noteworthy Arrest Made
noteworthy Arrest Made in Store Killing Ten months after the crime was committed, Southfield Mazin Khmoro Police arrested a man in the slaying of Mazin (Mike) Khmoro at his familyowned liquor store. Southfield resident Bruce Butler, 48, was arraigned on August 6 in the 46th District Court on charges of first-degree murder and felony firearm. The case was bound over to the Circuit Court on August 18. In District Court testimony on August 18, Butler’s brother-in-law, Andrew Roberts, said Bruce Bulter Butler confessed killing Khmoro, according to a report in the Southfield Sun. The actual target was Khmoro’s younger brother, with whom Butler argued over a lottery ticket, Roberts said. Roberts said that Butler told him he did not mean to kill anyone, only to frighten the employee. On October 6, 2010, Khmoro, 48, was gunned down at about 4 p.m. as he was taking trash to a bin at the rear of Cronin Liquor Store on Northwestern Highway. Witnesses heard shots and saw a man pull out of the parking lot in a black SUV. That car matches Butler’s wife’s vehicle, police said. The Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce’s Waad Murad Advocacy Fund posted a ,000 reward in the case, but Roberts said that was not the reason he came forward. Khmoro has been described as a law-abiding family man, and police were stumped as to a motive. Lt. Nick Loussia said police are confident they got the right man. “The case was thoroughly investigated, presented to the prosecutor and a warrant was issued,” he said. “That’s all we want to say because we don’t want to prejudice the jury.” photo courtesy AAVA photography ficking ring operating from a Chaldeanowned social club. El Cajon Police Chief Pat Sprecco said he was concerned about the anger and unfair condemnation directed at Iraqis because of the arrests of 60 people involved in the ring, whose leaders include a Chaldean living in El Cajon. Sprecco called the threats “unfair criticism on people who had no part of the investigation” and urged the public not to blame an entire community. “We weren’t targeting a culture,” he said. “We were targeting a criminal organization.” Community members were also dismayed that police and the media called the August 17 bust a “Chaldean operation,” since of the 30 people indicted in the case, only four are Chaldean. “A crime is a crime and you should be punished, but don’t blame an entire community, an entire culture based on four people,” Mark Arabo told KPBS. “I mean no one’s talking about the other ethnicities of the other folks.” El Cajon Police Lt. Steve Shakowski stands by his department’s characterization of the crime group. We’re Everywhere The Chaldean News is now on sale at three Sav-On Drugs in Metro Detroit: • Sav-On Efros Drugs, 6727 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield; • Sav-On Drugs, 6510 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills; • Sav-On Birmingham Drugs, 33877 Woodward in Birmingham. “I’m very comfortable saying it was a Chaldean organized crime ring,” Shakowski said. “It is run by Chaldeans that were operating out of, or within, the vicinity of the Chaldean social club.” Former California state Sen. Wadie Deddeh said he was among those who has been insulted since the announcement of the arrests. Deddeh said a woman coming out of Mass on August 21 told him he should not brag about being Chaldean. Deddeh was elected to the California Assembly in 1966 and is believed to be the first Iraqi Chaldean to serve in public office in the United States. He was a congressman from 1983 to 1993. He said he recognizes only four of the 30 suspects who have been identified as being Chaldeans, and he will not have “one or two punks” ruin his community’s name. “I brag of being a Chaldean,” Deddeh said. “I’m proud of being a Chaldean and I will say that until the day I die.” About 40,000 Chaldeans live in El Cajon, home to the second largest such community in the U.S. after Detroit. Sprecco and federal officials said on August 18 they had busted the ring that was getting its drugs from the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s most powerful drug gang, and shipping them to Detroit. The El Cajon ring also was caught selling assault rifles, grenades and homemade explosives in the area. Police say at least some of those arrested are suspected of being affiliated with the Detroit-based Chaldean Organized Crime Syndicate. – Associated Press and KPBS California Chaldeans Receive Threats after Drug Arrests Members of the Chaldean community in El Cajon, California, have been targeted with threatening phone calls and questions about their U.S. patriotism after a federal takedown of a drug traf- Rolling to Victory The Chaldean Roller Hockey League capped off an exciting season with a victory for Team Black. Congrats to the champions: Travis Alias, Justen Alias, Tom Konja, Alex Karana, Marcus Karana, Josh Garmo, Andre Halabu, Wisam Naoum and Brent Farida. 10 CHALDEAN NEWS SEPTEMBER 2011
SEPTEMBER 2011 CHALDEAN NEWS 11
