The attorney for a Bethel man facing federal charges for allegedly heading up a drug ring that sold steroids and marijuana argued Wednesday in court that his client is a family man who doesn't pose a danger to the community.

"My client is concerned, quite frankly, about his children and his ability to have contact with them," attorney Peter Schaffer said in an unsuccessful attempt to have Mark Mansa released from federal custody.

Mansa, 46, has been held by federal authorities since his arrest on Feb. 24 on several charges including conspiracy to distribute both marijuana and anabolic steroids.

Mansa, who authorities said was arrested during a $60,000 marijuana deal, pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday during his arraignment in U.S. District Court.

Federal prosecutors have said Mansa headed up an illegal enterprise, including selling steroids to area high school athletes, and Mansa bragged about his associations with police officers in several area departments.

Schaffer said in court Wednesday that while most area police departments have denied the allegations, "I think he does know police officers."

But, the attorney added, there are no indications or comments made by prosecutors to suggest Mansa would use those contacts to "create a danger to the community."

Schaffer added that some of Mansa's codefendants in the case who have been released from federal custody have a history of criminal convictions and ties to both the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and organized crime.

The attorney asked that Mansa, who he said has no prior convictions or ties to criminal organizations, be released on a $500,000 bond and be subject to electronic monitoring while the case is pending.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Vizcarrondo said Schaffer had not presented any new evidence in his bond-reduction argument that could be considered by the court.

Vizcarrondo also discussed the weight of the evidence against Mansa that was collected through "physical surveillance," "controlled purchases" of steroids and "law enforcement eyewitnesses" who are willing to testify in the case.

"There is nothing new here except for finger pointing at the other defendants," Vizcarrondo said in court.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons denied Mansa's bond request, stating there was nothing in the proposed release package that ensured Mansa would not pose a public danger.

Fitzsimmons said Mansa is charged with "very serious conduct" and if prosecutors are correct in their claims, he "engaged in a long period of time in a drug trafficking operation that his family and the community was apparently unaware of."

She added electronic monitoring would do little to prevent Mansa from continuing to engage in drug trafficking activities through the use of a telephone or other means.

"These offenses went on for too long and too far under the radar screen," Fitzsimmons said. "The court requires a lot more restrictions (for release) than I'm seeing here."

An international drug-smuggling operation centred in the Fraser Valley had nothing to do with the Hells Angels or any other B.C. gang, one of the convicted smugglers says.

Jody York said the scheme to move thousands of kilos of marijuana across the U.S. border was hatched by a few friends who grew up together in the Abbotsford area.

York and several other B.C. men are to be sentenced in a Seattle courtroom March 25 after working out a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney, who wants York behind bars for six years.

Washington state law-enforcement agencies have said that York's group, headed by convicted trafficker Rob Shannon, was working on behalf of the B.C. Hells Angels, a claim York denies. "We were never a gang or thought of ourselves as a gang. We were antigang. We hated most clubs and groups out there and never wanted to be a part of their drama or inner crap," York said in a letter to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert Lasnik.

"As for working for the Hells Angels, nothing could be further from the truth. When I was involved, we wanted to stay as far away from them, due to a fight I had with a member in a night club. I just knew how they worked things. As for them or anyone else being involved with other people in this case, after I left, it is not, nor do I want to make it, my business.

Several members of the Bandidos motorcycle gang were arrested this week as part of a nationwide drug cartel bust.

Drug Enforcement Agency officers and a number of local, state, and federal agencies made the arrests. They called the Bandidos a ruthless crime organization and believe the gang has been receiving meth from Mexico drug cartels and were helping transport it and sell it here in the U.S.

The arrests come after an 18-month long investigation and are part of a nationwide sweep operation which began after ICE agent Jaime Zapata was killed in a roadside ambush in Mexico on February 11th. Fellow ICE agent Victor Avila was wounded in the attack.

Fighting between the Colombian rebel group FARC and the drug gang "Los Rastrojos" left at least 15 people dead, authorities said Friday.
Milton Benavides, a local government official, told the Terra news Web site the lengthy battle broke out Thursday in Argelia in northern Colombia. Benevides said authorities had confirmed nine people had died Thursday with six more killed overnight and Friday.
The Web site said local radio reported the death toll could rise to 20.
Meanwhile, Colombia Reports said El Tiempo reported FARC had released two more hostages -- Armando Acuna, a former councilman, Henry Lopez Martinez, a former marine. The pair were reunited with their families.
The BBC said FARC had freed another captive earlier in the week and may release two more Sunday.
The Colombian government has made release of all FARC hostages a pre-condition for any negotiations with the rebel group, which has been a thorn in the governments side for decades.


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/02/12/15-die-in-FARC-drug-gang-battle/UPI-46091297490193/#ixzz1Dpqv2Ugi

Eight people were killed in a gun battle Saturday between police and criminals in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, while at least six died when a grenade exploded in Guadalajara. The attacks are the latest deadly violence gripping Mexico as the country's cartels struggle over turf and police and soldiers try to crush them.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Fourteen+people+drug+gang+violence/4273491/story.html#ixzz1DppB5LlV

Michael ‘Sick Mick’ Farrell could be freed by Spanish authorities along with 12 others after it emrged ectasy pills were fake - Liverpool Local News - News - Liverpool Echo: "ONE of Merseyside’s most wanted men who was arrested in Spain on drug trafficking charges could now be freed.
Michael Farrell, 22, was wanted for questioning by Merseyside Police after a string of shootings across north Liverpool.
Farrell, also known as “Sick Mick”, was arrested on September 27 in Torrevieja, near Alicante, when the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the paramilitary Civil Guard targeted a 12 strong gang of Liverpool men and women suspected of supplying designer drugs to clubbers on the Costa Blanca and Ibiza.
But he and the gang could now be freed by the Spanish authorities after it emerged the 53,000 ecstasy pills they were allegedly going to sell were made of caffeine."

44-year-old woman from Cartuja de Monegros (population 350) in Huesca province has become the first case of indigenous malaria in Spain since the disease was eradicated a half century ago.
As the patient does not fall under the usual causes of contagion — foreign travel to an area where malaria is endemic, blood transfusion, organ transplant or a visit to an airport — epidemiologists have concluded that the culprit was an indigenous mosquito.
Aragon’s regional public health director, Francisco Javier Falo, played down the case’s importance, saying that the possibility of another infection is extremely low.

With his long-awaited biography, 'Life,' just days away from publication, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has been dropping some tantalising hints of what to expect -- and the book contains more than just Richards' love of the open G tuning.

Speaking to AnOtherMan magazine, the guitarist affectionately known as "Keef" has revealed that he frequently carried firearms when copping heroin at the height of his addiction in the 1970s. He said, "The first [gun] I bought was a Luger I picked up in the East Village in New York City. After that I went into rifles for a bit just because they go further."

He continued, "I've carried a piece or two now and again -- most of that was to do with the heroin business and being involved in, like, scoring. Especially in America, it bodes you well to be armed.

"A .38 Smith and Wesson Airweight revolver -- that is the f---ing gun. No safety [catch] on it."

Richards also makes mention of three-day drug-fuelled road trip around Britain with the Beatles' John Lennon -- but the details are understandably sketchy.

"What happened neither John nor I could ever remember," Richards said. "We must have been on something exceptional. There was one young lady with us at least, and a chauffeur because we were in no driving condition. And we were just playing sounds."

Ronnie Wood admits he once smoked meringue by mistake - Entertainment - DNA: "Ronnie Wood has revealed that he was once so addicted to drugs that he mistakenly smoked meringue instead of crack cocaine.
'It got to the point where I would be on my hands and knees looking for crumbs that might have fallen out of the crack pipe,' News of the World quoted him as saying.
'I even banned my children eating meringues in the house after I ended up smoking sugar, believing it to be cocaine,' he said.
The Rolling Stones guitarist, who had a 3,000-pound-a-day freebase coke habit in the 1980s, said in an interview that booze was an even worse problem.
Two years ago, he was downing two bottles of vodka a day.
The rocker, who checked into rehab seven times in 30 years, says he has been sober for six months now and credits new girlfriend Ana Araujo with his success after she poured away all the alcohol in his house.
'It was just a downward spiral. When the last bottle went, it was the end of an era. Something clicked in me,' he added."

"RICKY HATTON was said to be “devastated” yesterday following newspaper allegations of cocaine use."RICKY HATTON was said to be “devastated” yesterday following newspaper allegations of cocaine use.

The former two-weight world champion was captured on video appearing to cut lines of the drug with a credit card before snorting them through a rolled up bank note.

Hatton, 31, has not fought since losing inside two rounds to Manny Pacquiao in May 2009 and has recently hinted he may retire.

Now he faces the biggest fight of his life outside of the ring and admits he has been urged by family and friends to seek help.

costadelsol.st - News - Costa del Sol: "The two accused were just 18 when the crime was committed
According to press reports the two young men accused of killing a man and throwing his body over a bridge were convicted on charges of murder by the Court of Malaga

It is understood from the reports that they were sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime of murder and steeling a vehicle in which they escaped from the scene.

The case relates to the killing of a man in 2005 . In the case the victim was strangled with a cord and then had a plastic bag put over his head before been thrown onto the A-7 motorway in Arroyo Vaquero of the town of Estepona"

Man arrested in Spain after death of British mother | Olive Press Newspaper: "Spanish police apprehended David Baxendale, 39, in Fuengirola after Surrey police issued an appeal for information regarding the death of Sarah Thomas.
A post-mortem enquiry found that mother-of-three Thomas had suffered a number of injuries, including a stab wound to her neck.
Baxendale – who has links with Redhill and Tadworth is now being held in custody by the Spanish authorities"

19 New Flights for Andalucia | Olive Press Newspaper: "Ryanair has announced an incredible 19 new routes from Malaga airport, bringing the airline’s total to 39 routes out of the Costa del Sol.
The new routes begin this week and go to 15 different countries.
New destinations include Berlin, Oslo, Paris, Venice, Bratislava, and Stockholm.
Ryanair customers can also take advantage of new domestic flights to Santander, Valencia, Santiago de Compostela, Valladolid and Zaragoza."

Spanish Economic Crisis Threatens to Sink Euro Currency | Economy | English: "Spain is among the latest European countries to introduce tough austerity measures that may not be popular at home, but are deemed necessary to keep the country afloat. Spain, alongside Greece, is among those European countries with massive public debts and economies widely deemed vulnerable to a crash that could drag the euro with it."

Costa Del Sol – an Exotic Location in Spain | Freelance Blogging: "Spaniards have 2-3 years longer life expectancy than the North Europeans. Whether it is the sun, siesta, red wine or olive oil it is hard to say. However some of the Scandinavian countries send patients to Spain for rehabilitation as experience has shown that it is easier to recover in the sun."

ESSEX gangsters tried to smuggle enough cannabis into Britain to make joints stretching from John O' Groats to Land's End.: "12-strong gang were foiled by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, who tracked the shipments from Spain in a covert sting operation last summer.
The gangsters were jailed for a total of 66 years at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday.
Investigators mounted surveillance operations at the mob's drop-off points – a depot in Orsett and an industrial site in nearby Dagenham.
The first wave of arrests were made as the gang tried to process nearly two tonnes of cannabis at the Orsett site, on June 27, last year.
Driver Gary Burns, of Roding Hall Cottages, High Roding, was caught with a tonne of drugs in his vehicle, while fellow gang member Stephen Ely, of Southall, was tackled on a central reservation as he tried to flee.
Just a fortnight later on July 12, ringleader Paul Gurr tried to import another two tonnes, but his gang were caught unloading from a lorry in Hounslow, west London.
Gurr was arrested in a Brentwood restaurant later that day."

Man arrested in Spain after death of British mother | Olive Press Newspaper: "MAN has been arrested on the Costa del Sol in connection with the murder of a woman in Surrey.
Spanish police apprehended David Baxendale, 39, in Fuengirola after Surrey police issued an appeal for information regarding the death of Sarah Thomas.
A post-mortem enquiry found that mother-of-three Thomas had suffered a number of injuries, including a stab wound to her neck.
Baxendale – who has links with Redhill and Tadworth is now being held in custody by the Spanish authorities."