'I can't believe he was so stupid!"

Minor detail: while the city Grand Jury has indicted 48 alleged BGF members, only 35 of them are in custody.

Shooting: 500 block W. Preston Street. Man reported to be shot in the stomach. Central District detectives investigating.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) November 9, 2013

Curtis Green,
via Epic magazine

Curtis "chronicpain" Green, a disabled grandpa from Utah, pleaded guilty to cocaine charges down in Greenbelt yesterday. Green was the Silk Road site administrator whose death was faked by the FBI to ensnare Ross "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht. Al Jazeera theorizes that Green was the one who brought down the whole organization when he used his real home address on a package of party powder. ("I can't believe he was so stupid!" Ulbricht groused to the undercover agent.) If you're following this case, here's a remarkably detailed timeline of events.

Speaking of the "cyberbiz" (oh BJ, you're so 'with it!'), remember that data breach where 12,000 Baltimore County employees had their personal information stolen? There's been another one, this time 6,600 employees had their bank account routing numbers stolen. "Baltimore County said last week that effective immediately, employees were no longer allowed to download personal information on their county hard drives." Hey there's an idea.

There's a story: Anthony Rackley, who escaped from a Maryland prison in July 1980, turned himself in in Oklahoma. Rackley was apparently being extorted by someone who was threatening to turn him in and decided "enough was enough."

The tiny tiny arc of justice

Have you seen this man? Tavon Lee (04/12/90) is wanted by the BPD. pic.twitter.com/CM3uQQiuio
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) November 8, 2013

Oh, and look who he was-- an alleged BGF member who escaped in handcuffs during a raid* in the 400 block of Pittman Place.

A man was shot to death in the 1100 block of McKean Ave on the west side.

Fox Baltimore covered the Keifaber kerfuffle, "a drama that he says captures an assault." He's filing charges against Conway, and the video does seem to show her hand receding from the area of his face. Conway denies touching him and says, "I just feel really bad for him. I think he's delusional and has been traumatized by his loss."

Heather Mizeur was on Rodericks. She talked education, made no swipes at O'Malley or DG (that I heard), said "um" a lot and kept it pretty cerebral. In other words, she's got zero chance.

Anne Arundel copper thief arrested.. she apparently needed the copper to make tiny tweezers to sculpt her brows into tiny tiny asymmetrical arcs.

Black 48

edited video capture
of uncredited Tribune photo

Apparently while they were out of jail the OG BGF and Young BGFs held their meetings at Mund Park at E. 24th and Greenmount, where Batts and StephRB press conferenced yesterday.*

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200th homicide, 48 indictments

Bernstein, Batts and the mayor held a press conference with some large news: 48 indictments against members of the familia de guerrilleros negros. The Major Investigations Unit has been majorly investigating this bunch since 2005, and has tied that various alleged members to drugs, murder, guns, witness intimidation and various and sundry other gangly activities. 

     For those of you keeping track, murder victims of the gang are alleged to have included Neil Davis, Donatello Fenner, Carlos Williams, Justin Kendricks, Moses Malone, Trevon White, Lamarr Tucker, Dante Jordan, Rakim Muhammad, Adrian Holiday, Anthony Taylor, Gregory Rochester, Keenan McCargo, Byron Dickey, Kevin Hodges, and Lamontae Smith.
There are a lot of redacted names-- the snitches, I presume?
     Besides the number of indictments and corpses, it's also noteworthy that they were prosecuted under the Gang Prosecution statute of 2007, chapter 496, which makes having an "ongoing association" with a gang engaged in criminal activity a crime itself. While most of the defendants are also facing additional charges, some-- Warren Commodore, Tayvon Jefferson, Kashif Kittrell, Tavon Thompson, Jesse Tate, Marquise McCants and three defendants whose names were redacted-- are charged only with being in a gang. This would seem to be a clear violation of the Constitutional right to free association, and it'll be interesting to see what a judge will think about that. 

A woman was shot to death early this morning in the 1500 block of W. Baltimore Street, she was the city's 200th murder of 2013.

A priest who worked at Archbishop Curley High in the 70s, Michael Kolodziej, is being investigated for ... do I even need to finish this sentence? At this point can we just call it "the usual"?

WTF? Our state has the 4th-highest marijuana arrest rate, paying $106 million in just a single year to enforce pot laws that the majority of citizens don't agree with. And while the arrest rate for white people has stayed about the same over the past decade. the arrest rate for black people has more than doubled, I guess thanks to O'Malley's devotion to the much-debunked "arrest everybody" theory* of crime reduction.

Gus Stone Got Stoned

Karl Berrain

Two brothers, Kurt Dewayne and Karl Berrain, un-named men shot in Upper Fell's Point*-- while shootings are rare in that area, robberies, assaults and property crimes are rampant.

Also one Kenneth Ray "Caveman" Stowers, 50, was killed in the 1200 block of Oliver Street. And look, there are victim photos -- and the photos are mugshots. Point taken, BPD communications. Indeed the Berrain brothers were not unknown to the civil or criminal justice system, with charges including armed robbery, assault, battery, drugs, domestic assault and failure to pay child support. For his part, at the time of his death Stowers was awaiting trial on drug charges, was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1993, was sentenced to 13 years, but was out by 2002 to face drug charges every few years since.

Officer Andrew Fitzgerald of Juvenile Booking was charged with assault and misconduct after allegedly punching a kid in the face.

Augustus Stone

The founder of Silk Road and local dealer Jacob T. George IV* may be in the hoosegow, but the site is back.

A robbery suspect crashed his car into a building on North Avenue* while fleeing police

Augustus Stone of the Deener had 158 pot plants in his house.

A third attack on a student in Towson, a Goucher student was robbed on Burke Avenue. Police think it's the same guys.

Morning work soundtrack

Luke Broadwater, Evan and Dennis the Cynic talk FOIA requests, speed cameras (FF to @ minute 40) "the city is pretty fed up... they paid [Brekford] about $700,000 for cameras that don't work" -- the city's all-thumbs PR machine, the Hilton boondoggle and Harbor Point on the City That Breeds podcast.

Hipster Oppression

Yadina Morales

Life in prison for Karla Porter, whose husband was killed at her behest in front of the Towson Hess station.

Yes, it's okay to drink a little bit when you're breastfeeding. Not okay: getting blackout drunk and passing out on top of the baby, smothering it to death, as Yadina Morales of Hagerstown is alleged to have done.

You know that weirdo "sovereign citizen" defense that Robert G. Moore was trying on for size? Apparently said defense is being brought back* courtesy of the Moorish American Science Temple.

Remember when Towson was a sleepy suburban burg where not much ever happened? Those days are apparently muerto -- a Towson student was stabbed on Burke Avenue and taken to Shock Trauma, and on Friday two students were robbed on Aigburth Road.

Sad: Terry Douglass, the woman who was mauled to death by her pit bull suffered from cerebral palsy. And the dog, "Boosie," had also attacked her as well as her grandson in the past and been taken by animal control but had been returned to her. Daughter: "she's probably in heaven saying he didn't mean to do it."

Sometime CP photographer Noah Scialom was arrested after not removing his "monkey ass" from 322 Howard Street, which police allege was operating as an illegal bottle club. Fenton has the police report, which includes rather more incriminating details and a certain "green leafy substance." Police seem pretty hot to trot lately when it comes to busting bootleg party spaces, or maybe it just seems that way because they're busting talkative and connected hipsters.

Detective Joseph Walker

Remember the cop from New Jersey who shot a motorist in a road rage incident on 97? He's claiming self-defense and gave an interview to the NY Post.

Lt. Parker Elliot, who was in charge of the NE District the day Tyrone West died* last July 18, has been reassigned to an undisclosed position. Still no cause of death has been released.

The CP's got the EPA's remarks on the Harbor Point site, and they're doozies: "[air and water test] results that are impossible, mathematically and practically," and references to obsolete equipment and improperly placed equipment. The Brew has more deets as well.

Gun arrest: 200 block E. 24th Street. Northeast District officers arrest 26-year old Lindell Session with a loaded handgun.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) November 3, 2013

Shooting: 3200 block Normount Ave. Man reported to be shot in the hip. Southwest District Detectives investigating.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) November 2, 2013

Shooting: 1300 block Ensor Street. Man reported to be shot at location. Detectives investigating.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) November 2, 2013