Godfather Colin Gunn used Facebook to run empire from jail
By Daniel Foggo and Carl Fellstrom
Published in The Sunday Times, January 31, 2010
ONE of Britain's most dangerous gangsters has been using Facebook to threaten and intimidate his enemies from a maximum security prison.
Colin Gunn, an underworld godfather who ordered the execution of two grandparents, has been able to correspond freely with up to 565 "friends" on the social networking site for the past two months.
Gunn, a "double-A" category inmate who is serving a 35-year sentence for conspiracy to murder, is said to be still running his drugs and organised crime cartel from jail. He claims he was allowed to set up a Facebook account by prison governors, suggesting it was his legal right.
Critics believe the authorities may have turned a blind eye out of fear of receiving a legal challenge on human rights grounds.
In one posting, Gunn, 42, said: "I will be home one day and I can't wait to look into certain people's eyes and see the fear of me being there." In another message he wrote: "It's good to have an outlet to let you know how I am, some of you will be in for a good slagging, some have let me down badly, and will be named and shamed, f****** rats."
Gunn's criminal empire in Nottingham was one of the main reasons why it became known as "assassination city."
His site, which he appears to have been able to update on a daily basis, was shut down on Friday after The Sunday Times raised the alarm.
Jack Straw, the justice secretary, said he will crack down on Facebook use by prisoners. His department insists social networking sites are prohibited in jail and Gunn had not received permission to run an account. He is the latest—albeit the most dangerous—offender caught posting comments.
Last week it emerged that Jade Braithwaite, jailed for knifing to death Ben Kinsella, 16, used Facebook to taunt his victim's family.
Missing Person Report Snares Mother-Daughter Team Who Were Cheating Teens On Internet
By Shannon O'Boye
Published in the Sun Sentinel, January 8, 2001
After searching for a missing girl for more than a week, investigators discovered that the 17-year-old was merely the figment of an Alabama mother-daughter duo's imagination.
Debra Whittle, 44, and Kissimmee Whittle, 16, allegedly used the false identity to befriend lonely teenagers in Internet chat rooms and get them to send money so the victims could meet their new friend, "Savannah," in person.
Their scheme unraveled over the holidays, police said, when they targeted a 17-year-old Coconut Grove girl.
The girl, Kimberly Hall, saved her lunch money and sent "Savannah" $102.50 for a bus ticket from Enterprise, Ala., to Pompano Beach, according to Broward Sheriff's Office investigators. Hall asked a high school coach, Timothy Waller, to pick up Savannah at the Pompano Beach Greyhound Station on Dec. 27. When the girl didn't show up, Waller called Debra Whittle, who posed as Savannah's mother. Whittle told him she put the girl on the bus with a cellular phone, $700 and two credit cards.
The coach was afraid Savannah had been hurt or kidnapped, so he filed a missing person report with the Broward Sheriff's Office. Whittle contacted the Enterprise Police and the Alabama Center for Missing and Exploited Children and had a missing person flier made up. She gave authorities a picture of her real daughter, Kissimmee, for the flier.
"All of this started to unfold when that coach filed the missing persons report," said Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright. "(Whittle) could have put an end to all of this and said Savannah decided not to come down, but she continued to perpetrate the lie."
When Alabama police investigators went to Whittle's house, she admitted that for several years she had been duping teens into sending her money for travel tickets that she would then turn in for cash.
Nancy A. McBride, of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, called the case despicable. "Predators are trolling in places they know where kids are vulnerable," she said.
At first, Kimberly Hall did not tell sheriff's detectives the truth about her relationship with Savannah. She said the two had grown up together in New York and that they had remained close after Savannah moved to Alabama and her parents sent her to live with an aunt in South Florida.
After several hours, she told detectives that she had never met Savannah but had talked to her for 11 months over the Internet, on the phone and in letters. They were supposed to meet once in New York. Hall and her mother went to LaGuardia Airport to pick Savannah up, but she never materialized.
Her relationship with Savannah was special, Hall told detectives. Throughout her interview with police, Hall was steadfast about not knowing Savannah's whereabouts. Police think she did not know her Internet friend did not exist.
Debra Whittle went so far as to send Hall a copy of an e-mail she wrote to her phony daughter Savannah on Dec. 31, police said. "Savannah where are you?" Whittle allegedly wrote. "… I am so very worried about you. Kimberly says she isn't, but I know she is. Please, if you check your e-mail for any reason, call me. I won't be mad."
Debra Whittle faced charges of criminal impersonation, filing a false report and interfering with an investigation, according to Enterprise Police Officer Daryl Griswald. Kissimmee Whittle faced charges of criminal impersonation and theft by deception.
Police think there are other victims. An investigation by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies is ongoing.
"I guess if anything can be learned out of a case like this, people need to be cautious when they enter these chat rooms," Coleman-Wright said. "There's no way for people to know who they are talking to. You don't know if that person will be a friend for lifetime, or if they are out to do you great harm."
