Mexican authorities have arrested the leader of La Familia, Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, and the contend that the cult-like group’s reign in the state of Michoacan has come to an end.

The drug trafficking organization espouses religious ideals but gained worldwide notoriety when it tossed five human heads onto a dance floor in Michoacan state four years ago.

A Paris court is hearing the appeal of 18 people convicted in the 2006 kidnapping, torture and murder of a young French Jew.

One who’s not appealing is Gang leader Youssouf Fofana, who chose not to appeal his conviction and life sentence.

‘People’ is a big word for a gang of criminals who refer to themselves — appropriately — as Barbarians.

In one Mexican drug cartel, mandatory reading now includes an American evangelical’s best-seller, Religion News Service reports.

Drawing from an unlikely source, La Familia Michoacana (the Michoacan Family) bases part of its ideology on the book “Wild at Heart,” by John Eldredge of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Ransomed Heart Ministries.

Ironically, Eldredge sees the violent gang’s use of his book in a positive light.

“At first, I was really mad that they hijacked my book for their purposes,” he said. “But on second thought … maybe it will touch the hearts of the people who use (it).”

The killing of biker Gerard Tobin has served as a reminder that, for all the innocent fun of driving fast bikes along British roads in the sunshine, the Hell’s Angels have their roots in murder, prostitution, drug-running and protection rackets.

CBS News has learned that military police have briefed local authorities in major cities, including New York, about the rising danger that gang members in the military could share their skills with gangs on the streets.

Evidence of gang culture and gang activity in the military is increasing so much an FBI report calls it “a threat to law enforcement and national security.”

Secret negotiations culminating in a peace summit have produced an unprecedented truce between two of the most dangerous street gangs in Boston, dramatically reducing violence on their turf.

A federal prosecutor used dramatic silent videotapes Tuesday to cast Hells Angels as members of a criminal racketeering ring who plotted and carried out a bloody attack on rival biker gang members at a southern Nevada casino in 2002.

Phillipsburg educates teachers about issue. District hopes to create intervention program.