Group of seven campers on the coast of Western Australia discovered a boat carrying 12 suspected Sri Lankan asylum seekers

Group of seven campers on the coast of Western Australia discovered a boat carrying 12 suspected Sri Lankan asylum seekers, reports The Australian. Two of the men onboard the boat swam ashore to seek help from the campers, who subsequently called the police – who called the Australian Customs - to inform them of their suspicions. Senator Evans has not yet confirmed if the boat passengers are in fact asylum seekers, but the 12 men will be transferred to Christmas Island for processing. Senator Evans confirmed his government would grant any passengers who make requests for asylum with onshore protection and access to review procedures.

Former chauffeur Gordon Wood sentenced to spend at least 13 years in jail.

One of the most high-profile murder trials in recent years has ended in a packed Sydney courtroom today, with the former chauffeur Gordon Wood sentenced to spend at least 13 years in jail.Wood was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Sydney model Caroline Byrne, whose body was found at a notorious suicide spot in 1995.Police initially assumed she had killed herself, but were later persuaded to reopen the case and two years ago Gordon Wood was extradited from Britain to face trial for murder. Gordon Wood is a cool character, he tends to keep his emotions to himself and that's how he remained today. He showed no emotion when the judge announced a maximum 17 year jail term, he'll have to spend at least 13 years in jail, including some time already served when he was arrested in Britain before being extradited to Australia. He'll be first due for parole in October 2021.Now Wood did show some emotion though when he walked in and out of the dock. The courtroom was packed, about 100 people there, this is quite extraordinary, more than half of them appeared to be his supporters.On mass they stood up as he walked into the dock and they stood up when he walked out, as though he was the judge.

Gordon Wood agreed to be extradited from London to face charges that he had murdered his girlfriend, model Caroline Byrne. It's a case that has fascinated the public with its links to the rich and famous and the tragic death of a beautiful girl. It's been 11 years since Miss Byrne's body was found at the bottom of a 30-metre cliff at the The Gap in Sydney's east. It's a notorious suicide spot and in June 1995 it was believed the 24-year-old was another tragic statistic. Ms Byrne's father never believed that his daughter committed suicide and has campaigned continually to have the case keep open.

Gigi D'Alessio, admitted he had been minstrel to the Camorra, the local mafia.

Gigi D'Alessio, admitted he had been minstrel to the Mob.The Naples-born singer's popularity with the Camorra, the local mafia, had long been the subject of gossip and rumour. Roberto Saviano, who is in hiding from the Camorra, alludes to it in his best-seller, Gomorrah. In 2001, D'Alessio became a suspect in an investigation into drug-smuggling. His house was searched and he was questioned, but not charged and denied any involvement.The impression D'Alessio gave then was that, if he had rubbed shoulders with gangsters, he was unaware of it. "I've sung at lots of weddings. I've met thousands of people and I've been photographed with them. But what does that mean?" he asked. "Let's face it, the same thing happened to Frank Sinatra."Speaking to Vanity Fair, though, he gave a new account. He was, he said, repeatedly threatened."If you don't come to the wedding of my son, I'll cut your throat", he quotes one "godfather" as having said. Another was said to have warned him: "If you don't sing your stuff for us at my grandchild's christening lunch, I'll break your head."Others preferred to invite me along by concentrating on my nose, legs, tongue and hands. There were days I did 15 parties," he says.D'Alessio was only able to disentangle himself from the Camorra's embrace after a breakthrough concert in 1997 that turned him into a national star and enabled him for the first time to refuse invitations to private engagements.He has never since made an exception, he says. "If, in all these years, I'd ever said 'yes' to one and 'no' to another, I'd have got into serious trouble."

Investigators are asking for the public's help in finding Eric Siu, 20, of San Francisco. They want to question him about the slayings early March 29

San Francisco police say they are looking for a new "person of interest" in a double slaying outside a Sunset District pizzeria earlier this year.Investigators are asking for the public's help in finding Eric Siu, 20, of San Francisco. They want to question him about the slayings early March 29 of Jason de la Cruz, 31, and Derek Butch, 23, outside the Irving Pizza restaurant on Irving Street near 19th Avenue. Siu has not been charged.Siu is described as Asian American, 5-foot-8, 135 pounds, with brown eyes and, when last seen, short black hair. He lived in the Sunset, but disappeared the morning of the killings.Police initially arrested 19-year-old Matthew Owyang for the slayings. However, after witnesses suggested at a preliminary hearing that Siu was the gunman, the case against Owyang was dismissed.A grand jury has been hearing evidence in the case but has issued no indictments.De la Cruz, a manager at the Westlake Verizon Wireless store in Daly City, was treating his sales team at the pizza parlor, relatives said. He announced in the restaurant there would be "free pizza on me" for his colleagues, leading to a dispute with another customer who demanded free food, one witness told authorities. The dispute had apparently been resolved with a handshake outside the pizza parlor, but police said someone got out of a nearby car and opened fire, killing de la Cruz and his friend Butch

Four Mile Correctional Center inmate and Aspen native Stefan Schutter enlisted his brother, Devin, to help bring cocaine and heroin into the prison, u

Four Mile Correctional Center inmate and Aspen native Stefan Schutter enlisted his brother, Devin, to help bring cocaine and heroin into the prison, using covert drug deliveries by a milk truck driver.Devin Schutter, who has eight unrelated criminal cases currently pending in Aspen — including charges for dealing cocaine, threatening to kill a local woman, and several alleged violations of his probation terms — was arrested here last month for violating the bail bond conditions in all eight of those cases, after a warrant was issued for him in Fremont County for his alleged role in the prison drug operation. Devin Schutter has three previous felony convictions. He turned 30 in Pitkin County Jail last week.His younger brother, Stefan, was convicted of holding up Clark’s Market in August 1999 in one of a series of armed robberies carried out by local teenagers. He served six years in prison for that, was released in 2005, and was then arrested months later in Jefferson County in possession of an assault rifle, a revolver, more than 270 grams of cocaine, 220 grams of hallucinogenic mushrooms, 360-plus grams of marijuana, and smaller amounts of crack and heroin. Last year he was sentenced to a 10-year prison term for that transgression.

Devin faced a district judge in Aspen yesterday, during a hearing on whether the locally issued warrant had established probable cause for his Nov. 6 arrest at the Hickory House on Main Street. The warrant, issued by the Aspen Police Department, did not clearly present that he was free on bond when he allegedly contributed to the prison drug ring.

Chief District Judge James Boyd accepted an amended, corrected warrant yesterday and denied a request from Devin Schutter’s attorney to free his client on a zero-dollar bond, as a sanction for the police mistake. He remains in custody here on nearly $220,000 bond.An investigator for the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) began tracking the Schutter brothers after he was tipped off earlier this year that drugs were being smuggled into the Cañon City prison by a milk truck driver named “Henry Ferstreat,” who was allegedly charging inmates $200 for packages of drugs he delivered, according to court documents. Subsequent investigation found the alleged drug courier’s last name was actually Verstraete.The DOC investigator claims Federal Express packages were sent to Verstraete from Devin Schutter in Aspen.The investigator, William Claspell, began tapping phone conversations between the Schutter brothers from the prison in July, when Stefan allegedly asked his brother to mail drugs to Verstraete concealed in a bottle of the muscle-building supplement Creatine Monohydrate.According to an affidavit for Devin Schutter’s arrest, the brothers began arranging for drug deliveries and payments using code language, referring to black tar heroin as “black bitches” and cocaine as “white bitches.”
In a September conversation, Stefan allegedly complained about the quality of the drugs from Aspen, referring to them in code as photographs.“Stefan told [Devin] that he had said that those were supposed to be good photos,” the affidavit states, “but when Stefan received them, he could barely make out what was in the photos. He said that they were very grainy. Devin told Stefan that he was told that they were supposed to be good, and that was all that was going around Aspen.”In June, the authorities claim Stefan asked his mother to send $200 from Aspen to Cara Carlyle, a Pueblo woman who had been visiting the prison. They say Stefan also enlisted a former inmate, Joe Condon of Aurora, to buy drugs and collect money orders for him.
They say that on Oct. 18 Stefan told Devin he needed him to go to Denver to “pick something up for him” and send it to Pueblo, specifying amounts of “dark” and “white” to buy, and how much to pay for them. “Stefan told Devin that the black girl [heroin] was always at the house, but he should call first to make sure that the white girl [cocaine] would be there,” the affidavit says.

Stefan also allegedly specified that the drugs be packaged “in the shape of a roll of quarters,” presumably so they could be easily inserted into a courier’s anal cavity and brought into the prison.

On Oct. 23, authorities searched the former inmate Joe Condon’s home and allegedly found a $700 money order from Devin Schutter there. During subsequent questioning, they say Condon told them Devin gave him money to buy heroin from a woman who Stefan put him in touch with.The next day, Denver police raided the home where Condon said he bought heroin, found amounts of the drug there, and arrested the house’s occupant, Adolph Medina.The DOC investigator then listened to a taped phone call from an inmate to Cara Carlyle from the day before. In the conversation, the inmate allegedly told Carlyle someone would be “coming down from Aspen” to meet her.An undercover officer posing as Devin Schutter then met Carlyle at a K-Mart in Pueblo for a planned drug deal, the affidavit states. The officer gave Carlyle fake heroin and cocaine, which she allegedly accepted from the man she believed to be Devin Schutter, and then arrested her.Devin Schutter is now facing a felony charge of conspiracy to commit distribution of a controlled substance. He is due back in court on Dec. 22 for a preliminary hearing on all of his Pitkin County cases, and is scheduled for trial in April.For the previous dealing charges against him, he faces the potential for more than 40 years in prison. The district attorney’s office has also filed a habitual criminal offense against him, which enhances the penalties and could potentially double them. The new conspiracy charge in Fremont County carries a potential prison term of 12 years.

John Connolly was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the 1982 shooting death of jai-alai executive John Callahan.

Former FBI agent John Connolly is looking at hard time in a Florida prison for the mob-related 1982 slaying of a Miami gambling executive.Connolly could get up to life in prison when he is sentenced later Thursday. Prosecutors want the maximum while defense attorneys are asking for a term as short as 12 years.The 68-year-old Connolly was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the 1982 shooting death of jai-alai executive John Callahan.Prosecutors said Callahan was slain after Connolly told Boston mobsters that Callahan might implicate them in another murder.Connolly was convicted by a federal jury in 2002 of racketeering and sentenced to 10 years for his corrupt relationships with chieftains of Boston's notorious Winter Hill Gang.

Five people kidnapped a pair of Los Alamos owners Saturday morning as they opened the shop for business, took the owners to a nearby northeast Phoenix

Police said five people kidnapped a pair of Los Alamos owners Saturday morning as they opened the shop for business, took the owners to a nearby northeast Phoenix home, where they were robbed, bound, and left to wiggle away after the attackers fled. The eatery, tucked between a Chinese restaurant and a custom flooring store, marks one of the latest of hundreds of kidnappings in the city.Phoenix police estimated as many as 325 kidnappings and 310 home invasions this year through Nov. 11. Last year, more than 350 kidnappings were reported citywide. Reasons for violent kidnappings are commonly tied to human-smuggling operations and drug-related cases like one just weeks ago where drug-dealers held an Avondale mother and her 3-year-old daughter for ransom for nearly a week, seeking a similarly large amount of cash from the family.A day before the Los Alamos kidnapping, Phoenix robbery detectives announced that seven men could face kidnapping charges after a raid at a west Phoenix home freed a 16-year-old boy who was held for ransom. Police said the bandits wanted the boy's uncle, who was also arrested on a felony drug warrant, to provide $100,000 in cash for the boy's release.Phoenix police, along with the Arizona Department of Public Safety and federal agents, began using a task-force approach earlier this year to address rising concerns about kidnappings tied to other illegal activity. Earlier this fall, the Phoenix Police Department helped establish its own home invasion and kidnapping task force with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and federal agencies.The Los Alamos kidnapping is still under investigation. Police have yet to arrest or identify any of the five suspects believed responsible.Those who work and live near the restaurant said its owners were pleasant, that the joint drew regular customers from the commercial Bell Road Corridor. One couple, who live behind the restaurant, said the smells of classic Mexican-American fare wafted through the area - drawing both residents and local workers. The couple said when they asked Los Alamos' owners about a foul odor from the back alley dumpsters, rather than contesting the stink, the owners listened patiently and instructed employees to be more diligent about shutting the lids.
An owner at the next-door flooring shop and a manager at the pawnshop around the corner said they were surprised to learn about the kidnapping, but that they felt safe in the area despite the specter of crime.Shop owners gossip about reports of bank heists or break-ins in the area, but robberies are rare in northeast Phoenix. Most of the city's robberies were concentrated south of Bell Road in 2007, police say.Still, neighbors talk. Relationships that led to Saturday's kidnapping at Los Alamos remain unclear. The truth could be murky for quite some time.

Alleged for-hire killing of Nesconset lawyer James DiMartino pleaded not guilty to upgraded charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy

last of four people charged with the alleged for-hire killing of Nesconset lawyer James DiMartino pleaded not guilty to upgraded charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy in Riverhead Tuesday.Donovan Raysor, 20, stood handcuffed as his lawyer, Michael Brown, of Central Islip, entered a plea of not guilty.Suffolk County Court Judge C. Randall Hinrichs ordered Raysor held without bail and set his next court appearance for Jan. 13.Raysor is accused of carrying out a murder plot prosecutors said was hatched by DiMartino's friend and business partner, Ronald Thornton, 37, of Nesconset.DiMartino, 44, a specialist in home mortgages, had four children.Here is what prosecutors said happened:First, Thornton approached a stripper he'd met at Shady Al's, a club on the Jericho Turnpike, and asked for her help hiring DiMartino's killers. Next, the dancer, Monique Randall, 20, enlisted her boyfriend, Raysor, along with Darnell Festus, 23, an acquaintance from the couple's St. Albans neighborhood. Then, Thornton lured the victim to a meeting with Raysor and Festus,and Festus shot DiMartino in the head. Prosecutors said the fee for the job was $8,000.Outside court, Brown said Randall did approach his client, but Raysor's refusal forced her to look elsewhere for help."My client wanted to have nothing to do with taking the life of anther human being," Brown said. "It was at that point that Monique Randall suggested the idea to Mr. Festus, and the rest is history."Randall pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for a sentence of 15 years to life, the minimum for second-degree murder.Festus' lawyer, Jason Bassett, of Central Islip, has insisted his client is innocent, and knew nothing about a plot to kill DiMartino.Thornton's lawyer, Steven Wilutis, of Miller Place, has said his client met Randall and Raysor to discuss renting a property to them and, during that meeting, the couple overheard a phone call revealing DiMartino's plans to be visit Commack carrying cash. Then, Wilutis said, the pair decided to carry out a deadly armed robbery.Prosecutors Tuesday again declined to comment on Wilutis' assertions in court this week that his client had been cooperating with a district attorney's investigation into allegations that DiMartino had committed mortgage fraud.