Free Republic

Federal agents crushed the California arm of a vicious transnational organized crime syndicate in series of stunning raids Tuesday that saw the arrest of at least 11 accused criminals in the Golden State — and over a dozen more in the US, Canada and Europe. Los Angeles federal agents led the global takedown of the India-based Bishnoi Gang, a fearsome global mob blamed for extortion, drug dealing and the assassination of political figures, industrialists, actors and musicians in North America and India.

A sprawling global web of gangsters targeted in a massive federal takedown used California as its cash register to rake in millions of dollars through extortion schemes, contract killings, and drug and gun trafficking, authorities revealed. Local and federal officials on Tuesday arrested 11 accused members of transnational, India-based gangs and their affiliates in the Golden State as part of a case dubbed “Operation Hard Ball.” Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, described the gangs as the most powerful you’ve never heard of, allegedly reaping millions of dollars in illegal profits from drug deals, extortion, weapons sales and theft....