Most of the Salvadorian refugees settled in the established Hispanic neighborhoods of the “Rampart” area of Los Angeles. However, Salvadorians were not readily accepted into the Los Angeles Hispanic community, and were frequently targeted by local Hispanic gangs. As a result, in the late 1980s, some refugees and refugee members of La Mara and FMNL formed what is now known as the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) street gang in Los Angeles. Like many other street gangs, MS initially formed for protection, but quickly developed a reputation for being organized and extremely violent. MS membership continues to be fed by refugees from groups like FMNL.

Since its inception in California and Washington, DC, Mara Salvatrucha has expanded into Oregon, Alaska, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Canada, and Mexico. MS is unique in that, unlike traditional U.S. street gangs, it maintains active ties with MS members and factions in El Salvador. Mara Salvatrucha is truly an international gang.

Mara Salvatrucha gang members maintain contact between groups in the United States and El Salvador for several specific reasons. In El Salvador, a hand grenade sells for $1.00-$2.00 U.S. currency and an M-16 rifle will sell for approximately $200.00-$220.00 U.S. dollars. This communication and alliance provides a mechanism for MS gang members to access military-style munitions and also establishes a network to traffic illegal firearms into the United States.

Although military weapons seem to be readily available to this gang, street intelligence indicates they often have difficulty obtaining handguns, which are not readily available in El Salvador. This creates a demand for small arms by MS members in the U.S. and El Salvador. This demand is so high that MS members will often take handguns as payment for drug transactions. The guns are then sent back to El Salvador, or used in the United States.

MS is also involved in exporting stolen U.S. cars to South America. The cars are often traded for drugs when dealing with cartels. It is estimated that 80% of the cars driven in El Salvador were stolen in the United States. Car theft is a lucrative business for MS.

The Mara Salvatrucha gang is involved in a variety of criminal enterprises. As with members of other gangs, MS members seem willing to commit almost any crime, but MS gang members tend to have a higher level of criminal involvement than other gang members. MS members have been involved in burglaries, auto thefts, narcotic sales, home invasion robberies, weapons smuggling, car jacking, extortion, murder, rape, witness intimidation, illegal firearm sales, car theft and aggravated assaults. In terms of drug trafficking activities, common drugs sold by MS members include cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine. Mara Salvatrucha gang members have even placed a tax on prostitutes and non-gang member drug dealers who are working in MS “turf.” Failure to pay up will most likely result in violence.

Originally, only Salvadorians could become members of Mara Salvatrucha. However, MS now includes members from Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Mara Salvatrucha also has a few African-American members. MS has broken the race barrier for membership, but most new members are still selected because of their ethnic (Central American) background. The majority of MS gang members are between the ages of 11 and 40 years old.

Mara Salvatrucha members identify themselves with tattoos such as the number 13,” or trece in Spanish. MS gang members will also use the Spanish word sureno, meaning “southerner” to identify themselves. Sometimes sureno is abbreviated to SUR. These terms make reference to the fact that MS gang members like to claim they are from southern California as opposed to northern California, and are rivals with northern California gangs. Often, this rivalry is taken outside the state of California. Additionally, Mara Salvatrucha gang members have several ongoing rivalries with large southern California gangs, including the 18th Street gang, and in California, commonly attack 18th Street gang members on sight. There are many Hispanic gangs, including MS, which use the number 13,” and the terms sureno and SUR as identifiers, including street/prison gangs outside of California. Thus, it is important to identify specific tattoos used by the Mara Salvatrucha gang, which include M or MS, in addition to the 13 or SUR identification. Another common tattoo seen is Salvadorian Pride. There is also a good chance that the member will also have the name of his particular clique tattooed on his/her body. Other tattoos encountered with MS members have included pentagrams and other occult symbols. These can be confusing when found in conjunction with gang tattoos and can cause misconceptions of Satanic involvement by the gang. The most common hand sign used by MS members is the letter M formed by using three fingers and pointing the hand downward. This hand sign can resemble the pitchfork sign used by Folk/People Nation gangs from the Midwest, and can be made with the fingers pointing up or down. The symbols used as tattoos are also used in graffiti and personal writings.

In general, Mara Salvatrucha members show no fear of law enforcement. They are not easily intimidated and frequently act defiantly. Mara Salvatrucha gang members have been responsible for the execution of three federal agents and numerous shootings of law enforcement officers across the country. MS gang members have been known to booby-trap their drug stash houses using antipersonnel grenades on the assumption that these structures will be searched by law enforcement. MS members at one time often bragged of assaulting law enforcement officers as a means of showing their loyalty and commitment to the gang. However, these claims have never been confirmed. Today, assaults on law enforcement officers are not required for membership, but are always an option. Thus, officers dealing with MS members (or any street gang members, for that matter) should always use extreme caution.

Law enforcement and the courts have used two primary methods to deal with criminal activity by MS: arrest/incarceration and deportation. Between April 1994 and August 1995, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) arrested and deported more than 100 MS gang members to El Salvador. Many Mara Salvatrucha gang members are currently in the United States illegally and are concerned about deportation. If a gang member is deported to El Salvador, there is a chance they will be targeted by the Sombra Negra (Black Shadow) death squad. Sombra Negra and similar groups are legendary in Central America. Gangsters and citizens alike believe that the Sombra Negra is made up of rogue cops and military personnel who target unwanted criminals and gang members for vigilante “justice.” While the presence of these death squads is officially denied by the governments of Central American countries, many MS members in the U.S. believe these groups exist, and fear that they will be targeted after being deported. Honduran MS gang members have the same fear. Sombra Negra has claimed responsibility for the deaths of several MS gang members in El Salvador. The existence or belief in the existence of these death squads could also be a chief motivation for hardcore MS gang members to come to the United States.

Al Valdez is currently employed as a District Attorney Investigator for Orange County, California. Valdez has a total of 21 years of experience with a special emphasis on narcotic and gang investigations and prosecutions. Currently, he is assigned to the North County T.A.R.G.E.T. (Tri-Agency Resource Gang Enforcement Team) Gang Unit for Orange County.

Copyright © 2000 Al Valdez. All Rights Reserved.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Live links on site:

http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/scandals/mafia.html

The Mafia and Organised Crime in General
The Influence of Criminal Organisations in Banking and Finance
The Mafia, and similar criminal organisations in other countries, are moving up-market, in fact as in fiction. The novel Nest of Vipers described how the Mafia could use the banking system. Unfortunately, in real life too, the tentacles of the Mafia and the Yakuza are spreading through the arena of international finance, as the links in this page show.

Italian Mafia turnover ‘$120bn’ new!
The Mafia has turned into one of Italy’s biggest business enterprises with a turnover of more than $120bn (£60bn) a year, a new report says. BBC, 22 October 2007.

The fate of Christine Fritsch as an exchange student and medical student in the USA
A website created by the student’s mother who claims that her daughter, who was badly injured in an accident and is being prevented from returning to Germany, is a victim of an elite insurance fraud mafia that has the backing of corrupt police and legal officials.

Car crash wrecks $1.5m fraud plan
A scheme by a Swedish businessman Bo Stefan Eriksson to defraud British banks that loaned him money for two sports cars almost worked until he crashed a rare, $1.5 million Ferrari. Eriksson was formerly known by Swedish police as “The Banker”, and was the head of a gang known as the Uppsala Mafia. The Scotsman, 25 October 2006.

Mafia insiders infiltrating firms, U.K. cops warn
Employees are still one of the greatest threats to corporate security, as “new-age” mafia gangs infiltrate companies, according to SOCA, the U.K.’s crime-fighting agency. April 25, 2006.

Banks “infiltrated” by mafia gangs
Mafia style gangs are infiltrating UK banks to commit fraud, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority has warned. Accountancy Age, 16 November 2005.

The New Mafia Order
A gang of Sicilian criminals has grown into a transnational empire of crime, and a trading power of phenomenal reach: a Mother Jones investigation by Frank Viviano.

Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption
This centre, based at York University, Toronto, is involved with research, policy development, law reform and education in the field of organized crime and corruption.

Jerry Capeci’s Gangland
An extensive source of news from a well-known American journalist and expert on the Mafia and organised crime.

Mobology Interactive
Links to hundreds of public-information sources about organized crime and related matters.

Organized Crime - the Mafia
A site devoted to the activities of the US mafia.

Alleged mafia don hires image consultant
Vito Palazzolo, who served time for laundering the proceeds of an international heroin-trading ring and is on trial in Palermo charged with belonging to the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, has decided to employ a public relations adviser. Guardian, June 30, 2004.

Main trends in the development of South Africa’s organised crime
An article by Peter Gastrow of the Institute for Security Studies, published in African Security Review Vol 8 No 6, 1999.

Is Russian mafia financing Icelandic expansion abroad?
An article about rumours that money from the Russian mafia is behind some Icelandic businesses. 17 June 2005.

Russian Organized Crime
A report by CSIS, the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This report is part of the CSIS Transnational Threats Project.

The Red Mafia: a legacy of Communism
A chapter by Annelise Anderson from the book, Economic Transition in Eastern Europe and Russia: Realities of Reform, edited by Edward P. Lazear, Stanford, Calif: The Hoover Institution Press, 1995.

The Russian Mob versus Emanual Zeltser
The renowned US-Russian legal scholar has played a key role in combating financial crimes by the Russian Mafia.

How To Succeed in Business Despite Being Hounded by the FBI, the KGB, The INS ...
The story of Alexandre Konanykhine who claims a contract on his life was arranged by the KGB, which he said had a vendetta against him for exposing how former agents and the mafia used banks to steal money from Russia. The site contains reviews and other information about his book Russian Rebel.

Russian Mafia ‘In Fake Bank Sites’
The Russian mafia could be behind the latest phoney websites designed to steal money from customers of two main Australian banks. ANZ Banking Group Ltd and Westpac Banking Corp Ltd called in the Australian Federal Police to help shut down the imitation websites sourced to the United States. Finance News AU, July 4, 2003.

The Most Dangerous Mobster in the World
Details of allegations that the Ukrainian businessman Semion Mogilevich is a key figure in the Mafia in the former communist countries.

Mobsters control half of Russia’s banks: FBI
Nearly half of Russia’s credit and financial institutions are controlled by organised crime interests, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said in a report submitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee. October 1998.

I fear for my life
Lorna Harris, who leads the new Civil Recovery Unit which is out to bankrupt Scotland’s £1 billion-a-year crime empires, fears gangland godfathers will target her to protect their fortunes. Sunday Mail, 25 January 2003.

Mafia Rebirth Dismays UN Conference
The day before a United Nations conference on organised crime opened in Sicily a report leaked from the prosecutor’s office in Palermo named 329 politicians, law enforcers and businessmen suspected of colluding with the criminal clans. The Guardian, December 12, 2000.

Murder by Mistake : the Bank of Sark and Gang Warfare
When swindlers from “the Bank of Sark” scammed the New Orleans mafia the results were bloody. You can read other articles about the Bank of Sark, one of the most notable scams of the late 1960s, in the page on highlights of various frauds at the Swiss Gnome website.

The Mob Was the City’s Watchdog
During the Giuliani cleanup in New York, a Mafia associate watched the money. Village Voice, March 28, 2003.

Pioneer probe finds surprises
The link between a Windsor-based investment partnership backed with state pension money and a convicted stock swindler tied to organized crime is stronger than had been suspected by the Connecticut state treasurer, who has asked federal investigators to probe the connection after $9 million of pension money was lost. October 3, 2003.

The “Sopranos” trial: part 2
An article about the testimony of Victor DiChiara, a Securities Broker on Wall Street who was among the 120 people arrested in 2000 in the largest organized crime prosecution in United States history. May 2003.

$50M ‘pump-and-dump’ scam nets 20 arrests
The FBI arrested 20 men on charges of running a massive pump-and-dump scheme that defrauded thousands of investors out of more than $50 million. USA Today, 9 March 2001

Organized Crime on Wall Street
Testimony by Richard H. Walker, Director, Division of Enforcement U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, at the Hearing before the Subcommittee on Finance & Hazardous Materials of the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives, September 13, 2000.

Fall Out in New York as Mob Steals Millions
The Mafia are alleged to have set up their own bank, the DMN Capital Investment Bank, as an instrument for carrying out various scams. July, 2000.

Feds make biggest securities-fraud bust ever in “Operation Uptick”
DMN Capital was “fraud central,” Mary Jo White, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said. “It was truly an investment bank to the crooked and the corrupt.” CNN, June 14, 2000.

The Mob Meets the Detectives
How the FBI bugged the suspects in the DMN case. Village Voice, March 26th, 2001.

“Operation Uptick”
An interview about the arrest of 120 people, including reputed mobsters, crooked stockbrokers and a former New York City police detective involved in a series of investment schemes that stretched around the USA. June 14, 2000.

Soup, Chickens, Seinfeld & Longhorns
An article about Frank Persico and others on trial in the DMN case. This Week in Gangland, March 29, 2001.

Microcap Fraud
News from the SEC about microcap fraud.

Stock Fraud and Organized Crime
Detailed information about the DMN case and stock market fraud in general.

The Mob on Wall Street
A three-month investigation reveals that organized crime has made shocking inroads into the small-cap stock market. Business Week, December 16, 1996.

Signs point to Mob involvement in Savings and Loan mess
An article examining the possibility that the mafia was involved in the Savings and Loan scandal. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 12, 1990.

Italian Police Bust Mafia Online Banking Fraud
The Mafia worked with corrupted employees of Banco di Sicilia to create a computer system resembling the bank’s own which would have been programmed to connect to the interbank transfer network after normal office hours, allowing hundreds of billions of lire belonging to Sicily’s regional government to be shifted to bank accounts in Italy and abroad. Indian Express, October 4, 2000.

Mafia bank fraud investigation moves to Switzerland
Swiss police are looking into allegations that Sicilian Mafia bosses moved $1bn in EU subsidies through Swiss bank accounts using a fake internal portal linked to the Banco di Silicia.

Mafia Money vanishes into Black Hole of Cyberspace
The Sicilian mafia is convulsing world stock markets by laundering hundreds of millions of pounds undetected through the internet, Italian police have revealed. The Guardian, December 8, 1999.

Indian movie mogul convicted
A leading Bollywood film financier, Bharat Shah, has been found guilty of withholding information from the police on the film industry’s links with the underworld. BBC 30 September, 2003.

Married to the Mob: Bollywood’s Mafia Underbelly
Following an announcement by the Reserve Bank of India in July 2001, Indian banks will finance films. By long denying recognition to filmmaking as a bona fide industry, the government - and therefore the banks - had forced filmmakers to turn to underworld dons for financing, an arrangement that cost billions of rupees and, far too often, lives.

Criminal Justice Resources: Organized Crime
This compilation of resources, compiled by Michigan Statue University Libraries, focuses on adult gangs, gangsters, the mafia, and international gangs.

Organized Crime and the 21st Century
An article about the Triads and other groups based on a seminar at the Centre for Criminology in the University of Hong Kong.

The Yakuza Recession
It is well known that a bad-debt crisis is primarily responsible for keeping Japan in recession. Now, investigations reveal the astonishing role of organized crime in prolonging that crisis. Velisarios Kattoulas FEER January 17, 2002.

Who got Yakuza into our banking system?
An article on the relationship between the Yakuza and the banks, by Takano Hajime.

Yakuza: Past and Present
by Adam Johnson.

The Nomura Nightmare
Ryuichi Koike is said to have extorted payoffs from Japan’s largest stock brokerage, and the stain has spread to Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank. Time, June 2, 1997.

‘Sokaiya’ scams hit Japan
Japanese companies ill-equipped to deal with corporate extortionists

Sokaiya scandal
Former Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Chairman Tadashi Okuda was a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for five years, for illegally extending loans to a sokaiya, or corporate racketeer. September 12, 1999.

Cyber-Terrorists Strike England
City of London financial institutions have paid huge sums to international gangs of sophisticated “cyber terrorists” who have amassed up to 400 million pounds worldwide by threatening to wipe out computer systems. EmergencyNet NEWS Service Tuesday, June 4, 1996.

Bank Robbers Go Electronic
by Udo Flohr. Bank robbers are trading in their firearms for a new weapon: computers.

S.G.R. Macmillan’s Selected Internet Resources
This site, maintained by a Canadian barrister, has links to resources on computer crime, hacking, organized crime, money laundering, forensics, and law enforcement.

[nw_arizona_granny]

By Jerry Capeci
Allie’s Secret Talks With Linda Schiro

http://www.ganglandnews.com/lastweek.htm

---

http://www.ganglandnews.com/thisweek.htm

November 22, 2007
By Jerry Capeci
Scarpa Gave Huge Help To FBI & Rudy Giuliani

A Gang Land Exclusive

Greg ScarpaThere is no question that Colombo soldier Gregory Scarpa (right) was a murderous, double dealing gangster who used his long relationship as a top echelon FBI informer to skate away from any serious prison time until he was a shell of his old self and dying of AIDS.

But lost in the shuffle of the stunning end to the murder trial of former FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio is just how valuable Scarpa was at getting and passing along important information to the feds during their onslaught against the mob in the 1980s.

Scarpa’s top-secret stuff helped launch prosecutions that sent mob leaders away for life, including seven in the much-lauded “Mafia Commission” case that Presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani has long pointed to as a major accomplishment of his, according to FBI reports that were filed during the DeVecchio trial.

In 1983, for example, Scarpa gave the FBI important insight about two key mobsters in the Commission case, which centered on a multi-family extortion and bid rigging scheme that gave the mob a 2% surcharge on all Manhattan construction projects over $2 million.

On one occasion, Scarpa told DeVecchio that Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo, then president of the powerful cement workers union that enforced the scheme by refusing to work on jobs in which the payoff wasn’t made, was “getting kickbacks from employers.”

In September, 1983, he reported that Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno, who would be convicted as Genovese boss in that case, was “one of the most powerful men in that family.” Scarpa detailed

Fat Tony Outside The Palma Boys Social Clubthe days that Fat Tony would hold court at his East Harlem headquarters, the Palma Boys Social Club, which the FBI successfully bugged.

The FBI, and prosecutors under Giuliani, for that matter, would have avoided some embarrassment down the line if they had paid closer attention to what Scarpa was telling them about the secretive and powerful Genovese leadership.

On January 17, 1984, nearly three years before Salerno was convicted in the Commission case as the family boss – erroneously, the feds would later concede – Scarpa reported “that Vincent ‘Chin’ Gigante has been definitely established as the boss of the Genovese family.”

In addition to the historic Commission case, Scarpa provided crucial details that enabled federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and Manhattan to obtain bugs and wiretaps that led to separate prosecutions of leaders of the Colombo, Luchese and Genovese crime families.

In late 1983, six years before the feds would indict Gigante and leaders of three other families in the “Windows Case,” Scarpa reported that mob associate Peter Savino, who would ultimately cooperate and bring Gigante down at trial, was “involved in a bid-rigging scheme” involving the installation of storm windows in city housing units.

His knowledge also extended beyond the Five Families. He furnished information about the 1980 murder of Philadelphia boss Angelo Bruno that was later confirmed by other sources. He also

Donny Shacks Social Clubgave dirt about Russell Bufalino, the boss of the Pittstown family in Northeast PA, and New England capo Nicholas Bianco. Both were later convicted by the feds in New York.

And Scarpa, whose informant work began in the early 1960s, was an equal opportunity snitch. He gave up intelligence not only against rival wiseguys and leaders of his own family. He also fingered lesser members of his own crew, according to the reports.

In addition to Scopo – who was “not well liked” by other wiseguys – Scarpa gave the FBI details about the social clubs and other haunts frequented by many Colombo gangsters, including boss Carmine (Junior) Persico and legendary capo John (Sonny) Franzese.

He even drew a sketch of a social club that was the province of capo Dominick (Donnie Shacks) Montemarano and mobster John (Jackie) DeRoss in the early 1980s.

The same club would be the scene years later of a tense confrontation between Scarpa and mob rival William (Wild Bill) Cutolo that ended without bloodshed, ironically, in a dispute about a Scarpa crew member whom he had once fingered to DeVecchio.

In 1991, though, Cutolo, who would be the victim of a mob rubout eight years later, chose Scarpa as the target for the first shots fired in the bloody mob war that ended with 12 dead and many wounded in 1993, a year before Scarpa died in prison from AIDS.
Schiro: I Said Nothing About Wild Bill

Linda Schiro testifies in sketch by Chris CornellMeanwhile, Scarpa’s longtime lover Linda Schiro, whose testimony at DeVecchio’s trial contradicted tape recorded accounts of four murders she gave to reporter Tom Robbins and me 10 years ago, denies giving Cutolo’s mob rank to an FBI agent 12 years ago.

Schiro chimed in with rambling, angry words – via email and voice mail – about a mention in last week’s column that she told the FBI in 1995 that “word on the street” was that Wild Bill was the family’s acting underboss, four years before he was whacked, allegedly by acting boss Alphonse (Allie) Persico.

“I have no knowledge about that at all,” she said, disputing that she told then-FBI agent George Gabriel the statement about Cutolo that he attributed to her in a summary of an interview the agent had with her in February 1995.
A Happy Thanksgiving Story

John GambinoOver objections from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, a Federal Judge made today a Happy Thanksgiving for wiseguy John Gambino (left).

At a brief proceeding Tuesday, Judge Peter Leisure ended the mob capo’s three year term of supervised release even though the 67-year-old cousin of the late family patriarch, Carlo Gambino, had served only 13 months of it since getting out of prison last year.

Gambino underwent heart surgery behind bars and suffers from a myriad of physical ailments. But the actions of Manhattan Judge Peter Leisure, who gave the mobster 15-years and a $250,000 fine for drug dealing in 1994, were based on “fundamental fairness” and doing the right thing, not sympathy.

In May of 2005, six months before his scheduled release date, Gambino had paid his fine, and was set to be placed in a halfway house, when things suddenly went wrong. He was held 17 additional months on a deportation warrant until October of 2006, when it was dismissed as improper.

The least the feds should do, argued Gambino’s lawyer Charles Carnesi, was give his client credit for the 17 additional months he

spent behind bars, and terminate his strict supervised release next April.

The right thing to do, the lawyer said, was to end his restrictions now. He argued that the extra 17 months more than made up for the five month slide he would get if the feds ended his supervision, which is similar to what defendants face while on bail and what ex-cons endure while on probation or parole.

Nothing doing, countered Assistant U.S. attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown, citing several technical reasons Leisure could use to deny all relief.

When the judge stated that “fundamental fairness” seemed to be on Gambino’s side, however, the prosecutor quickly softened his position, and found another technical reason the judge could use to give Gambino partial relief, but not all that he wanted.

But Leisure, noting that “if justice is done, the government wins” released Gambino from all restrictions and gave him a reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving Day.

[photos and maps]

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.nagia.org/Gang%20Articles/East%20Coast%20Gangs.htm

East Coast Gangs
Introduction to East Coast Gangs
by Sergeant Lou Savelli, Vice President,
East Coast Gang Investigators Association

With some of the world’s most lucrative drug markets, the East Coast is ripe for gangs to flourish. There is plenty of opportunity, potential recruits, and money for savvy gang members to gain fortune and power. Influences from the West Coast and the Midwest (”Super Gangs” such as the Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, and Gangster Disciples) have become prevalent throughout the eastern United States.

GANG HISTORY
Gangs have been in existence for thousands of years. The word thug dates back to India in the year 1200 A.D. and refers to a gang of criminals (Thugz) that roamed the country, pillaging towns along their path. These Thugz had their own symbols, hand signs, rituals, and slang. In the United States, we grew up with tales of our own form of thugs like pirates and gangsters, therefore, gangs, undoubtedly, are not a new concept.

Throughout the 1800s, Americans were fascinated by gangs and gang members. The James Gang, Billy the Kid, and other outlaws ruled the Wild West according to legend. As the late 1800s roared in, the new generation of gangs and gang members was created by the new immigrants. Irish gangs like the Whyos, Dead Rabbits, and Plug Uglies, and Jewish gangs like the Monk Eastman Gang terrorized New York City streets. The most notorious gang during this era formed in New York City during the late 1890s and early 1900s. This gang, called the Five Points Gang, because its home turf was situated in the Five Points (Bowery) section of lower Manhattan, would change the mold of the American outlaw.

The Five Points Gang, led by Italian immigrant Paolo Antonini Vaccarelli, also known as Paul Kelly, and his second in command, Johnny Torrio, was the most significant street gang to form in the United States to this point. Johnny Torrio, who became a significant member of the Sicilian Mafia (La Cosa Nostra), recruited street hoodlums from across New York City to the Five Points Gang. The Five Points Gang became the “major league” to many young street gangsters, and a farm club for the Mafia. The most notorious recruit into the Five Points Gang was a teenaged boy of Italian descent who was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1899 to immigrant parents. His name was Alphonse Capone, but he was better known on the streets as “Scarface.” He became a member of the James Street Gang, which was a minor league, of sorts, to the Five Pointers. One of Capone’s childhood friends, and a fellow member of the Five Points Gang, was another street thug named Lucky Luciano.

In 1919, while being sought by authorities in connection with a mob-related murder in New York, Al “Scarface” Capone moved to Chicago when summoned by Johnny Torrio, who needed his assistance in maintaining control of Chicago mob territories. Capone eventually became the most violent and prolific gangster in Chicago, if not the United States, of that era. The “Al Capone” style of gangster has molded the American gang experience, and continues to influence America’s street gangs.

As street gangs, influenced by mobsters such as Capone, flourished during the 1920s and 30s, gangs became a symbol of lower income neighborhoods and ethnic ghettos. America’s new immigrant communities and ghetto neighborhoods saw their youth forming gangs. African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics made up the majority of street gangs that sociologists studied during this period, but the majority of large American cities were experiencing street gangs to some degree. During the early 1900s, Mexican street gangs formed in the western U.S., and during the 1940s and 1950s, gangs like the Latin Kings and Vice Lords were formed in Chicago. During the 1960s, street gangs, with names like the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads, formed in New York City. Another New York Street gang which was created during this time period was the Rampers. One Rampers member who has now achieved name recognition across the U.S. is Sammy “The Bull” Gravano.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Los Angeles and Chicago-based gangs had become violent and entrenched, and gangs from these cities, including the Bloods, Crips, and Surenos (Los Angeles) and the Latin Kings and Gangster Disciples (Chicago), had formed. These gangs would go on to evolve into “Super Gangs” during the 1980s and 1990s, serving as the models for street gang culture around the United States. Gang culture had spread even to the most rural areas of the U.S. by the end of 1999.

SUPER GANGS
Super Gangs can be defined as gangs with a large membership, and whose normal operations meet the following criteria: Membership exceeds 1,000 members nationally.

*
The gang can be documented in multiple states.
*
The gang maintains extensive drug networks.
*
The gang exercises aggressive recruiting strategies.
*
The gang has a multiethnic membership.
*
The gang has advocated ambition for power and massive membership.

Groups in the Northeast which fit this criteria include:

ALMIGHTY LATIN KING AND QUEEN NATION (AKA LATIN KINGS)
Started in Chicago, Illinois, during the 1940s, this group is made up primarily of Hispanics. By the late 1970s, the Latin Kings were one of Chicago’s largest and most violent gangs. The group spread to the East Coast in the 1980s through the prison system, where two inmates in a Connecticut prison created the Almighty Latin King Nation of Connecticut. They fine-tuned the concept of the Chicago Latin Kings and created a well-written King Manifesto, which incorporated prayers and religious beliefs. This gang, which spread throughout the Connecticut prison system, quickly became the largest gang in Connecticut. In 1986, the manifesto was added to in the New York prison system, and a group called the Almighty Latin King Nation was formed at the Collins Correctional Institution. Within a few years, the Latin Kings had spread through the New York state prison system, and onto the streets. By the early 1990s, New York City had hundreds of Latin Kings members, and this population grew into the thousands throughout New York State and nearby New Jersey within a few years. From 1995 to 1999, the ALKN were the target of a series of RICO investigations, which resulted in the arrests of hundreds of ALKN members in charges connected to racketeering and drug distribution. Today, the Latin Kings on the East Coast remain loosely connected to the Chicago chapters. The Latin King Nation struggles for unity and is seemingly finding difficulty in reorganizing to its previous size.

BLOODS/UNITED BLOOD NATION/EAST COAST BLOOD NATION
The Pirus first evolved in Los Angeles during the 1970s as a black street gang which formed for self-protection from the Crips gangs which predominated in Los Angeles during this era. The Pirus were later known as the Bloods, because they claimed the color red. Blood gangs began to spread across the United States during the 1980s, and were frequently portrayed in music, movies, and other media formats.

The United Blood Nation, simply called the Bloods, formed in 1993 within the New York City jail system on Riker’s island. Prior to the formation of the Bloods, the Latin Kings were the most prevalent and organized gang in the NYC jail system. The Latin Kings and the Netas were large Hispanic gangs, who began targeting African American inmates with violence. The African American inmates, organized by some of the more violent and charismatic inmates, formed a protection group which they called the United Blood Nation (UBN). UBN emulated the Bloods street gangs in Los Angeles. Several of the leaders of UBN then formed eight Blood sets to recruit in their neighborhoods across New York City. By the mid 1990s, thousands of members of Bloods street gangs were establishing themselves as a force among gangs and were continuing steady recruitment. At this time, the Bloods were more violent than other gangs, but much less organized. A common ritual among these gangs involved shedding blood, through stabbings or slashings, as an initiation ritual. By the year 2000, the Bloods have become the most violent gang on the East Coast.

CRIPS
The Crips gangs originally formed in East Los Angeles during the 1960s and 1970s. By the mid 1980s, offshoot Crip gangs could be found in most major cities around the U.S. During the 1980s, several Crip and Blood gangs developed in Belize (Central America). Gang-affiliated youth from this country immigrated to the United States during the late 1980s, especially into East Coast states like New York, New Jersey, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. In 1989, Belizian immigrants in New York City formed the Harlem Mafia Crips in Harlem, as well as several other Crip sets such as the Rolling 30s Crips, 92 Hoover Crips, and Rolling 60s Crips. During the late 1990s, Crip gangs were well-established in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Connecticut, Florida, Pennsylvania, and other East Coast areas.

GANGSTER DISCIPLES
According to Gang Specialist John Guzman of the Chicago Police Department, several gangs in the Englewood area of Chicago formed the Gangster Disciples (GD) “nation” of gangs in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1990s showed an increase in the Gangster Disciple presence on the East Coast. Data gathered by the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) indicates that Gangster Disciples can be found in most East Coast states. The Gangster Disciple’s recruitment strategies, drug networks, and large membership make the GD a force to contend with around the U.S. When incarcerated, GD are called Brothers (or Sisters) of the Struggle (BOS). Gangster Disciples is the largest Folk Nation gang in the U.S.

THE FUTURE

Oddly enough, while crime rates are down across the United States, gang membership is flourishing. Even more odd is the rapid increase in gang membership in suburban and rural areas. Gangs have reached across geographic, ethnic, and racial boundaries. Gangs are no longer true to their origins, but their traditions and identifiers have been distorted, diluted, and changed as they have relocated across the U.S. Gangs no longer match their media stereotypes, and law enforcement professionals need to take the time to understand their individual community’s unique gang problem. The face of the gangster has changed, and we must be prepared to change with it.

Sergeant Lou Savelli is the co-founder and Vice President of the East Coast Gang Investigators Association, an 18 year veteran of NYPD, a former member of the Broward County Sheriffs Department (FL) and Hollywood Police Department (FL) and a published author.

Copyright © 2000 Louis Savelli. All rights reserved.

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/scandals/

[live links at url]

Financial Scandals
A Guide with Links to Information Sources

Classic Financial and Corporate Scandals
BCCI, Barings, Daiwa, Enron, Sumitomo, Credit Lyonnais, Bre-X, Lloyds, NASDAQ, Savings and Loan, WorldCom, Parmalat etc.

Scandals involving Central Banks
Criminal or scandalous activity involving the pillars of the international financial system.

Political Corruption
Corruption in governments and official organisations in Great Britain, Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries.

Organized Crime: the Mafia etc.
The Cosa Nostra or Mafia, the Yakuza and other major criminal organisations and their role in financial scandals.

Money Laundering
How it is done and what is being done about it.

Bankers Behaving Badly
Cases of sexual harassment, racism, embarrassing e-mails, and outrageous extravagance.

Official Regulatory and Anti-Fraud Organisations
Links to the web sites of official organisations combating fraud.

Other Organisations Fighting Financial Crime
Professional Bodies, Investigative Services and Forensic Accounting.

Finding More Information about Business Scandals
Links to other sources of information.

Derivatives, non-existent gold reserves and impenetrable accounts, have been the stuff of frauds on an almost incomprehensible scale. The activities of Nick Leeson, Toshihide Iguchi, Yasuo Hamanaka, John Rusnak, and the bosses of Enron and Parmalat have made the bank robbing activities of Jesse James and the outlaws of the old Wild West seem like pathetic, kindergarten stuff in comparison. This is a guide with lots of links to information on these and other lesser-known financial scandals. While most of the cases in these pages involve real or suspected criminal activity a few are included simply because the scale of the incompetence or greed makes them scandalous.
Financial Scandals in Fiction
Is truth always stranger than fiction or can fiction forewarn us of dangers lying in wait? Information about the works of Linda Davies, former investment banker and now a novelist. A new edition of Into the Fire new! is just out!
Essays on Particular Kinds of Scandals

Dangerous Diamonds
An article on the history of the diamond industry and its role in wars, including civil wars, terrorism, and other, less threatening controversies.

Gambling on Derivatives: Hedging Risk or Courting Disaster?
A review of some of the reasons why there have been many cases of enormous losses associated with the use of financial derivatives.

The Psychology of Risk, Speculation and Fraud
What are the motivations that turn some people into lawful speculators and others into financial criminals? The text of a speech given at a conference on European Monetary Union.

The Rise and Fall of Alberto Fujimori
How the man who saved Peru from terrorism and hyperinflation became an exile in Japan, forced to flee after his right-hand man was implicated in bribery, arms trafficking, moneylaundering, and human rights abuses.

The largest section, Classic Financial and Corporate Scandals, in the collection of links above, includes the best known cases of recent years, e.g. Parmalat, Enron, Barings Bank, BCCI, BRE-X, etc. and some other very large ones that have received less publicity. In addition there are sections on related topics such as political corruption, money laundering, organised crime, official regulatory and anti-fraud organisations, other bodies fighting fraud, and financial scandals in fiction. That section is about the work of my sister, the novelist and former banker Linda Davies. Among the links from that page is one to a set of pages on the financial crime genre in general.
Disclaimer

The Financial Scandals site contains links to sources of information on various frauds, scams, swindles or corporate scandals in banking, finance and related areas, and on corruption involving governments and business. It is maintained by Roy Davies. I make no judgements as to the reliability of the information. Presumably that from official bodies should be more reliable and authoritative than information from satirical magazines or individuals with an axe to grind - but then again it could be argued that official bodies have a vested interest in playing down their own shortcomings! Readers will have to make up their own minds about these issues.
[ Top ]
[ Banking Thrillers by Linda Davies ]
[ History of Money ]
[ Biography of Glyn Davies ]
[ Other Money links - Past, Present & Future ]
[ Inca Trail to Machu Picchu ]
[ Roy Davies’ Home Page ]

[nw_arizona_granny]

Asian American Gangs

In recent years, the issue of Asian American youth gangs has gotten a lot of attention from the media and law enforcement. This phenomenon shares many similarities with other “gang problems” in the Black and Latino communities. However, certain ethnic and cultural aspects come into play with Asian gangs that make their situation and consequences of their actions unique.

http://www.asian-nation.org/gangs.shtml

Yakuza diary : doing time in the Japanese underworld / by Christopher Seymour.

http://magic.msu.edu/record=b3107229a

Organized Crime and Gangs:

http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/crime/organized_crime/

Title: The Threat of Russian Organized Crime
Series: Issues in International Crime
Author: James O. Finckenauer and Yuri A. Voronin
Published: National Institute of Justice, June 2001
Subject: International Issues: transnational/international organized crime

http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/187085.txt

The Threat Posed from the Convergence of Organized Crime, Drug Trafficking, and Terrorism

Statement of

Frank J. Cilluffo

Deputy Director, Global Organized Crime Program

Director, Counterterrorism Task Force

Center for Strategic & International Studies

to the

Subcommittee on Crime

U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary

The Challenge We Face As the Battle Lines Blur

As we begin the 21st Century, America is faced with a new national security challenge that is both vexing and complex. The once clear lines between the international drug trade, terrorism and organized crime are blurring, crossing and mutating as never before. Unfortunately, Washington is only beginning to come to grips with this deepening phenomenon. The continued use of an inflexible 20th Century bureaucratic entanglement of government agencies will not answer this call. We must see this threat clearly. We must understand its roots. We must understand what it means to our future.

continues......

http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/congress/2000_h/001213-cilluffo.htm

Statement of
Chris Swecker
Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative Division
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Before the
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
House International Relations Committee
April 20, 2005

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today about the FBI’s efforts to combat gangs in the United States, including Latin American or Hispanic gangs, such as MS-13.

Gangs and other criminal enterprises

continued.

http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress05/swecker042005.htm

Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 (html format)

U.S. law requires the Secretary of State to provide Congress, by April 30 of each year, a full and complete report on terrorism with regard to those countries and groups meeting criteria set forth in the legislation. This annual report is entitled Country Reports on Terrorism. Beginning with the report for 2004, it replaced the previously published Patterns of Global Terrorism.

Background Information: Country Reports on Terrorism and Patterns of Global Terrorism

— Table of Contents
— Chapter 1 — Strategic Assessment
— Chapter 2 — Country Reports: Africa Overview
— Chapter 2 — Country Reports: East Asia and Pacific Overview
— Chapter 2 — Country Reports: Europe and Eurasia Overview
— Chapter 2 — Country Reports: Middle East and North Africa Overview
— Chapter 2 — Country Reports: South and Central Asia Overview
— Chapter 2 — Country Reports: Western Hemisphere Overview
— Chapter 3 — State Sponsors of Terrorism Overview
— Chapter 4 — The Global Challenge of WMD Terrorism
— Chapter 5 — Terrorist Safe Havens (7120 Report)
— Chapter 6 — Terrorist Organizations
— Chapter 7 — Legislative Requirements and Key Terms
— National Counterterrorism Center: Annex of Statistical Information
— International Conventions and Protocols on Terrorism
—04/30/07 Briefing on Release of 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism; Frank C. Urbancic, Acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism; Washington, DC

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/

Balkan Organized Crime

The term “Balkan Organized Crime” applies to organized crime groups originating from or operating in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania.

Balkan organized crime is an emerging threat in the U.S. While several groups are active in various cities across the country, they do not yet demonstrate the established criminal sophistication of traditional Eurasian or La Cosa Nostra (LCN) organizations. However, they have proven themselves capable of adapting to expanding criminal markets and becoming involved in new activities, much like the historical growth of other organized crime groups.

History of Balkan Organized Crime

Organized crime in the Balkans has its roots in the traditional clan structures. In these largely rural countries, people organized into clans with large familial ties for protection and mutual assistance. Starting in the 15th century, clan relationships operated under the kanun, or code, which values loyalty and besa, or secrecy. Each clan established itself in specific territories and controlled all activities in that territory. Protection of activities and interests often led to violence between the clans. The elements inherent in the structure of the clans provided the perfect backbone for what is considered modern-day Balkan organized crime.

Many years of communist rule led to black market activities in the Balkans, but the impact of these activities was limited to the region. When communism collapsed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it led to the expansion of Balkan organized crime activities. Criminal markets once closed to Balkan groups suddenly opened, and this led to the creation of an international network. Within the Balkans, organized crime groups infiltrated the new democratic institutions, further expanding their profit opportunities.

Balkan criminal organizations have been active in the U.S. since the mid-1980s. At first, these organizations were involved in low-level crimes, including bank robberies, ATM burglaries, and home invasions. Later, ethnic Albanians affiliated themselves with the established LCN families in New York, acting as low-level participants. As their communities and presence have become more established, they have expanded to lead and control their own organizations.

There is no single Balkan “Mafia,” structured hierarchically like the traditional LCN. Rather, Balkan organized crime groups in this country translated their clan-like structure to the United States. They are not clearly defined or organized and are instead grouped around a central leader or leaders. Organized crime figures maintain ties back to the Balkan region and have established close-knit communities in many cities across the nation.

Albanian organized crime activities in the U.S. include gambling, money laundering, drug trafficking, human smuggling, extortion, violent witness intimidation, robbery, attempted murder, and murder. Balkan organized crime groups have recently expanded into more sophisticated crimes including real estate fraud.

Organized Crime home

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/orgcrime/balkan.htm

[nw_arizona_granny]

I went and this is what Snopes has at the link.....
granny

Subject: golden compass

go to the link at the SNOPES site below and read........all parents
with
impressionable children, I don’t care if you do or do not believe in
G-D as
an entity, it is what he/she represents in us, the good, the caring,
the
responsibility, etc (unless you are a muslim of course).

You may already know about this, but I just learned about a kids movie
coming out in December starring Nicole Kidman. I believe it’s called
The
Golden Compass, and while it will be a watered down version, it is
based on
a series of children’s books about killing God (It is the anti-Narnia).
Please follow this link, and then pass it on. From what I understand,
the
hope is to get a lot of kids to see the movie - which won’t seem too
bad -
and then get the parents to buy the books for their kids for Christmas.
The
quotes from the author sum it all up.

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

From: osint@yahoogroups.com

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://khilafahtoday.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/a-proposed-the-constitution-of-the-islamic-state/

Reasons To Establish Khilafah

A Proposed The Constitution of The Islamic State

A Draft Constitution (This constitution is always under review and debate)

[Sounds like he plans on setting it up, soon.

We will not like his rules.
granny]

[nw_arizona_granny]

India : Dawood, terrorist groups target India’s oil assets

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071122/main2.htm

A Tribune Exclusive
Dawood, terrorist groups target India’s oil assets
by Swati Chaturvedi

New Delhi, November 21
India’s high value oil assets are being targeted by an unholy nexus of
the
underworld and terrorist groups such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed, says a
report
by the National Security Adviser, M K Narayanan, to the Cabinet
Committee on
Security Affairs.

Interestingly, the entire Dawood Ibrahim family has been awarded high
educational qualifications by the ISI to facilitate fake travel
documents
and visas. In one passport issued to Ibrahim he holds a doctorate and
is
called Dr Altaf Mohammed while his wife Mehjabeen who is not even a
matriculate has been given a post-graduate degree. His 20-year-old son
and
other family members have also been given assorted higher education
qualifications by the ISI. Copies of the passports and other documents
are
available with the IB. This also points to the fact that the entire
clan
still travels pretty freely. And Dawood is still roaming around without
getting caught in the Indian net.
Quoting several instances where containers and carriers of Indian oil
have
been targeted for hijack in Maharashtra, the report is categorical in
asserting that India’s old bugbear, wanted terrorist don Dawood
Ibrahim, is
behind this.

Commercial gain appears to be the main motive while targeting strategic
assets is in line with the operational framework of the jehadi groups
who
have significantly increased their operations in Mumbai and in other
parts
of Maharashtra such as Yawatmal and Beed - bordering Naxalite affected
Andhra Pradesh.

Security forced have also uncovered some kidnap plots against senior
officials of the oil companies and the latest security review carried
out by
the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has suggested that round-the-clock
security has
to be provided to them.

Narayanan says that of late there has been a coalescing of threat to
high
value strategic assets rather than the random ``scattered terror’’. He
goes
on to describe it as an unholy nexus.

Contrary to popular perception that Ibrahim has been marginalised he is
still active and with the help of the ISI coordinates with the jehadi
groups. The D-company has carried out several joint-operations with the
JeM
in vulnerable Mumbai.

Inter-group chatter picked up by the intelligence agencies points to a
great
deal of logistical planning and coordination between the terrorists.
This
trend is in consonance with the targeting of scientific institutions,
nuclear installations and the people working there.

A new trend identified by the report is the likely investment in
infrastructure such as telecom, power and ports by sovereign funds of
certain countries. To protect national interest the report suggests
that a
clear policy be formulated by the intelligence agencies in certain
sectors.

For example recently the Chinese government owned funds have picked a
significant stake in Blackstone, a leading private equity involved with
investments in several projects.

This renewed concern over security related aspects comes in at a time
when
oil rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE with huge foreign
exchange reserves are investing in various parts of the world through
specially created funds.

It may be recalled that a move by the UAE to invest in a port in the
United
States had led to a furore and eventually the US government denied
permission.

The report says that the Cabinet should consider a countrywide freeze
to
keep out investment from South Korea, China and Pakistan.

[nw_arizona_granny]

[Found this on my computer, could not read it, until I updated my Adobe reader, it has been awhile since I downloaded it, a google shows it at ISN.....granny]

Document number AFGP-2002-003677
This is 20 pages of handwritten text, including some key
aliases and codewords along with personal letters. Lines
prefixed with {TN} are my notes
Page (1)
Contents:
1- The Muslim Islamic Movement (AIM)… 1
2- Terrorism Training Camps in Iran… 1
3- Terrorism Training Camps in Sudan… 4
4- Operation to Destroy the Marines’ Building and the
French Center in Beirut… 7
5- Operation to Blow Up the American Embassy in Beirut… 10
6- The Hizbullah Operation in Paris, Responsible for the
Paris Explosions… 11
7- Assassination of Shahbour Bakhtiar in Paris… 16
8- The Airport Operations in Rome and Vienna… 18
9- Hizbullah in Lebanon… 19
Page (2)
{TN} Back of page (1)
Page (3)
Partial cipher:
==
L A K B S I N M D
2 4 6 8 9 3 7 5 1
LA KBSIR MD
24 68937 51
Special cipher for Abi al Faraj
Page (4)
Codewords: SATTS (meaning) – when necessary, follows:
{TN} RIGHT COLUMN
Azerbaijan – “LI (Ali)
Daghistan – ASAMA (Osama)
Chechnya – SIF (Saif)
Iran - :?HB (Shihab)
Sudan – M”AZ (Mi’adh)
Somalia – “BID? (Abida)
Djibouti – JLAL (Jilal)
Yemen – IASR (Yassir)
Bahrain – BLAL (Bilal)
America – AADM (Adam)
England – HMD (Hamad)
France – FARS (Faris)
Ethiopia – RFA”I (Rifa’i)
Kenya – TRAB (Turab)
Khartoum – TAJ (Taj)
Cairo – R;Q (Razq)
San’a – OALD (Khalid)
Alexandria – DLIN(Dalin)
Nairobi – ALUWIL (Taweel)
Addis Ababa – U? (Tah)
Mombassa – SLAM (Salaam)
Dar el-Salaam – ABW “BID? (Abu Abida)
Cambala – “ISI (‘Aissa)
{TN} CENTER COLUMN
Abu Abdullah – HM;? (Hamza)
Abu Hafs – ABD ALRHIM (Abdul Rahim)
Abu Talha – ALFATH (Al-Fatih)
Osama - :AML (Shamil)
Abu Islam – S?L (Sahal)
The Doctor – NWR (Noor)
Abul Hiz – ABRA?IM (Ibrahim)
Abul Faraj – XLAH (Silah)
Ashraf – RBI” (Rabi’a)
{TN} LEFT COLUMN
V.X – FITAMIN (Fitamin) [vitamin]
Saman – SHN? (Sahna) [expression]
Sarin – FITAMI 2 (Fitami 2) [vitamin 2]
Red Mercury – AL;AIED? (Al-Za`ida) [the additive]
Anthrax – ALJDDI (Al-Judadi)[the new ones]
Uranium – BWR (Bour) [port]
Plutonium – BRWFIN (Provine)(the F is written with three
dots, pronounced as V)
The Specialist – ALDKTWR (the Doctor)
Information – MLA;IA (Malaysia)
Intelligence – ALVRAIEB (al-dara`ib) [the taxes]
Prison – ALSAQI? (As-Saqi)[ditch]
Fax – ALRSAL? (ar-risala) [the letter]
The Brothers – ALAQARB (al-aqarib) [the relatives]
Press Agencies – X.B. (P.O. Box)
Operation – XDIQ (Sadiq) [friend]
{TN} Below the columns:
5,4 Fax messages to al-Fatih {TN: Above this is Abu Talha}
— —
Weapons from Muhammad ‘Atif’s group
(10,000) Dollars
NWR (Nour) contacts YASR (Yassir)
Date
Notes:
(1) Word of Safety – How are you – Praise God – Praise
God, Good (means there is danger)
(2) Appointments are two hours before, ex: Monday means
10 o’clock, Saturday means 8 o’clock, using GMT {TN:
Examples have been scratched out, but are still
readable}
(3) Regarding the friend (the operation), the timing
will be based on GMT
(4) Regarding telephone numbers, switch number 3 with
number 5
{TN: Parts of this page are wrinkled and covered over (top
right, bottom left) another copy, a look at the original
will yield a little more information}
{TN: Page (5)}
Report on Security Observations
America has failed to get any evidence on you. We expect
them to try to assassinate you again in another way, using
the following weapons:
1) Osama and his high-ranking assistants eat together
once a week (lunch on Friday)
a. Source of the food: the special kitchen in the
receiving building. That kitchen is thought to be
in a bad place, since so many Arabs and Afghans
know where it is, and there is so little
security. This is good for America, it is an open
door for them. first negative point
b. How the food is distributed: it is distributed
between the new and old people gathered second
negative point
c. While the plates are being handed out it is
clearly obvious which plate is for the Sheikh
third negative point
d. The way you drink your water: I’ve observed that
when you sit in the hangar, a glass of water is
brought to you by one of the accompanying guards
who is there for a general visit fourth negative
point
{TN} end of page 5, remainder of this letter is not present
{TN} Page 6, letter on Human Concern International
letterhead (Peshawar, Pakistan)
To Abu Abdullah (Osama bin Laden)
This is a thank you letter for all of his actions that
support Muslims worldwide. The author says we are sending
two men, ‘Ilam Farouq and Muhammad Tibb.
From Wazir Al-Hasan
{TN} Page 9
letter to Qari Saahib
asking for help getting the following brothers out of
prison:
1) Abul Jirah (Yemeni)
2) Abu Yousef (Sudanese)
3) Abu Abdullah Al-Laili Al-Milki
4) Abu Umran al Ghamdi
From Saif al’adl
Nov 19 1997
{TN} page 11
Letter to Abu Ibrahim
1) Ghazwan’s trip was five days, it went very well.
2) If anyone wants to come, living there is not bad
3) Abdul Jabar sold about 45 fudan which he was planting.
{TN: chances are this is a codeword}
4) Abu Tariq and al-Nawawi’s donkey (nuclear) is valued
at $350,000 even if it was sold for $100,000
a. {TN: chances are these are codewords}
5) We hope Abu Awaiss is well and can visit us to put his
things in order
6) The three member committee met after Abu Awaiss left
and they decided not to divide.
7) As for the papers of Khalifa, we will send them when
they are ready
8) For Omar Abdul Hasan the Mauritian, we met him through
the Mauritian Sheikh Abdullah… he wants to join the
company and be one of us, he was sent to Egypt
9) Jan (John) Agha is very worrisome, please don’t send
any letters to him until the last sign and pass this
on to the whole company.
From Muhammad Atif, 14 Aug 1996
{TN: Page 13&14, full translation}
Addendum to the first letter
Read after 5
1 – After the meeting with the prisoners who were released
a few days before this addendum, we are sure that our three
brothers who are with 85 Pakistanis really were moved more
than two months ago to Tajikistan, and from there to
Mashhad, Iran. Those prisoners remembered the names of all
of our brothers and they described them. They remembered
that they complained very strenuously to the administrator
of the prisoners, whose name was Mujahid, and he was a
corporal in charge of the prisoners within the prison. They
mentioned to him that they were not able to stay with the
Pakistanis in the same place, he moved them in with the
Afghanis, they also mentioned to him that they might act as
if they had recovered completely from their injuries, and
that their morale was very high. The prisoners said that
after they had moved the Arab and Pakistani brothers, under
an attempt to move the Afghani prisoners, these attempts
were a failure. The first attempt failed in Masoud’s
airplane which was coming to transport them. Another time,
the truck rolled over with the prisoners and guards,
killing eight guards, two Pakistanis and four Taliban and
injured others, and these events halted completely with the
arrival of the last airplane. Because of this, there were
ideas being tossed around that they were trying to get rid
of the most important of our brothers.
A – Operations to mediate, directly or indirectly, in
a limited way with the Iranians to talk about releasing the
prisoners. It will be somewhere between diplomacy and
threats with an operation which is something against their
interests.
B – The operation to take Iranian hostages to trade
for our prisoners will embarrass Iran quite a bit
nationally, as a truly moderate party in Afghanistan, then
for a country whose feelings clearly run that way. The
operation will become a statement to Muslims in general to
confirm and delimit their position. There will be
responses, both positive and negative, but it is not bad to
have discussions about it. Maybe the Taliban will benefit
from some of this.
C – Operation to bomb something Iran has an interest
in, and the threat to repeat that if they do not release
the prisoners. This could be in Pakistan or in an Arab
country, Iran’s interests are spread all over the world.
The first solution is best for us, and it could open the
door through which the Taliban may return as well.
2 – The time of Hamza’s (the Pakistani) punishment has
ended or passed. Please send him back to us, we need him
urgently. We have started to shrink unnoticeably, but the
training program is almost over and we will start the
operations training in the next few days. During this time,
I will go through the training for personality and courage,
and the necessary preparations to conduct an operation that
is successful, and has an impact on the general situation,
if God wills.
Signed Adbul Hadi Al-Ansari
11-2-1998
Monday, 14 Rajb 1419h
{TN: Page 15-16}
A letter to Sheikh Abu Hafs
1 – With praise to God, we have destroyed one of the
enemy’s cars on the way to Maradbik using an 82 mm mortar,
and we destroyed another car on the way to Bakram using a
tank. Also, in Bakram we scored a direct hit of two enemy
tanks, and now we are trying to hit the third tank which is
in front of our position after they withdrew the fourth
tank. If you were here with us while we were shooting at
them using Abu Turrab’s tank, you would have laughed at the
way they were running away!
2 – After three days of unrelenting attempts, we were
finally able to meet with Sheikh Muhammad Rabbani. We
talked to him about:
a – things dealing with
the prisoners. After bringing up the issue of pursuing
their release, he asked me not to get inextricably involved
with any faction as an attempt for us (Arabs) to release
our brothers or to get support to them because we heard
that they are not in a good situation and they need money
(this is from the three who brought news that they are in
Bengshir). He said that we are sending them aid, which
will go to all of them without exception.
He specified one of the intelligence officials for us
to work with on this issue. He asked us not to attempt
trading with them for money, as this would open a door that
would not close.
b – I asked him for the paper for the car or for a
car. Then he told me that he heard that you had sent us
two cars. I denied this, and refuted the story of the cars
since the beginning of our participation. I told him how
the Sheikh (Abu Abdullah) sent us his personal car which is
now on the front lines. He said to me – and it appeared to
me that he did not believe what I said – that he would talk
to you about this car situation.
c – Afterwards, I asked him for a house for us to use
as a headquarters because we have tired from the rent and
the properties. He told me that they had moved away from
Wazir Akbar Khan and the center of Kabul. They had moved
to the outskirts of Kabul far from observation, because
Sulaiman Al-‘Amri(The Saudi Consul) has asked about us and
is concerned about our news. He has eyes to follow us, and
we must show deference to their (the Taliban) position and
not show defiance or embarrass them!!!!!!!!!??? So he sent
Mullah Hamad Allah Zahid to find us an appropriate house.
May God bless him and keep him standing in the truth.
Finally, he sent his greetings to all of you.
- Please talk to him about the cars, he promised that
he would.
3 – We have sent brother Mirouis (Shahib) on his way, after
supplying him with the necessary reasons and securing his
needs. Just about no one knows about this except me, may
God keep him.
4 – We have learned that one of the Pakistani prisoners has
been released from prison after his brother and father went
to Bengshir via the Pakistani and Afghani learned men. He
told them that in the Dashtarak prison in Bengshir there
were three Arab brothers, their names according to what he
remembered are (Ali, Mahmoud, Abeed), two of whom have leg
injuries, (Abeed and Ali). They were shot after they were
captured, and they sustained serious injuries. They have
gone without treatment until the Red Cross intervened and
began treatment, along with the rest of the injured. Now
their injuries are doing well. We also learned that their
fourth colleague with them was also injured. However, the
enemy shot and killed him when they were captured. He
doesn’t know him or his name, or where he comes from, or
anything about him or where he was. According to their
descriptions in their memory, (Abeed is Abu Abeeda – and
his name was Omran earlier) (And Mahmoud is Abu Yusef Al
Sudani) and (Ali is Abu Abdullah Al-Layli) and the other
two are from the group of the Sheikh’s son who joined us at
the end of the matter. The three were in the back of the
house belonging to the brothers there. The fourth one in
the house was Ibn al-Jarah who is possibly the one that was
killed (This is only a possibility). The brother who
visited us in the house also mentioned that that he heard
that there is an Arab with 12 Pakistanis who are now
prisoners, who are now in Jabal al-Siraj, and this brother
is possibly (Nabisha). This also is only a possibility,
since the last of the folks have come down from the
mountain. He could have been the last of the Afghanis and
Pakistanis, at that time he was on the mountain in
observation {TN: watch post} with Qutaiba al-Ghamadi who
came down a little before him.
If God permits, we will keep trying to find out about the
fate of the others and to get to know the brother in Jabal
al-Siraj with the Pakistanis.
We are waiting for your instructions.
We know that at last they asked Qari Saif Allah Akhtar for
one million Pakistani Kildar in exchange for releasing each
of them, after they had initially asked him for a one for
one exchange.
{TN: Last page of letter missing}
{TN: Page 17, 18 is back side}
To Abdul Aziz
(1) Concerning the program, we are waiting for two. As I
told you in the last letter, this is based on what Abu
Ihlam said, they are concentrating. I think, and God knows,
waiting is good for you until we receive it, and if God
wills it won’t be long.
(2) Concerning the issue of the drama you talked about in
your letter to the Sheikh, the Sheikh saw no problems with
it initially, but you should send us pictures of the
matter, how much it will cost and your opinion on it from
the perspective of security. It is appropriate to study it
from the security standpoint.
As for my opinion, I am afraid for your security. There is
no need for recklessness, God knows.
(3) Concerning the steel {TN: could be code word, ALHDID}
please turn it over to Abdul Hadi so he can take care of it
in a safe place until another place is designated. This is
because moving it now would raise a lot of questions.
My greetings to all who are with you,
Your brother, Ahmed Abdul Aziz
11 Ramadan, 1419 {TN: 1999}
{TN: next letter starts page 20, second half on 19}
{TN: does not mention name of addressee}
Concerning the situation on the front…
The situation on the front is very strange… I don’t know
who should pray for mercy for those brave Mujahideen who
died… how sad the things are that a person must see here…
but you are not saddened by this beginning which is not
given up… The position of the Taliban is strong and good
all along the front. Mas’ud’s position is shaky… the
Taliban have now begun shelling and striking and Mas’oud’s
groups have started to move to the rear. There are only
two or three posts left to take the advance… The Taliban
are advancing {TN: under crease in page} and they have
started to retreat, but there is no reason for them to
retreat… Mas’oud’s groups are again giving up their
positions… this is the way things have been repeated three
times here until the present… I am sure that if Mas’oud
advanced forcefully and didn’t have the mountains in front
of him, you would be seeing the Taliban’s vehicles with
you.
Up to this point, I don’t have any ideas other than that
the Taliban have lost their will to sacrifice. The price
and unfortunately the severity of this situation has
created a bad response by a lot of our brothers who have
lost their will to stay for the Taliban… Consequently they
have lost the feeling that holds them together, as the
bombing against them is intense and there are injuries or
martyrs every day. The Taliban are not advancing…
Disregarding the position of the Taliban, if only they had
some semblance of the way the prophet behaved, or
something… This is with no indication of inoculating the
guys with a new motivation to work… and if they were to
open their mouths for something other than confirmation and
rumors… this is the short version of the situation I found
when I returned, and we ask God to guide you to a way to
fix this…
- Regarding the following line:
There is no official in Kabul that I can talk to on this
matter in any real way… The Secretary of Defense is in
Pakistan… Akbar Agha is in Kandahar… and the rest of them
are not qualified… I could probably go myself in the midst
or just two… and I don’t know where to get people to bring
here… The situation of the brothers has become as follows:
1 – The Yemeni brothers have all gone and none of them
remain except for Abdul Aziz, but you already know this.
2 – The rest of the remaining brothers are as follows:
a – Abu Khalid Yemeni and Ayoub wouldn’t stay on the front
line after Muhannad was killed without being forced. I told
them to write to you so you can know them yourself.
b – Anas and Abu Mahjan have family situations, one has a
sister getting married and the other is leaving in order to
see his relatives. He wants to meet you and get to know
you… He is a brave brother but he is in a hurry and was
impatient waiting with us on the day of the blessed tanks.
c – Al-Zabir al-Maliki and Zaid al-Khair say that they
have a special program to work on the peninsula {TN: Saudi
Arabia} and they want to consult you about it.
d – Samu’al arrived by way of the son of the Sheikh; he
has a letter of introduction for you to become acquainted
with him.
e – The guy from Ogadin {TN: Ethiopia} and his brother,
the first says that you put him in the new security group –
Eritria – and the second is to get married.
3 – The brothers who are staying on the front include:
a – the group at Baghram. Abu Ziyad is responsible for
observation… Abu Tamim Group BMI {TN: BMI is written in
English letters}… The Jordanian Abdul Hadi group, gharnai
{TN: place name or Russian word??}… The Triberlamini group,
tanks and the Iraqi brother is with them who recently
arrived from Jalalabad and you sent him to report… That’s
it, no more.

---

googled:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Document+number+AFGP-2002-003677&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[nw_arizona_granny]

5 seek medical attention after United Airlines treats employees to Thanksgiving dinner

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:34 a.m. November 23, 2007

CHICAGO – Five United Airlines workers sought medical attention for nausea and vomiting after the company provided a Thanksgiving meal to employees.

United offered the turkey dinner Thursday to nearly 3,000 mechanics, baggage handlers and other employees working the holiday at O’Hare International Airport. Flight crews didn’t participate.

continues.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20071123-0134-botchedturkeydinner.html

154 evacuated safely from cruise ship after it struck ice off Antarctica

By Bill Cormier
ASSOCIATED PRESS

7:02 a.m. November 23, 2007

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A Canadian cruise ship struck ice off Antarctica and began taking on water, but all 154 passengers and crew took to lifeboats and were rescued safely Friday by a passing Norwegian liner, officials said.

The passengers and crew from the Explorer were picked up by the Nordnorge, a Norwegian cruise ship that was nearby and responded to the distress call, said Susan Hayes of G.A.P. Adventures of Toronto, which owns the stricken vessel.

The 91 passengers included at least 13 Americans, 22 Britons and 10 Canadians, officials said. In addition to the passengers, there were nine expedition staff members and a crew of 54, Hayes said.

“The passengers are absolutely fine,” Hayes said. “They’re all accounted for, no injuries whatsoever.”

continues..........

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20071123-0702-britain-shipsinking.html

Refusal to allow U.S. carrier into Hong Kong, perplexes Pacific commander

By Audrey McAvoy
ASSOCIATED PRESS

8:40 p.m. November 22, 2007

HONOLULU – The top U.S. military commander in the Pacific said he’s “perplexed and concerned” by China’s last-minute decision to deny a U.S. aircraft carrier entry to Hong Kong for a previously scheduled port visit.

The USS Kitty Hawk and its escort ships were due to dock there for a four-day visit Wednesday until they were refused access. Hundreds of family members had flown to Hong Kong to spend Thanksgiving with their sailors.

“It’s hard to put any kind of positive spin on this,” Adm. Timothy Keating told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday while flying back to the U.S. after visiting troops in Iraq. “I’m perplexed and concerned.”

China later reversed its decision and said the ships could enter on humanitarian grounds, but the notice came while the vessels were already on their way back to their home ports. The vessels chose not to turn around.

Thousands of sailors aboard the Kitty Hawk and its carrier battle group marked the Thanksgiving holiday at sea.

“The crew members were disappointed, but that did not deter them from celebrating Thanksgiving on the ships with meals and movies,” said Lt. Cmdr. Steven Curry, a spokesman for the 7th Fleet, which has its home port in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo.

It was the second time in a week that China refused to let U.S. Navy ships into the port.

continues....

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20071122-2040-pacificcommander-warshipsbarred.html

Crime -breaking News - San Diego:

http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/news/breaking/index.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

[Update]

Feds: Homemade video shows Egyptian college student talking about remote explosives

ASSOCIATED PRESS

9:00 p.m. November 22, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. – An Egyptian college student arrested after authorities said they found explosive chemicals in his car made a video suggesting that “martyrdom” can be avoided by using remote-controlled explosives, authorities said.

A court filing released earlier this week provided new details about the video, which is a key piece of evidence in the case against University of South Florida student Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed. He faces federal explosives charges.

Mohamed said in his video that instead of carrying out “martyrdom operations,” people can use the remote-controlled explosives and save themselves for the real battles, according to prosecutors.

Mohamed and fellow USF student Youssef Samir Megahed were pulled over by police in August for a traffic stop in Goose Creek, S.C., about 15 miles northwest of Charleston and near a Navy weapons station.

Officers found explosives in their car and a laptop belonging to Mohamed that contained the video he made that demonstrates how to convert a remote-control toy car into a detonator for bombs, the FBI said.

The laptop was used to upload the video onto YouTube, the court filing said, and it contained a record of an e-mail sent to YouTube in July asking why the submitted video hadn’t been posted on the Web site.

A folder labeled “Bomb Shock” in Mohamed’s laptop contained files about ingredients for explosives, according to the filing by Assistant United States Attorney Jay Hoffer in Tampa.

continued.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20071122-2100-explosivesarrest.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCUSdzylGyuWRlWqz92rGX2CCyWwD8T28LG00

Immigrant Smugglers Use Crooked Firms

By JACQUES BILLEAUD – 1 day ago

PHOENIX (AP) — Smugglers who bring illegal immigrants into the U.S. are getting crucial help from seemingly legitimate businesses that supply them with cars, lodging, plane tickets and other services, knowing full well what’s going on.

Investigators say the number of these corrupt businesses is small, but they play a significant role in helping illegal immigrants reach the country’s interior.

The accomplices have included landlords and rental agents who provide homes for smugglers to hide immigrants; taxi drivers near the border who bring immigrants to the closest cities; used-car dealerships that let smugglers register vehicles under false names; and travel agencies that sell blocks of plane tickets for immigrants.

“At every stage along the way, a process has been taken over, corrupted, in order to facilitate the transportation” of illegal immigrants, said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, whose office has prosecuted such cases.

Authorities are unable to estimate the number of businesses helping smugglers but say the biggest concentration is in Arizona, the busiest illegal gateway into the United States. Immigrant smuggling in Arizona is believed to be a $1.7 billion-a-year business.

Businesses also are cooperating with smugglers in San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso, Texas.

Immigration agents said some of these accomplices are criminal operations through and through. But others are bona fide businesses willing to break the law now and then for the extra bucks.

Authorities have prosecuted only a modest number of businesses, saying smuggling operations are often family-run and difficult to infiltrate with informants or undercover officers. Also, recorded conversations are needed to prove that businesses knew they were breaking the law.

The businesses “are willfully blind to what on the face should be obvious,” said Alonzo Pena, chief of investigations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Arizona. But “we can’t convict someone for willful blindness. We have to show an actual element of knowledge or intent.”

One success was a 2005 case in which undercover agents posing as smugglers were rented rooms at six motels in Mesa, Ariz. The motel operators were accused of coaching the agents on how to conceal their illegal activities.

In 2004 and 2005, 16 people associated with car lots in Arizona were convicted on various charges of helping smugglers.

continues................

[nw_arizona_granny]

November 23, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News - UnitedStatesAction.com

(Iraq) Twin bombings kill at least 26 in Iraq - in Baghdad pet market and suicide bomber in Mosul
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_violence_11;_ylt=AkHiwkzAgdpbnduIfqCTZZFX6GMA

Iraqi school guard and wife beheaded as children watch — by three suspected al Qaeda militants,
including two sisters, in Diyala
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/iraqi.school.guard.and.wife.beheaded.as.children.watch/14826.htm

(Iraq) 34 killed as Qaeda fighters attack Iraqi villages - update on Wednesday attacks
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/November/focusoniraq_November96.xml&section=focusoniraq

(Iraq) Al Qaeda rolodex’ found in Iraq
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/22/iraq.fighters/index.html

(Afghanistan) Taliban militants behead 7 police in southern Afghanistan
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/23/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-Violence.php

(Afghanistan) Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan during attack on Taliban bomb makers
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/23/asia/AS-GEN-Australia-Afghanistan-Soldier-Killed.php

(Afghanistan) Leaders deny Taliban rules half of nation — Afghan president, NATO secretary-general
dispute The Senlis Council report - Afghan president seeks to negotiate with Taliban -
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22812288-15084,00.html
— Senlis report - “Stumbling into chaos: Afghanistan on the brink” (PDF file)
http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/Afghanistan_on_the_brink/documents/Afghanistan_on_the_brink

Pakistan imposes food blockade on militants: officials
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071123/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanunrestnorthwest_071123102817;_ylt=AuSmGvIpJ81BVvx0PGqD9A3zPukA

(Pakistan) ‘Foreigners in Pakistan planning global attacks’
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\11\23\story_23-11-2007_pg7_52
http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/23/top4.htm

(Pakistan) Family urges Pakistan to drop extradition of British bomb plot suspect
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-British-Suspect.php

(Pakistan) Explosion cuts power supply to Lasbela
http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/23/top17.htm

(India) Terror strikes Uttar Pradesh, 14 killed in six blasts — Blasts in Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Terror-strikes-UP-14-killed-in-six-blasts/242572/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071123/india_nm/india306506_8;_ylt=AuInVVUa35.o9u_PbGYLrfYTv5UB

(India) HuJI behind multiple blasts in UP?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HuJI_behind_multiple_blasts_in_UP/articleshow/2565457.cms

(India) After UP blasts, security stepped up in Delhi
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/After_UP_blasts_security_stepped_up_in_Delhi/articleshow/2565258.cms

(India) Bomb attacks hit 3 Indian courthouses — where lawyers had decided not to defend
terrorism suspects
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/23/asia/AS-GEN-India-Blasts.php

India: Anger over controversial writer had brewed for 15 days
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1589103352

(India) Exiled Bangladeshi writer asked to leave western Indian city fearing attacks by Muslims
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/23/asia/AS-GEN-India-Bangladesh-Exiled-Writer.php

(India J&K) Missing Kashmir terror financier had RAW links
http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/23/stories/2007112355441400.htm

Iran rejects UN sanctions as invalid
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546708227&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(Iran) West, Tehran split as IAEA meets on Iran
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iran_nuclear;_ylt=AjvM01kWJMGq9UCCaXbWyElSw60A

(Iran) Split widens over Iran’s nuclear plans
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/23/wiran123.xml

Iran is ready to defend itself: commander
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071123/ts_nm/iran_enemies_dc_1;_ylt=ArDFsfuQ.IMLZoAxHPa6pelSw60A

(Iran) Germany probes 50 firms over atomic sales to Iran
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/927002.html

(Syria) Israeli: Syrian site hit not a nuclear reactor — but was probably a plant for assembling a nuclear bomb
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_syria_1;_ylt=AieP1BhIaL8He63aeDosrYmCscEA

US weekly: Syrian radar destroyed before strike
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546701923&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Hamas and Islamic Jihad to convene ‘Anti-Annapolis’ conference Monday
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3474823,00.html

(Israel) IDF arrests 5 terror suspects in West Bank
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546706477&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(Israel) IDF psychiatrist suspected of attempting to spy for Iran
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546707349&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(Saudi Arabia) Ex-Fighter in Iraq Tells His Story - Young Saudi, brainwashed to fight in Iraq, repents
& warns other Saudis
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=103900&d=23&m=11&y=2007

Somalia: Country Appoints New Prime Minister, Violence Kills 3
http://allafrica.com/stories/200711230007.html

Nigeria charges five suspected al-Qaida-linked militants with terrorism
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/africa/AF-GEN-Nigeria-Terrorism.php

Algerian expelled from UK jailed for terror links
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071122/tpl-uk-algeria-britain-trial-47c7853.html

(Russia) Five dead in bus blast in Russia: police
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/November/theworld_November674.xml&section=theworld

Danish Muslims convicted in bomb plot trial
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/danish.muslims.convicted.in.bomb.plot.trial/14827.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071123/wl_afp/denmarkattackstrial_071123135543;_ylt=AvqyvC_fuKWu0bT_53kjua8Tv5UB

German Police Chief Calls for Wider Powers to Fight Web Crime, Terrorism
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1155029/german_police_chief_calls_for_wider_powers_to_fight_web/index.html?source=r_technology

(Belgium) More anti-terrorism detectives needed
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=24&story_id=46281

(Indonesia / Australia) Bali bomber warns: Australia is next
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22808468-2,00.html

(Thailand) 8 suspected insurgents arrested in Narathiwat
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30057193

Philippine police arrest 2 suspected extortionists in deadly shopping mall bombing
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/23/asia/AS-GEN-Philippines-Mall-Blast.php

(Sri Lanka) Sea battle off Sri Lanka’s northwest coast kills 17 Tamil rebels, says military
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/23/asia/AS-GEN-Sri-Lanka-Civil-War.php

(North Korea) Restoring disabled N.Korea nukes would need year: U.S.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071122/pl_nm/nuclear_northkorea_usa_dc_1;_ylt=AjQir67r5jU1pKJpgceF0EeCscEA

N. Korea nuclear talks could resume in early December
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546706254&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
__._,_.___

If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com

[nw_arizona_granny]

RFE/RL: A Year After Litvinenko’s Death, A Legacy Of Mistrust And Fearc

A Year After Litvinenko’s Death, A Legacy Of Mistrust And Fear

By Brian Whitmore

November 23, 2007 (RFE/RL) — Just over a year ago, KGB defector Oleg
Gordiyevsky received a phone call from his friend Aleksandr Litvinenko.

Litvinenko, a former Russian security officer and fierce Kremlin
critic,
had fallen ill and was laid up in a London hospital. His health was
deteriorating rapidly. Gordiyevsky, a former KGB officer who defected
to
Britain in the 1980s, says Litvinenko suspected foul play.

“He phoned me from the hospital and informed me of the circumstances.
He
said that he felt very poorly. Very, very poorly,” Gordiyevsky recalls.

“I said, ‘what has happened? How did it happen? You must be poisoned.’
And he said, ‘Yes, it looks like I am poisoned.’”

Less than two weeks later, Litvinenko was dead from a lethal dose of
highly radioactive polonium-210. On his deathbed, he accused Russian
President Vladimir Putin of being personally responsible.

Moscow-London Chill

Today marks the first anniversary of Litvinenko’s death, an event that
roiled Britain’s Russian emigre community, caused an enduring chill in
Russian-British relations, and deepened the West’s suspicion of Moscow.

It also led to a climate of fear among Kremlin critics.

Litvinenko fled Russia in 2000 after claiming that the Federal Security

Service, the main KGB successor, was behind the deadly September 1999
apartment-building bombings in Moscow and other cities. He became a
British citizen in October 2006.

Longtime Russia-watcher Edward Lucas, the deputy international editor
of
“The Economist,” calls Litvinenko’s death — which many have called the

assassination of a British citizen on British soil by foreign agents —

a “game-changing event” that significantly altered Russia’s relations
with the West.

“I think that the Kremlin lost its last threads of trustworthiness and
credibility in the eyes of at least some Westerners who were prepared
to
give it the benefit of the doubt until then,” Lucas says. “This was
something that was so alarming, and so dangerous, and so brazenly rude
as well.”

British prosecutors announced in May that they were charging Russian
businessman and former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi with killing Litvinenko

by spiking his tea with polonium-210 in a London hotel on November 1.

Extradition Refusal

Moscow, citing a constitutional prohibition, has refused to extradite
Lugovoi — who is now running for a seat in the State Duma and has been

treated as a hero in Russia.

As a result of Russia’s refusal to hand over top suspect Lugovoi,
Britain in July expelled four Russian diplomats, sparking the
tit-for-tat expulsion of four British diplomats from Moscow.

For his part, Lugovoi has alleged that Litvinenko was probably an agent

with Britain’s MI6, and said his death was “useful” to the British
establishment, which had long sought to “humble and discredit Russia.”

“Britain’s MI6, always invisibly involved in this scandal, has done and

will continue to do all it can to sideline an objective investigation,”

Lugovoi told reporters in Moscow earlier this month.

Moscow has repeatedly and strenuously denied any involvement in
Litvinenko’s death. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called
suggestions of Russian involvement “pure nonsense.”

The Kremlin’s denials, however, have been met with widespread
skepticism
in the West.

David Satter, author of “Darkness At Dawn: The Rise Of The Russian
Criminal State,” says the Kremlin’s reaction to Litvinenko’s killing
and
those of other critics have fueled suspicion.

“Even if we argue, hypothetically, that the highest authorities are not

responsible for these killings,” Satter says, “they are definitely
responsible for the way in which they have responded to these killings
— in the most callous and contemptuous way possible, with thinly
disguised satisfaction over the death of their opponents.”

Politkovskaya Death

Litvinenko’s death came fewer than two months after another Kremlin
critic — journalist Anna Politkovskaya of “Novaya gazeta,” who wrote
extensively about human-rights abuses in Chechnya — was shot dead in
her Moscow apartment building on October 7, 2006.

Lucas says that as a journalist he has noticed that in the aftermath of

Politkovskaya’s and Litvinenko’s deaths, his contacts in Russia are
becoming more reluctant to criticize the regime openly.

“It is more difficult now to get Russians to talk critically on the
record about what is going on, and that’s a pity,” Lucas says. “And I
would say it is not quite as bad as Belarus, but I think twice before
phoning someone up who I don’t know and talking on their main phone
line.”

And Satter says he believes this was precisely the message the Kremlin
was trying to send.

“It does appear that elements in the Russian leadership are issuing a
thinly veiled warning to real and potential critics of the regime that
they may resort to these methods under certain circumstances,” Satter
says. “Under these circumstances, of course, it’s clear that the level
of security for anyone who is critical of Russia or who in some way
crosses the Russian authorities, is not what it should be and even not
what it was. And this is to a certain extent an aftermath of the
Litvinenko case.”

Former world chess champion and opposition leader Garry Kasparov, for
example, has said that he only consumes food and drinks prepared by
people he knows and trusts.

The jitters that followed the March 2007 shooting of Paul Joyal, an
American security consultant specializing in Russian affairs, were
indicative of the new climate of fear that followed the Litvinenko
killing.

Joyal was shot and wounded outside his home in Maryland days after he
said in a televised interview that Litvinenko’s death was a warning to
all critics of the Putin government. Joyal’s shooting initially sparked

speculation might be a Litvinenko-style hit in the United States.

“The fact that people were even considering the possibility [of Russian

involvement] is itself an indication of how the atmosphere has
changed,”
Satter says.

Police determined that the shooting was a simple case of street crime,
but Lucas says that given the circumstances, it was disturbing
nonetheless.

“I think people were quite alarmed when Paul Joyal got shot,” he says.
“It’s not quite clear whether that was just street crime or something
more sinister. But my feeling is that Politkovskaya was a warning to
Russians; Litvinenko was a warning to emigres; and there is yet to be a

warning to Westerners who say nasty things about Russia — but I think
it will come.”

http://tinyurl.com/ysfalq

[nw_arizona_granny]

Litvinenko releases more secrets in his newly published book

23.11.2007

The anniversary of death of ex-FSB and -MI 6 agent Mr. Litvinenko was
marked in London by releasing his book Allegations.

Marina Litvinenko, the wife of the dead agent, told to the BBC Russia,
that this book includes the already published books Blowing Up Russia
and Lubyanka Criminal Group. It also contains the articles Mr.
Litvinenko published in the Internet. For the first time it’ll be
issued
as a separate edition. The book is in English. The Russian version is
to
be published much later in America.

The event devoted to the first anniversary of the death of Alexander
Litvinenko and the book presentation was organized by Lord Pearson of
Rannach. It was also attended by a UKIP MEP, Gerard Batten, Mr.
Litvinenko’s father Vladimir Bukovsky, Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB officer,
Akhmed Zakayev, the ex-leader of Chechen separatists, who lives in the
UK.

Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London on November 23, 2006.

http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/5234/

[nw_arizona_granny]

Village deputy chief found dead in burnt car in Chechnya

GROZNY, November 23 (Itar-Tass) — The deputy chief of the Geleny
village administration was found dead in the burnt car in Chechnya.

“The body of the man was found at the driver seat of the burnt car
VAZ-21099 on the outskirts of Geleny in the Nozhai-Yurt district on the

roadside leading to Zandag. The man was identified as the deputy chief
of the Geleny administration, Selimkhadzhi Khansultanov, 44,” a source
in the Chechen Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass on Friday.

No traces of the crash are found in the car. A forensic expertise is
underway to establish the causes of the official’s death.

To visit your on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/

[nw_arizona_granny]

PW: Said Batalov deported. - Re: Czech Republic deports Chechen citizen to Russia (!) - RIAN

23.11. - Chechen national Said Batalov, who was today repatriated from
the Czech Republic to Russia, has become the first person to whom the
Russia-EU agreement on visa facilitation and readmission has been
applied, Prague Watchdog has learnt at Russia’s Federal Migration
Service.

http://www.watchdog.cz/

---

A new law in Russia, allows them to stop russia escapers and get them returned to Russia, as they did to this sportsman.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Said+Batalov&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&start=0&sa=N

[nw_arizona_granny]

Operation Bell Bottoms

http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=6533&IssueNum=233

http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=6533&IssueNum=233

Operation Bell Bottoms
Investigators’ files tell of possible Hezbollah link

~ By JEFFREY ANDERSON ~

A criminal element exposed in a recent series of federal indictments
casts
an alarming shadow over the already dangerous L.A. County suburbs of
Cudahy
and Bell.

A multi-agency task force led by the Justice Department’s national
security
unit and FBI counter-terrorism agents arrested and charged 12 people on
November 6 with drug trafficking, counterfeiting clothes, and
concealing
assets.

But the takedown, dubbed Operation Bell Bottoms, which nabbed Hispanic
and
Middle Eastern residents of the two neighboring cities, was about more
than
drugs and blue jeans. As the New York Daily News reported on November
9, the
criminal conspiracy actually was targeted for funding Lebanese terror
organization Hezbollah.

Federal court records, police reports, and interviews with local law
enforcers suggest that criminals of Middle Eastern descent in the area
are
not a new phenomenon. And that if drug and counterfeit clothing
conspiracies
are aimed at Hezbollah funding, then such enterprises could make for
strange
local bedfellows.

The task force descended on a house at 4235 Live Oak Street in Cudahy
on
November 6, where they arrested 48-year-old Moussa Matar, among others.
Matar is charged with structuring financial transactions to conceal
assets
from the government.

Matar is not the first Middle Easterner at that address to be
prosecuted. In
2001, Hassan Khanafer, a fugitive from New York, was charged and
convicted
of conspiracy and credit card fraud. Sources familiar with the
transaction
say Khanafer sold the Live Oak Street house to Matar in 2003 for cash,
below-market price.

There are other apparent connections between Khanafer and Operation
Bell
Bottoms defendants. Bell resident Mazen Hassan Saleh put up a house at
4026
Brompton Avenue as surety for a bond for Khanafer. Two brothers in Bell
with
the same last name are the proprietors of a store named in the
indictment -
Star City A&H - and are accused of trafficking counterfeit goods
through the
store and attempting to smuggle cash out of the country.

Law enforcers seized 30 kilograms of cocaine and hundreds of thousands
of
dollars worth of counterfeit clothing in the operation. Police sources
say
it is rare that such criminal activity takes place in Cudahy without
the
18th Street Gang looking to levy street taxes - even on alleged drug
transactions originating in Mexico and resulting in proceeds the
government
believes are bound for Hezbollah.

Which might explain a bizarre sequence of events spelled out in an
affidavit
filed in the case - if not a seemingly innocuous traffic stop in 2006:

On March 30, according to the affidavit, Cudahy resident Juan Galindo,
a
suspected multi-kilogram cocaine trafficker, reported to Maywood Police
Department an attempted robbery at his apartment at 5022 Elizabeth
Street.
According to a report of the incident, police regarded the incident as
a
drug deal gone bad and left. However, an inspection of Galindo’s
apartment
revealed evidence of drug trafficking and he was arrested. According to
sources close to the investigation, Galindo claimed he was being taxed
by
the 18th Street Gang. Then he dropped the name of Vice Mayor Osvaldo
Conde,
a grocery store owner best known around Cudahy as a man who commands
respect
on the street, and who has a taste for the nightlife.

A different incident - seemingly unrelated to Operation Bell Bottoms -
concerns another well-known local figure: Hector Marroquin is a
longtime
18th Street Gang member and suspected Mexican Mafia tax collector who
was
charged this year with selling machine guns and assault rifles to
undercover
ATF agents.

Shortly after midnight on April 26, 2006, Marroquin was pulled over by
Bell
Gardens police for driving a 2006 Lincoln Navigator with dealer paper
plates
but without displaying temporary registration.

When police searched the vehicle they found his license plates tucked
between the seats, but they found something else that might have made
little
sense at the time: 40-50 pairs of $120 jeans with generic labels that
Marroquin said he bought on the internet - and two small envelopes
containing a total of $14,000 in cash.

Marroquin, according to a police report obtained by CityBeat, told
police he
is a businessman and owns several businesses in Cudahy. Besides hanging
around a restaurant he owns in Cudahy, Marroquin is often seen at the
One-Stop lube shop on Florence Avenue in Bell, test riding his Harley
or
getting one of his vintage cars worked on.

from: osint@yahoogroups.com

---

http://www.google.com/search?q=Moussa+Matar&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

In 2001, Hassan Khanafer, a fugitive from New York, and his email address is in the link above this one:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Hassan+Khanafer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Mazen+Hassan+Saleh&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=18th+Street+Gang&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=18th+Street+Gang+looking+to+levy+street+taxes&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=drug+transactions+originating+in+Mexico+and+resulting+in+proceeds+the+government+believes+are+bound+for+Hezbollah.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Juan+Galindo&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Vice+Mayor+Osvaldo+Conde%2C&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Hector+Marroquin+is+a+longtime+18th+Street+Gang+member&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Mexican+Mafia+tax+collector&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[nw_arizona_granny]

Jihad and the Saudi petrodollar II
BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy investigates Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia’s austere brand of Islam, which is accused by its critics of funding religious extremism.

In the second of his two-part series, he meets top US investigators who have had the frustrating task of finding out where Saudi cash ended up.

In 2002, just a year after the 11 September attacks, the US authorities shut down a Saudi charity headquartered in Chicago.

“It was a big hoopla,” recalls Sam Roe, an investigative journalist who covered the story for the Chicago Tribune.

“The US attorney general at the time, John Ashcroft, flew out to Chicago and held a press conference.

“It was trumpeted as one of the first major victories in the ‘war on terrorism’.”

The charity was the Benevolence Foundation.

‘Al-Qaeda front’

The Benevolence Foundation had been set up in Chicago a decade earlier by a wealthy Saudi businessman, Adel Batterjee.

I never met Osama Bin Laden. I have never flown to any of these hot places
Soliman al-Buthi
But he soon handed over the running of it to his right-hand man, a Syrian called Enaam Arnaout.

The two men had met in Afghanistan in the 1980s when both had been helping Muslims fight the Soviet occupation forces.

The charity began to arouse the suspicions of the US authorities in the 1990s. But it was only after 11 September that the case acquired any real urgency - and attracted the attention of a star US attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald.

Speaking to me at his office in an imposing federal building in Chicago, he told me how he became convinced the Benevolence Foundation was an al-Qaeda front.

Documents found at its office in Bosnia, he says, described al-Qaeda’s founding meeting, its membership and the shipment of weapons.

But however strong his suspicions, Patrick Fitzgerald could not make the terrorism charges stick.

Wealthy and respected

On the eve of the trial, he struck a deal with Mr Arnaout, who was convicted on a racketeering charge.
He was found guilty of supplying boots and uniforms to Bosnian Muslim fighters, while pretending he was only helping civilians.

It was, at best, an ambiguous victory for the US authorities. They had shut down a charity but had failed to prove its links to al-Qaeda.

While Arnaout serves out his jail term, his former boss Adel Batterjee remains in the Saudi city of Jeddah, a wealthy and respected businessman.

Did he break his ties with Benevolence in the 1990s, as he has always claimed? Or did he run it from afar, as the court documents suggest?

After repeated efforts to hear his side of the story, I spoke briefly to him on his mobile phone - but he declined to be interviewed.

For Saudi Arabia, however, the charity issue refused to go away.

Charity

In 2004, at a joint press conference in Washington, the US and Saudi governments announced the closure of five branches of a prominent Saudi charity, al-Haramain.

Have the Saudis bankrolled the global jihad? They certainly have a case to answer
Eventually 10 branches - stretching from the Netherlands to Indonesia - were designated “financiers of terrorism” and shut down.

Set up in the 1990s, al-Haramain was a large and prestigious organisation with close ties to the Saudi government and ruling family.

At its height, it had some 50 branches worldwide.

Its literature proclaimed it had built hundreds of mosques, run orphanages and helped equip clinics and hospitals.

At a tent in a Riyadh suburb, I met the Saudi who had set up a branch of al-Haramain in Ashland, Oregon.

He is now a wanted man.

‘Compelling evidence’

Sitting on cushions drinking tea, in the company of two American lawyers, Soliman al-Buthi laughed off the charge that he was a “specially designated global terrorist”.

“I never met Osama Bin Laden,” he told me.

“I have never flown to any of these hot places - Bosnia or Chechnya or Afghanistan or Pakistan.”

He insists that he was engaged in the non-violent propagation of Islam - and that no real evidence has ever been presented against al-Haramain.

But for investigators like Dennis Lormel, a senior FBI official who worked on the case, the evidence of links to al-Qaeda was compelling.

Persuading the Saudi authorities to take it seriously, however, was another matter.

It took more than two years of sustained US pressure for them to act.

Eventually 10 branches of al-Haramain were shut down, and its director in Riyadh was sacked.

The Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel Jubeir, told me the kingdom was not responsible for the overseas branches of its charities.

He acknowledged that a Saudi charity commission responsible for activities overseas - whose birth he himself had announced in 2004 - had still not materialised.

But he insisted that over the last few years Saudi Arabia had taken draconian steps to regulate its charities.

Dynamic

The two case studies show how hard it has been for the American authorities to turn suspicion into proof.

It is a striking fact that, in these and other Muslim charity cases in the US, they have not managed to secure a single conviction on a terrorism charge.

But what’s also clear is that, for decades, Saudi charities were virtually unregulated.

Have the Saudis bankrolled the global jihad? They certainly have a case to answer.

The export of Wahhabism - which got going with the oil boom of the 1970s - acquired a dynamic of its own and ended up empowering radical Islamists.

After 11 September, the chickens came home to roost.

The second part of Roger Hardy’s series Jihad & the Petrodollar will be broadcast on the BBC World Service on Friday, 23 November.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7106382.stm

Published: 2007/11/22 12:27:14 GMT

© BBC MMVII

---

http://www.google.com/search?q=charity+was+the+Benevolence+Foundation&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Al-Qaeda+front&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Adel+Batterjee.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Soliman+al-Buthi&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Enaam+Arnaout&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=US+attorney%2C+Patrick+Fitzgerald&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=supplying+boots+and+uniforms+to+Bosnian+Muslim+fighter&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Adel+Batterjee&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Saudi+charity%2C+al-Haramain.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=branch+of+al-Haramain+in+Ashland%2C+Oregon&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Dennis+Lormel%2C+a+senior+FBI+official&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=Jihad+%26+the+Petrodollar&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a