Steve Neavling

Victor Manuel Genera has been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list for nearly 30 years – longer than anyone in history.

Who is he?

Genera is accused of committing one of the largest cash robberies in U.S. history. In September 1983, Gerena allegedly stole $7 million from a Wells Fargo armored car depot, Slate.com reports.

He has eluded authorities ever since. 

Slate.com reported that Genera likely is hiding in Cuba.

William Tapes, who fled authorities for three days after an FBI agent apparently opened fire on him in Chicago, has surrendered, CBS 2 Chicago reports.

“I was scared, you know, for my life. That’s why I hid,” Tapes told CBS 2 on Thursday. “I just got tired.”

According to Tapes, he was stealing hubcaps in a parking lot when two people approached him. He said he panicked and took off in a car before one of the agents apparently opened fire on this car, striking Tapes in the wrist and seriously injuring a passenger, CBS 2 reported. His car crashed into another vehicle, injuring two people.

Charges could be filed against Tapes today, CBS 2 reported.

“I just panicked and blacked out,” Tapes said.

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

Steve Neavling

Two border patrol agents who opened fire inside a Maine home while responding to a domestic disturbance in June were justified in using deadly force, the state Attorney General’s office said Tuesday, the Bangor Daily News reports. 

Investigators said the agents, James Tierney and Chris Demanski, returned fire after the home’s 75-year-old occupant fired a shotgun blast that injured Tierney.

Turns out, Tierney and Demanski approached the house under the false belief that the alleged victim was still home and in need of help.

The agents fired their weapons because they thought they were in imminent danger, the AG concluded.

“It was reasonable for the agents to believe that unlawful deadly force was being used against them, and it was reasonable for the agents to believe that it was necessary for them to use deadly force to counter that use of deadly force,” Maine Attorney Gen. William Schneider said in a report released Tuesday, according to the paper.

John Capano/atf photo

A retired police lieutenant who shot and killed an ATF agent at a pharmacy on New Year’s Eve will not be charged because the force was justified, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office announced, reports the Associated Press.

ATF agent John Capano, 51, was buying medicine for his cancer-stricken when he intervened in a robbery.

But when the agent’s gun went off during a scuffle with the robber, retired Nassau Police Lt. Christopher Geraghty believed his life was in danger when he accidentally fatally shot Capano in the chest, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said.

Geraghy was in a deli in Searford, about 20 miles east of New York City, with an off-duty New York City police officer when the pair responded to the robbery.

The off-duty cop, Joseph Arbia, killed the robbery suspect.

Capano, an explosives expert, was the first ATF agent killed by gunfire in the line of duty since raid on Waco, Texas, in 1993.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Judge Won’t Step Down from Mobster’s Trial
• FBI Office in Atlanta Handles Sandwich Investigation
• FBI Dogs Detect Iowa Cousins’ Scent Near Lake
• Two Dozen Arrested in Immigration Raids in Indiana
• Oversight Lacking in Foreign Student Exchange Program 

By Danny Fenster

Timothy Kern responded to a Craigslist ad in Ohio offering $300 a week to tend more than 680 acres of farm land. He was trying to provide for his three sons. His body was found on Friday, buried near a shopping mall in Akron, Ohio, the Associated Press reported. He was shot in the head.

He’s not the only Craigslist related murder.

According to the Associated Press, Norfolk, Va., resident David Pauley, 51, was lured to Ohio,  also with a Craigslist ad. Pauley was found dead in a rural area 90 miles south of Akron earlier this month. And on Nov. 6, a South Carolina man was shot before escaping after responding to a Craigslist ad.

Two suspects are in custody: a high school student charged with attempted murder and Richard Beasley, a 52-year-old in jail on separate charges.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

David E. Gregory, 57, walked into the Chicago Community Bank at 52 East Lake Street in Chicago, Ill. at around 9:30am on Sept. 30. He handed the teller a note which said he had a gun and a bomb, and demanded money from the teller’s drawer. Gregory walked out of the bank with $631 in cash, but left behind the note.

The FBI reports that Gregory was arrested on Friday without incident by members of the Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF), who had determined through forensic work that the demand note left behind at the scene had a latent fingerprint belonging to Gregory.

Gregory is also suspected of robbing the same bank on three other occasions–August 12, September 16 and October 12–though he has not yet been charged in those incidents. He is being held without bond until his next court hearing, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, at 2:30 in the afternoon. He faces a possible 20 year jail sentence.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Books Juggled at Ad Company, FBI Says (Courthouse News)
• FBI Executes Search Warrants in Detroit in Health Care Fraud (Detroit News) 
• Sandwich Arrest Stirs Debate Over Eating in Stores (AP)
• CIA Following Twitter, Facebook (AP)
• Detroit Bus Drivers Refuse to Run Routes After Attack by Teen (WWJ)

Violent crimes and property crimes dropped in 2010 compared to the previous year, the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime report showed.

The report, released Monday, showed a 5.5 percent decrease in reported violent crimes compared to 2009. Property crimes dropped 2.8 percent.

The FBI reported that murder declined 4.4 percent , while forcible rape dropped 4.2 percent, robbery 9.5 percent, and aggravated assault 3.6 percent—all when compared with 2009 crime figures.

Geographically, the South saw the largest decline in violent crime (7.5 percent), followed by the Midwest (5.9 percent), the West (5.8 percent) and the Northeast (0.4 percent).

As for property crime, motor vehicle theft was down 7.2 percent, larceny-theft was down 2.8 percent, and burglary was down 1.1 percent. Arson fell 8.3 percent nationally.

To read more stats click here.