Latin Kings

It doesn't seem like much to fight over: a narrow, block-long Kensington street, strewn with trash and overburdened with boarded-up houses. But law enforcement officials say the Latin Kings want to control the drug trade in this section of Lippincott Street and the surrounding neighborhood - and gang members on both sides are willing to kill to get it. After a few quiet years, the Latin Kings are again making themselves known in North Philadelphia,...

Edwin Lopez probably wishes he returned his parole officer's phone calls. Because he didn't, a warrant for his arrest was issued in January - a month before he would have "maxed out," ending his parole supervision. Last week, officers caught up to Lopez, a reputed member of the Latin Kings street gang, at his home on Galindez Court in North Camden. Inside, officers found more than 1,300 bags of heroin and $5,200, officials said yesterday. Now Lopez is being held at the Camden County jail.

A Camden man who authorities said armed himself with an AK-47 is being held on $1 million bail after he was arraigned Friday on murder and related charges in the death of one man and the wounding of another. Superior Court Judge Irvin Snyder in Camden agreed to the high bail requested for Juan Corona, 21, who authorities said is affiliated with the street gang the Latin Kings. Corona has an extensive criminal history, including drug offenses, and fled to Connecticut after Sunday's slaying, authorities said.

Top law enforcement officials and confidential informants who have testified against the mob are expected to address the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation next week during a two-day hearing designed to assess the status and changing face of organized crime in New Jersey. The hearing, which is to begin Tuesday in Trenton, will include reports on several organized-crime groups active in state, including the traditional Cosa Nostra families, Russian and Asian mobs, and emerging Latino criminal enterprises.

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Testimony began yesterday in the Montgomery County Court trial of a second man accused in the murder of Christopher McNelly, who died on a Norristown sidewalk a few weeks before Christmas 1996 with a three-inch bullet hole in his chest. Police say Jorge Munoz, 19, of Norristown, pulled a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun from beneath his jacket and fired the shot that killed the 20-year-old factory worker. In March, a jury convicted Munoz's friend, Victor Rodriguez, of first-degree murder for ordering Munoz to fire the shot.

The 16-year-old girl apparently wants to forgive her mother for allegedly turning her into a prostitute, then arranging for her to be kidnapped after she ran away last year. Sources told the Daily News that the girl has informed law enforcement that she won't testify against her mother, Nereida Domenech, 38, of Frankford. "She wants to keep family harmony," said one source. When the girl and her new boyfriend failed to show up at this week's preliminary hearing, Domenech, and alleged Latin Kings street-gang member Victor Lopez, 36, and six others were all smiles.

Eighty people have been arrested since November 2008 in Gloucester County, most on weapons and drugs charges, in a statewide operation targeting gangs involved with illegal guns and narcotics, the county Prosector's Office announced yesterday. In Camden County, the initiative has led to 958 arrests in 2009, according to the state Attorney General's Office. Figures for Burlington County were not available yesterday. Nearly half of those arrested in Gloucester County were affiliated with the Arian Nation, La Familia, Bloods, Pagans, or Latin Kings gangs and had a history of violence, Prosecutor Sean Dalton said.

A guilty verdict in a Kennett Square homicide brought the issue of gang violence into the public arena last week, but the issue has been on police radar substantially longer. During the trial of Jose Manuel Pantoja Palmerin, who was convicted of first-degree murder on Friday, Kennett Square Police Officer Jeremy Rubincan testified that the fatal stabbing of Fidel Ibarra, 22, of Wilmington, prompted members of his department to step up their education on gang culture. On the night of the slaying, March 20, officers described a chaotic scene that stemmed from two communications: a 911 call about reported gunshots from the parking lot of the Gran Sasso restaurant in Kennett Square and a call from Jennersville Regional Hospital about Ibarra's death.