US marshals warn about scammers

US marshals warn about scammers

CINCINNATI

The U.S. Marshals Service is warning of nationwide scams by individuals claiming to be marshals, court officers, or other law enforcement officials.

U.S. Marshal Pete Tobin says victims have lost thousands of dollars to scammers who tell them they failed to report for jury duty or committed other offenses. They often tell victims they can avoid arrest by buying a prepaid debit card and providing the card number to the caller.

Tobin’s statement says U.S. Marshals would never ask for a credit, debit or gift card number or banking routing numbers or ask for funds to be wired for any purpose

He urges people across the country to report such phone calls to their local U.S. Marshals Service office and to the Federal Trade Commission.

Prosecutor says mafias cooperating

MILAN

Italy’s new national anti-mafia and anti-terrorism prosecutor says that Italian organized crime gangs are cooperating to control international drug trafficking.

Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho told an anti-mafia conference in Milan on Thursday that the Italian mafias “are not isolated. By now, they move together. The ‘ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra, Cammora, also the groups from Puglia” work together, coordinating, for example, ports they use for heroin and cocaine shipments.

Cafiero De Raho urged Italian law enforcement and magistrates to cooperate on exchanging data and other information, saying it was “the first step in the strategy” to defeat organized crime.

Italy’s justice minister, Andrea Orlando, said the mafia “is a blemish on our competitiveness,” and said organized crime must be combatted throughout the country - not just in the south.

Police: Officer killed man in Texaco store

PELL CITY, Ala.

Police say an officer fatally shot an armed man during a robbery at an Alabama service station.

Pell City Police Chief Paul Irwin told local news media that 32-year-old Jackie Germaine Ragland was killed Thursday morning. Authorities say an officer who was responding to reports of a robbery found the armed suspect to be in the process of robbing the store at a Texaco.

Irwin says the suspect ran toward the officer with a gun, prompting the officer to fire his gun and hit the suspect in the upper torso.

Ragland was pronounced dead on the scene.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is investigating the incident. Authorities have not released the races of those involved in the shooting.

Sheriff: Las Vegas gunman fired more than 1,100 rounds

LAS VEGAS

The top lawman in Las Vegas says the gunman who killed dozens of people at a concert last month fired more than 1,100 rounds.

The newly released estimate from Sheriff Joe Lombardo offers more detail about the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Lombardo told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he was aware of the previously unreported figure because his department’s forensics lab is working with the FBI to process all ballistics evidence.

Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and injured hundreds more on Oct. 1 after he shattered windows of his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino and unleashed withering gunfire at the music festival below before killing himself.

Authorities have said they have not determined Paddock’s motive or why he stopped shooting. Lombardo says authorities found about 4,000 unused rounds in the suite.

Associated Press