1960s London Gangster Dies

London gang leader Charlie Richardson, who was a rival to the Kray twins, has died, according to Sky sources. Richardson, aged 78, fronted the notorious Richardson Gang, a group of criminals based in the south east of the city. His life story was made into a drama in 2004 starring actor Luke Goss. Richardson had been trying for years to clear his name after he was jailed for 25 years in 1967 when the Old Bailey heard lurid evidence from men who fell out with him and his brother Eddie and were summoned to their scrap metal yard. A key prosecution witness was travel agent Lucian Harris, who said he was tortured for information after his partner disappeared owing the Richardsons money. Richardson said a key witness lied and the judge was biased because he knew one of his fellow defendants and the jury foreman.

A reputed Albanian gangster who likes to show off his bling on Twitter was named yesterday

A reputed Albanian gangster who likes to show off his bling on Twitter was named yesterday in a federal indictment along with a dozen cohorts. Christopher Nrecaj, 29, posted photos of the jewelry and designer duds he amassed while allegedly leading a Bronx-based crew of drug dealers known as the “Wolfpack.” Nrecaj — whose Twitter avatar shows him with a snarling wolf’s head and the word “loyalty” tattooed on his chest — tweeted more than 500 times before getting busted last month.

Gang Member Arrested in Connection with Shooting

An arrest warrant was issued in August for Franky Hernandez for a crime that occurred in November 2010. Sgt. Dan Cohen said Hernandez is suspected of supplying a firearm to a fellow gang member who then used that same firearm in a shooting. New evidence recently surfaced that gave detectives probable cause to seek the arrest warrant, according to Cohen. Hernandez was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, providing that firearm to a convicted felon, and being an active participant in a criminal street gang. He is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Griselda Blanco, gunned down in Medellin, Colombia Two armed riders pulled up to Blanco as she was leaving a butcher shop in her hometown

Florida Department of Corrections

Griselda Blanco in 2004.

The convicted Colombian drug smuggler known as the “Godmother of Cocaine,” Griselda Blanco, 69, was gunned down by a motorcycle-riding assassin in Medellin, Colombian national police confirmed late Monday, according to the Miami Herald.

Blanco spent nearly 20 years in prison in the United States for drug trafficking and three murders before being deported to Colombia in 2004, the Herald reported.

Two armed riders pulled up to Blanco as she was leaving a butcher shop in her hometown, and one shot her twice in the head, the Herald reported, citing a report in El Colombiano newspaper.

Family members said Blanco had cut her ties to organized crime after returning to her country, the BBC reported. Police said they were investigating the motive.

Blanco was one of the first to engage in large-scale smuggling of cocaine into the United States from Colombia and set up many of the routes used by the Medellin cartel after she was sentenced in the United States in 1985, the BBC reported.

Investigators told the Herald that they estimate conservatively that Blanco was behind about 40 slayings. She was convicted in connection with three murders: Arranging the killing of two South Miami drug dealers who had not paid for a delivery, and ordering the assassination of a former enforcer for her organization, an operation that resulted in the death of the target’s 2-year-old son, the Herald reported.

Three of Blanco’s husbands were killed in violence related to drugs, the Herald reported, and one of her sons was named Michael Corleone, a reference to “The Godfather” movies.

Blanco is credited with originating motorcycle assassinations, the Herald reported.

“This is classic live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword,” filmmaker Billy Corben, who with Alfred Spellman made two “Cocaine Cowboys” documentaries, told the Herald. “Or in this case, live-by-the-motorcycle-assassin, die-by-the-motorcycle assassin.”