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WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal authorities arrested 582 alleged gang members over a two-week period, officials said Monday, targeting an estimated 80 violent groups they say have spawned street crimes across the country. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called the gangs "a threat to our homeland security and ... a very urgent law enforcement priority." Investigators picked up most of the offenders between July 16 and July 28 on immigration violations for being in the United States illegally. Seventy-six face criminal charges, ranging from illegal possession of a firearm to holding fraudulent documents. "For too long, these gangs have gone unchecked...

Washington, D.C. Street gangs have existed in the United States since the 1800s. But in the last few years, street gangs have grown more violent, more numerous and more widespread, from the big cities to rural areas. Many gang members are illegal immigrants, mostly from Latin America. An adolescent may hunger for a sense of power. Especially if that youngster has few things in life: no money, little education, a broken family and no cultural attachments to his community. Analysts say teenagers may find power and fear through a street gang, and that is why gangs are growing so rapidly...

Colorful beads lead to court Student claims Schenectady school district cannot ban her red, white and blue necklace   By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer First published: Thursday, February 17, 2005 ALBANY -- A Mont Pleasant middle school student is taking her freedom-of-expression fight to federal court, claiming Schenectady school officials have no right to ban her from wearing a handmade red, white and blue necklace to class. The beads, which Raven Furbert got as a string-it-yourself Christmas gift, symbolize love of country and respect for soldiers serving in Iraq, according to the lawsuit her mother, Katie Grzywna, filed...

Gang Member Admits Role in 2001 Va. Slaying By Tom Jackman Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 10, 2004; Page B01 A Salvadoran gang member admitted yesterday in a Fairfax County courtroom that he led the gang rape of a Falls Church area woman in the summer of 2001, then kicked her in the neck with such force that it killed her. Oscar Omar Ramos Hernandez, 26, pleaded guilty to capital murder, abduction and rape and signed a plea agreement to serve three consecutive life sentences. Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Kathleen H. MacKay said she would probably accept the...

State prison officials have sent a warning to a large number of New Jersey urban police forces, saying their officers could become targets of attacks by violent street gangs. Department of Corrections investigators say the Bloods street gang is taking an "aggressive posture toward law enforcement" and has called for an "uprising" in New Jersey's largest cities and in the jails, according to internal documents distributed by prison officials to authorities around the state. In response, the State Police will host a meeting Monday to discuss the threat with local police officials, including those from cities where the threat seems...

Student gun sales armed N.J. gang, authorities sayAn indictment alleges collegians were used to funnel dozens of weapons from an Ohio store to Newark.By Troy GrahamInquirer Staff Writer   Federal prosecutors in New Jersey have indicted the owner of an Ohio gun store and three members of a violent Newark street gang in the first gun-trafficking case of its kind.The merchant sold guns to intermediaries, all of them students or former students at Wilberforce University, a small private school in Ohio. The students then funneled the guns to the Double ii Bloods street gang, authorities said.The case, which will...

<p>WASHINGTON -- New Jersey's U.S. attorney told Congress yesterday that violent street gangs represent a growing public threat and must be attacked with the same force and methods used against traditional organized crime families.</p> <p>Christopher Christie's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee came as his office in Newark announced charges against an East Orange man they said helped provide firearms to gang members in Newark and other parts of Essex County.</p>

HOMELAND INSECURITY 2 'Hispanics' sought in D.C.-area hunt Be-on-lookout alert describes shooters' race Posted: October 4, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Paul Sperry © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com By Paul Sperry ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Police in the Washington suburb where five people were gunned down in two days are looking for two "Hispanic" men in the fatal shootings, according to a police bulletin that federal authorities shared with WorldNetDaily. Montgomery County Police in press conferences have described only the gender, not the race, of the two suspects -- one a driver and the other the shooter. The be-on-the-lookout, or BOLO, alert that...

(Paterson-WABC, April 10, 2002) — Officers were shaking down a local New Jersey jail Wednesday, where officials say several gang members were planning to riot and then break out. Authorities in Passaic say the plan to escape from the county jail this weekend included a riot and the killing of at least one corrections officer. Police were going through the jail late Wednesday, rounding up suspects. David Ushery reports from Paterson with details. Members of the emergency response team of the Passaic County sheriff's department were going through the jail, looking for the gang members who had allegedly planned to...