Top Medford Stories in 2011 Countdown: Fast14, Medford Square Arrests, Pot Charge for Pinky's Owner

We're ringing in the new year this week by counting down the top 20 stories from Medford Patch in 2011. This list is ranked according to page views. Today, we're taking at look at 15 to 11 (Find and ):

Crews worked on weekends and nights through the summer to replace 14 deteriorating superstructures along I-93 in Medford over the summer. The $98 million project used pre-cast materials to rapidly replace the bridges. It was the first time that many bridges had been replaced with such a project.

A Medford teen allegedly brandished a gun at younger boys and ripped a gold chain off of a 14-year-old's neck in Medford Square in September. Nicholas Sugrue, 18, of 35 Hillsdale Road, allegedly snuck up on four teens, who had ducked into an alley off of High Street to avoid him, pointed an CO2-powered handgun at them and pulled the trigger, according to a police report.

A willing witness and ready police patrol led to the arrest of three people responsible for two house breaks near Medford Square in March, police said. Police were on Forest Street investigating a previous break-in at about 3:40 p.m. March 3, when they received a report of a breaking and entering in progress on Governors Avenue. The witness said they saw a man climb through a basement window into a Governors Avenue home, then flee in a silver Dodge truck with two other people toward Medford Square, police said.

Medford Police responded to shots fired at 55 Jerome Street where they found two victims suffering from serious gun shot wounds about 10:40 p.m. on February 18. John Hatch, 36, died after being transported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, according to a district attorney press release at the time. His father, John Veira, was also shot but survived. Forensic evidence collected by Medford Police at the scene eventually led to the arrest of Gerald Sullivan of Charlestown, who was charged with murder and 12 other charges

A local pizza shop owner was charged with drug trafficking after police caught him with over $750,000 worth of marijuana in August, prosecutors said. Nikita Yanakopulos, 34, of Medford was arrested on Boston Street in Everett on Aug. 26 after investigators watched him load boxes full of marijuana into the back of his pick-up truck, according to a press release from district attorney Gerry Leone. Yanakopulos is the owner of Pinky's Famous Pizza on Main Street.

Tune in tomorrow for the top 5 stories from 2011.