girlfriend of a gangster who master-minded the kidnap and murder of a housing manager has admitted helping her boyfriend as he tried to cover his tracks.

girlfriend of a gangster who master-minded the kidnap and murder of a housing manager has admitted helping her boyfriend as he tried to cover his tracks.

Paul Brady was lured to a homes complex near Bacup, where he was battered by between 10 and 15 masked armed attackers and bundled into a van. His body has never been found.

Earlier this month Paul Devalda, 35, was jailed for a minimum of 21 years after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to kidnap, and the murder of Mr Brady.

The jury failed to reach a verdict in the case of Devalda’s girlfriend Stacia Crossley, 28, who was charged with assisting an offender, and police were in discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over whether she should face a re-trial.

But Crossley, of Padiham Road, Burnley, yesterday pleaded guilty to helping Devalda in his endeavours to cover his tracks.

In the seven-week trial the jury heard Mr Brady had been involved in a £350,000 cocaine deal and had the drugs at his Rochdale home.

The prosecution claimed Devalda, a drug dealer involved in organised crime, targeted Mr Brady after learning of the large cocaine haul.

Mr Brady was lured to the exclusive Lynns Court complex in Weir, where he was site manager, on August 1 2009, to repair a house.

The jury was told that after the ambush Crossley obtained a passport application for Devalda as he sought to flee the country.

But she and Devalda were caught out when they were recorded speaking about the offence in a hotel room in Rochdale.

Detective Superintendent Neil Hunter, who led the investigation, said: “This was a criminal vendetta kidnap and should be a strong warning to any individual who chooses to get involved in such criminality. We will robustly investigate any such offences and relentlessly pursue the people responsible.”

Crossley will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday April 19.

Assassinated ‘gangster’ remembered for being a loving father and husband.

He might have been a gangster or a spy for the government, but to his family Cyril Beeka was a loving husband, father, brother and son.

Late yesterday afternoon the family of Cyril Beeka laid flowers and planted a cross at the place where he was shot dead last Monday.

Fingers have been pointed at Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir for the murder. Krejcir handed himself over to police late on Thursday, but is yet to be charged with Beeka’s murder.

Krejcir will today appear in court facing fraud charges relating to a R4.5m insurance claim.

Yesterday, was not about Krejcir it was about the memory of Beeka.

The brief memorial service was attended by the late Beeka’s five brothers, two sisters as well as his wife Sonia and their children.

Sonia Beeka told The New Age last night that her husband was a wonderful man and a very good father.

“We were married for 16 years,” said the distraught widow.

“We had three daughters, Megan, 21, Laura, 16, and Francheska, 3. The last time I saw him was last Saturday when he left for Cape Town.

“We were talking about the arrangements for our daughter’s 21st birthday party. Megan will now have a 21st birthday without her dad. It is very hard for the children to accept his death.

“Francheska keeps on asking ‘when is daddy coming home’. This is really a sad time for us,” she said.

Igshaan Nahler, who has been friends with Beeka for 16 years, was trying very hard to keep back his tears yesterday.

“I last spoke to him last Saturday when he came to visit me at my house in Johannesburg. We spoke in general as I always enjoyed his company. Cyril was a very bright and vibrant person man and he had the gift to put a smile on anyone’s face.

“When they called me last week to tell me of his passing I could not believe it. We are going to miss him very much. He was a great guy,” he said.

After the family laid the flowers they said their goodbyes to each other and left.

In Johannesburg last night, McIntosh Polela, spokesman for the organised crime unit, the Hawks, confirmed that Krejcir was facing a charge of fraud.

This after a Johannesburg urologist admitted that he falsely diagnosed cancer in Krejcir so that the Cezch could cash an insurance claim.

Polela said at this stage Krejcir has not been formally charged with murder as the police were still questioning him about Beeka’s murder.

He would not comment whether Krerjcir would also be questioned about the murders of the late Lolly Jackson, the owner of South Africa’s Teazers strip clubs who was shot dead in May, or Uwe Gemballa, a German businessman whose body was found wrapped in cellophane in October.

Krejcir, who is fighting extradition to the Cezch Republic, is being held at the Johannesburg Central Prison under police guard.

During a raid at his home in Johannesburg police found a hit list of four names with Beeka’s name at the top.

Other targeted persons on the hit list included forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan and the National Prosecuting Authority deputy director of organised crime, advocate Riegal du Toit.

In 2005 Krejcir escaped Czech police through a secret tunnel while his house on the outskirts of Prague was being searched. He moved to the Seychelles and arrived in South Africa in 2007.

evidence has emerged that murdered underworld kingpin Cyril Beeka was an intelligence operative working for the South African government.

This has blown the lid on a spy-versus-spy drama within the country's intelligence agencies that pits national police boss General Bheki Cele against those loyal to his predecessor, Jackie Selebi.

This week, the turf war between the police's crime intelligence unit and the Hawks blew into the open following Beeka's assassination and the dramatic manhunt and arrest of Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir.

The Sunday Times has established that Beeka was part of what is known as a 25(2A) operation, a section of the Criminal Procedure Act relating to undercover operations.

It stipulates that "any law enforcement officer, an official of the state or ... authorised" person engaged in criminal activities is protected from arrest and prosecution.

This may explain why Beeka never spent a day behind bars despite being arrested for alleged racketeering and extortion on several occasions.

Beeka has now emerged as a central figure in the drama. And the Sunday Times can reveal that the primary suspect, Krejcir, listened to explosive phone recordings of Hawks investigators discussing the case against him.

Just two weeks ago, he was visited by senior crime intelligence officers, who gave him the recordings. They included conversations between forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan and Hawks boss Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya .

A source in crime intelligence said this week: "Every time the Hawks discussed their strategy against Krejcir and information crucial to his case, guys from crime intel were listening in. These recordings made their way to Krejcir, so he could stay one step ahead."

O' Sullivan confirmed on Friday that he was aware of this.

Hawks spokesman Colonel McIntosh Polela, however, confirmed claims that Krejcir's money had bought him favours within the SAPS and the Hawks.

"I said that he has a bottomless pit of cash that he's extended to people he wants favours from, and that includes some of our members," said Polela.

He said he was "not at liberty to divulge" Beeka's intelligence-gathering work.

Krejcir has previously evaded arrest despite being directly linked - in a number of Sunday Times exposés - to several high-profile murders, including strip club boss Lolly Jackson and German tycoon Uwe Gemballa.

Just last week, Krejcir's doctor, Marian Tupy, was given a suspended sentence for fraud after he falsified medical records saying that Krejcir had cancer. Krejcir was paid out over R4-million on a life policy with Liberty Life as a result.

The Sunday Times can today also reveal that:

Krejcir is being held at the Johannesburg central police's high-risk detention centre after his arrest on Thursday and is due to appear in court tomorrow;
Beeka's connections to the murky world of drugs saw him interacting with foreign intelligence agencies, including the FBI and Scotland Yard; and
He was once a low-level informer for the ANC's armed wing, but some party bosses were uncomfortable as he was a "drug pedlar".
Cele's spokesman, Major-General Nonkululeko Mbatha, refused to be drawn into the allegations, saying: "There is a process and investigation under way and every possible avenue is being probed."

HARDMAN Paul Ferris last night insisted he is NOT being pursued for a debt of £700 - but his SON is.

HARDMAN Paul Ferris last night insisted he is NOT being pursued for a debt of £700 - but his SON is.
Reports yesterday claimed the former gangland enforcer faced legal action over the unpaid bill. But dad of four Ferris, 47, revealed it is his son Paul Jnr, 25, who failed to stump up factor's fees.

He may now sue a paper which claimed he was responsible for the bill at his seaside pad. Ferris said: "The paperwork is addressed to Paul W Ferris, my son. I'm Paul J Ferris. I've been crime-free for 10 years. There is no way I'd end up back in court for a paltry debt."

Ferris said Paul Jnr moved into his flat in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, after he lost his job. But the convicted gunrunner was unaware of the debt to factor Hacking and Patterson. Ferris added: "I'll settle it but I'm consulting a lawyer over claims I owed this."

Hacking and Patterson said: "This court action is in the name of Paul W Ferris." Paul Jr admitted: "I did not have the funds to pay this debt."

Cyril Beeka was probed by police for ruling virtually all of the city’s nightclub security operations with an iron fist. Two days ago two unknown gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed Beeka

 
If new club owners did not agree to pay for his security services, they would allegedly face the wrath and the boots of Beeka’s army of security guards, the Moroccans.

In the 1990s the then director of the Presidential Task Unit, Andre Lincoln, had been tasked with investigating the Moroccans. He was then accused of failing to do so and later lodged a complaint of intimidation against Beeka.

Asked about Beeka on Tuesday, Lincoln said: “I don’t have any comment on that. Not even off the record.”

The security boss has been linked to other underworld figures including slain Yuri “The Russian” Ulianitski, who police suspected of beating up business owners who did not pay him and his henchmen security fees.

Two days ago two unknown gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed Beeka, 49, as he was being driven along Modderdam Road near the University of the Western Cape in his BMW 4x4. The driver of his vehicle was shot in the chest but survived.

In the 1990s, when Beeka still owned Red and Pro security companies, his name featured prominently in news publications as he was allegedly involved in murder, drug dealing and extortion.

In late 1999 he appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court as he was suspected of having played a role in the murder of a Chinese sailor.

Newspaper reports based on police affidavits said officers understood that Beeka and his workers controlled 90 percent of the city’s nightclub security operations and had reportedly been involved in a string of illegal activities.

Police had alleged Beeka’s business method at the time was to approach new club owners with proposals and, if they turned them down, he would order the Moroccans to intimidate them, sometimes physically, into reconsidering.

At the time, newspaper reporters said police officers feared Beeka was extending his grip on security operations from the city to the southern suburbs.

Last year, Beeka’s name again cropped up as he was linked to Czech fugitive Radovan Krecjir, currently in Gauteng and convicted of fraud and kidnapping in the Czech Republic.

At the time of his murder, Beeka had been working as the national head of security for the courier company RAM Hand-to-Hand.

Irina Ulianitskaya, Ulianitski’s widow, on Tuesday said she felt for Beeka’s family.

Years ago her husband, who ran the Moroccans at one stage, had briefly been employed by Beeka. Ulianitski and their only child Yulia, then four, were killed in a drive-by shooting as the family was driving in Milnerton in May 2007.

At the time Ulianitski was out on bail of R30 000 and facing allegations of conspiracy to kidnap and possession of illegal firearms and drugs.

Their killers have not yet been arrested.

“(Beeka’s murder) brings back memories. It’s exactly the same thing that happened to my family. I sympathise with his family,” Ulianitskaya said.

She had not known Beeka personally. Former councillor Badih Chaaban, who had known both Ulianitski and Beeka, on Tuesday said that he had once employed Beeka’s brother, Edward, a shareholder of Red Security. Other than that Chaaban said: “I have no comment whatsoever.”

Millionaire gangster Paul Ferris is being chased by sheriff officers - after being sued over a s700 debt.

Millionaire gangster Paul Ferris is being chased by sheriff officers - after being sued over a s700 debt.
Ferris, 47, failed to pay factor's fees on a luxury waterside pad.
Now a court has ordered he must pay the full amount plus expenses. If he doesn't, he could have sheriff officers turning up at his door.
A source said: "It's unlikely such a relatively small sum will come to bankruptcy, although even a court case such as this could affect his credit rating.
"This could pose problems if, for example, he wants to get a mortgage or a loan for a car.
"But Mr Ferris is probably more of a 'cash payer' anyway, so that shouldn't be much of a problem."
Ferris failed to pay instalments due as factor's fees at his waterfront pad at Mariner's View in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, that he bought for s110,000 in 2005.
A decree was passed at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court's civil court department on March 11 over the case, rendering Ferris liable for the debt.
The order relates to payments from last year totalling s714.80 due to Glasgow factors Hacking and Paterson Property Management.
The firm have hundreds of flats across central Scotland. They are being represented in the case by Glasgow solicitors Hardy Macphail.
Ferris did not contest the case and a decree was passed meaning he is now liable for the whole sum plus expenses, which, it's estimated, will take the total owed to more than s1000.

Karen Gravano, daughter of mob turncoat Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, has landed a book deal

Karen Gravano, daughter of mob turncoat Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, has landed a book deal for a tell-all about her life in the Mafia.
Gravano, 38, who’s also starring in the VH1 reality show “Mob Wives,” just snagged a six-figure deal with St. Martin’s Press to write her tome.
According to St. Martin’s, Gravano will discuss “what it was like to grow up in the Mafia enclave of Staten Island as the daughter of one of the Mob’s most feared executioners, how her life changed radically once he testified for the federal government and entered the witness protection program, and went to prison in order to protect Karen and her brother.”
“The Bull” was the second-highest ranking boss behind John Gotti and served as Gotti’s trusted lieutenant — until both were indicted for racketeering and murder in 1990. They were scheduled to stand trial together until Sammy flipped on Gotti, fearing Gotti would flip first.
Sammy then went into the witness protection program, but left within a year to move to Arizona, living under the alias Jimmy Moran.
But in 2000, the turncoat was busted again for running a multimillion-dollar ecstasy ring near Phoenix. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Karen pleaded guilty to various charges related to her father’s drugs operation, and she and her mother, Debra, were sentenced to probation.
The former Mafia princess is one of four women set to star on the Weinstein Co.-produced “Mob Wives,” which follows four women as they rebuild their lives after their husbands or fathers go to prison. Gravano is seen working as a makeup artist.
The show is currently filming 10 episodes in New York.

Mafia turncoat Anthony J. Arillotta, of Springfield, will continue with a second day of cross-examination

Mafia turncoat Anthony J. Arillotta, of Springfield, will continue with a second day of cross-examination by defense lawyers in an ongoing mob murder trial in Manhattan where he has featured as the foundation of the prosecution’s case against two of his former enforcers.
Arillotta, 42, testified for nearly three days against Fotios “Freddy” Geas, of West Springfield, brother Ty Geas, of Westfield, and Arillotta’s onetime New York-based mob boss, Arthur “Artie” Nigro, of Bronx, NY.
Arillotta calmly told jurors about the 2003 murders of Genovese captain Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, gunned down amid a power play Arillotta helped orchestrate, and Arillotta’s brother-in-law, Gary D. Westerman, whom Arillotta arranged to have shot and buried in a wooded lot in Agawam.
A defense lawyer for Nigro began attempting to tear down the government’s star witness Monday afternoon, attacking his motives for testifying under a plea deal.
“Do you consider yourself an honest man, Mr. Arillotta?” defense attorney Lawrence Hochheiser asked during cross-examination.
“At times, yes,” he responded.
The Geases and Nigro face life in prison if convicted. Bruno shooter Frankie A. Roche is expected to testify this week, according to lawyers in the case.

death penalty trial of crime boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano may bring to light the gangster's darkest secret

upcoming death penalty trial of crime boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano may bring to light the gangster's darkest secret - he was the victim of child abuse.

Basciano's lawyers have informed federal prosecutors of plans to raise the issue as a mitigating factor against executing the former boss of the Bonanno crime family if he's convicted of ordering a murder.

The court filing contained no details of the "abusive childhood," but Basciano's former lawyers say he was beaten severely and frequently by his father, Jerry Basciano.

"There were really bad beatings," said lawyer Ephraim Savitt, adding that Basciano had objected to throwing his father under the bus to save his own skin.

Basciano remains opposed to publicly airing the family laundry, but lawyer Richard Jasper overruled his client, sources said.

"He's trying to protect his nuclear family and I think that's a testament of his own goodness," Savitt said.

Basciano remains on good terms with his father and made efforts after his arrest to ensure that his own sons stayed in touch with "Grandpa Jerry," Savitt recalled.

Barry Levin, who also represented Basciano in a prior racketeering trial, said he was frequently beaten while trying to protect his mother from a raging father.

The beatings were severe, sometimes involving a baseball bat, and Basciano would take refuge at an aunt's house, sleeping on the couch until his bruises healed, Levin said.

Both former lawyers said the beatings by Jerry Basciano were apparently fueled by alcohol. They learned of the abuse from interviewing other members of Basciano's family.

Jerry Basciano, a retired construction worker, could not be reached for comment. The current defense team declined to comment on the issue.

Vincent Basciano is charged with ordering subordinates to whack mob associate Randolph Pizzolo Pizzolo in order to send a "wakeup" call to the beleagured crime family. Jury selection is continuing in Brooklyn Federal Court.

serial killer Carl Williams was content to let Tuppence Moran live.

serial killer Carl Williams was content to let Tuppence Moran live.

Unfortunately for Tuppence, his sister-in-law Judy Moran was not.

Williams, a man described by the judge who sentenced him as Australia's worst serial killer, had every Moran on his hit list - including Judy.

First he had Tuppence's nephew Mark knocked off in 2000.

He then put out a contract on Mark's brother Jason that was brutally executed in the front of a car load of kids in 2003.

Williams later paid $150,000 to have Jason's father, Lewis, murdered as he had a beer with a mate in a suburban pub in 2004.

But when it came to completing the set by killing the relatively inoffensive Tuppence, the man who was almost certainly behind 10 of Melbourne's underworld murders couldn't be bothered.

As it turned out, he didn't need to be.

The endangered Moran clan was made extinct from the inside by a woman who cooked Tuppence the occasional dinner and who had hated him from the day they met.

Moran was convicted on Wednesday for her leading role in a criminal conspiracy to murder the man she referred to throughout her trial, seemingly with affection, as 'Tuppy'.

The jury accepted the evidence of another of the accused that she had rewarded trigger man Geoffrey Armour for his part in a plot she had organised and had driven the getaway car.

Moran's defence team claimed that at the time of the murder she had been at the grave of her first son, Mark, who was murdered on the same day nine years earlier.

Her lawyer Bill Stuart also made what might normally have been the relevant point that the last thing she would have wanted was another Moran murder.

Moran came to court each day with much the same attitude as when attending the trials of those who murdered her children and husband - like a lady on her way to lunch with friends.

But 19 months in jail had taken a toll.

The former showgirl who had lost two husbands and two sons to gangsters' bullets had the air of a woman of substance who had fallen on hard times.

She managed to produce a new hairdo every few days, but none like the flowing silver mane of a couple of years ago.

And the wardrobe of a woman who admitted during her trial that she was 'a bit naughty when it comes to clothes' had gone from Versace to items less splendid from the big ladies' shop.

A piece of testimony she gave during her evidence-in-chief demonstrated the difficulty she seemed to have in accepting her altered situation.

It came as her lawyer showed her the pink woollen hat and red sweater she allegedly wore as she drove to and from the murder scene.

'I would never wear that pink with red,' she said.

The court heard Moran was a conscientious keeper of graves.

FORMER Stirling mayor Tony Vallelonga faces up to 14 years in jail if charged, extradited and convicted over allegations that he is linked to the Italian mafia.

FORMER Stirling mayor Tony Vallelonga faces up to 14 years in jail if charged, extradited and convicted over allegations that he is linked to the Italian mafia.

Italian authorities have indicated they want to charge Mr Vallelonga under the section of their penal code dealing specifically with the mafia, which carries penalties of up to 14 years for leading or organising a mafia group, and up to 12 years for being part of such an association.

This follows the Italian authorities' explosive allegations this week that Mr Vallelonga was involved with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta organised crime gang, first revealed on The Sunday Times news website PerthNow.

On Friday Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi threw her support behind Mr Vallelonga. "The Tony Vallelonga that I know certainly is a morally upstanding Perth citizen who has shown great support and worked for the community while he was mayor and as a leader of our community," she said.

A spokeswoman for Police Minister Rob Johnson, who is cited as a referee on Mr Vallelonga's curriculum vitae, said the minister had "observed (him) to be highly respected by the Italian community".

Lawyers acting for Mr Vallelonga who has denied any links with criminal organisations would not comment on potential penalties.

It is understood his legal team will write to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the Australian Federal Police this week, asking that Mr Vallelonga not be taken into custody if the case escalates.

No official action has been taken against Mr Vallelonga, 64, who was Stirling mayor from 1997 to 2005, and who migrated to WA from the southern Italian province of Calabria in 1963.

But earlier this week Italian anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told media that "in a few days" a request for Mr Vallelonga's extradition would go to the Australian Embassy and an Australian court and judge.

The Italian authorities' case involves claims that Mr Vallelonga conversed with alleged crime boss Giuseppe Commisso in Calabria in August 2009.

Irvin Briggs, 38, turned himself in Tuesday night at the Kern County Jail.

Irvin Briggs, 38, turned himself in Tuesday night at the Kern County Jail. He was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, reckless discharge of a firearm, felon/gang member in possession of a firearm, and participation in a criminal street gang, according to police Sgt. Mary DeGeare.

Briggs was fighting with two men, possibly teens, last Thursday in the parking lot of Kern Schools Federal Credit Union on Ming Avenue when he allegedly shot several times at his adversaries, who haven't been identified. No injuries have been reported from the incident.

Enrico Ponzo was never a proper mobster, a “made man” in the vernacular of the underworld.

Enrico Ponzo was never a proper mobster, a “made man” in the vernacular of the underworld. He was a renegade, prosecutors say, part of a violent faction intent on ousting the bosses of the powerful Patriarca crime family in Boston in the early 1990s.

Mr. Ponzo’s home in Marsing, Idaho.
When a wide-ranging indictment came up against him and 14 others in 1997, Mr. Ponzo was charged with crimes that included attempted murder and extortion. But he was also listed as the target of a contract killing planned by one of the other defendants.

While most everyone else in the case went to prison, Mr. Ponzo was not arrested — he had been missing since 1994.

Jeffrey John Shaw, known as Jay, was never a natural rancher. The accent from back East and his inexperience with cattle gave him away quickly as another newcomer reinventing himself in the West. “He wore bib overalls and straw hats,” said Brodie Clapier, a neighbor and a longtime rancher. “People did wear bib overalls here — in the 1930s.”

But no one pried. After all, Mr. Shaw was quick to help move your furniture or fix your computer. He was trusted to manage the irrigation system people depended on for water, and he was responsible with the money they paid him to do it. In time, as he began raising two children and 12 cows on his 12 acres, prosecutors say Jay earned a stature no mob boss could ever confer on Enrico.

He became a remade man.

After tracking him down in a manner they declined to describe, and watching him for more than a week, federal marshals arrested Mr. Ponzo on Feb. 7 as he drove down the rural road where he has lived for the past decade. Soon after, Jay Shaw’s friends were stunned to see him in court in Boise, his ever-present hat and goatee gone, admitting he was Mr. Ponzo, someone they had never heard of, someone living on the lam, living a lie, for nearly two decades.

Now he is being extradited to Massachusetts. “I don’t know whether he really was a fugitive,” said Norman S. Zalkind, a Boston lawyer who represented Mr. Ponzo two decades ago. “If you look at the indictment, he was also one of the victims.”

He has called friends in Marsing to say he is sorry — and to tell them which pipes in the irrigation system need fixing. He asked them feed his dogs and his cows.

ongoing LP/Deuce 8 feud

purported gang member alleged to have killed 24-year-old Tyree E. Lee during a Central District gang rivalry has pleaded guilty to murder.

Changing his plea Monday, Jymaika S. Hutson admitted to killing Lee in 2007. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and will likely be sentenced to 14 ½ years in prison.

On April 28, 2007, officers were called to the 2600 block of East Alder Street following a report of shots.

Police arrived to find Lee had been shot multiple times in the back, torso and legs. He died later that evening at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Witnesses to the shooting told police a white Chevrolet SUV had pulled up as Lee was walking to a friend's home. A passenger, Hutson, got out of the vehicle, drew a pistol and fired at least eight shots at Lee.

One witness told police he heard what would be some of Lee's last words.

"Hey man, I don't have a beef with you," Lee told Hutson, according to the witness.

Hutson then gunned him down.

Police were able to trace the car to Gilbert Kinney, Hutson's co-defendant, who'd previously pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assistance.

Speaking with investigators, Kinney admitted to following Lee's car at Hutson's request. He said he had no idea Hutson planned to kill Lee, and admitted that Hutson used his pistol in the shooting.

Hutson -- a member of Deuce 8, a Central District street gang -- had been seen arguing with Lee at Barnett Park shortly before the shooting.

That afternoon, Lee was joined at the park by several men alleged to be involved in Seattle gangs, including Thomas Callandret, a suspect in the Dec. 2, 2008 slaying of Nathaniel Lee Thomas at Vito's Madison Grill currently serving time in federal prison for drug crimes.

Police initially interviewed Hutson five days after the shooting. He denied any involvement in Lee's death; nearly three years passed before prosecutors were able to bring charges against him.

The killing was, essentially, revenge for an earlier attack Hutson blamed on Lee. Hutson was shot in the face with a shotgun by parties as yet unidentified.

Prosecutors were prepared to contend that rivalries between Hutson's gang and Lee's Low Profiles -- a breakaway set of Deuce 8 -- played a part in the shooting, a contention disputed by Hutson's attorney.

That rivalry dates to the slaying of another Seattle man, Deuce 8 leader Terrell Milam.

Milam was widely believed to have injured then-Seahawks defensive back Ken Hamlin in a bar brawl in October 2005. He was shot to death not long afterward by Omar A. Norman, a Low Profile gang member currently serving a 52-year prison term for Milam's murder.

That killing was followed by years of gang shootings and slayings, including the drive-by shooting that saw Hutson shot in the face.

Writing the court, Senior Deputy Prosecutor John B. Castleton noted that Hutson was responding both to his own shooting and Milam's when he killed Lee.

"The defendant admitted to shooting Lee as retaliation for Milam's death," Castleton told the court. "This type of 'payback' is simply part of the gang culture and was just one more incident in the ongoing LP/Deuce 8 feud."

In the run-up to trial, prosecutors asked that Hutson's defense attorney not be allowed to tell jurors that one key witness -- Seattle Detective Shandy Cobane -- was caught on camera threatening an arrestee.

Cobane was heard on video threatening to "beat the (expletive) Mexican piss" out of the man, who was complying with police commands and, it turned out, was not a suspect in the crime police were investigating. Cobane has since been reassigned from the gang unit.

Having pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, second-degree murder, Hutson is expected to be sentenced April 15 in King County Superior Court. He remains jailed.DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder