Marlon Jones

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The newest addition to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list is a Jamaican gangster accused of being involved in a quadruple homicide at an underground restaurant in Los Angeles.

Marlon Jones, who has been described as violent with an extensive criminal background, disappeared after the Oct. 15 shootout.

Police are still investigating the shooting, which lead to the arrests of two men.

“While attending a birthday party on October 15, 2016, Jones allegedly shot and killed a rival Jamaican gang member,” the FBI said in a statement. “The party was being held at a crowded home in the West Adams District of Los Angeles which had been temporarily converted into a restaurant, according to detectives with the LAPD’s Criminal Gangs Homicide Division who are investigating the murders. According to detectives, an exchange of gunfire took place between rival gang members, leaving four dead and ten others wounded.”

Jone has been charged with four counts of suspicion of murder.

Ads said he fled Los Angeles after the shooting to avoid prosecution.

Sen. Chuck Grassley

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A Senate committee chairman wants more information from the Justice Department about an FBI agent who was suspended after blowing the whistle on a former Louisiana district attorney accused of trading sex for leniency, the Associated Press reports. 

FBI Special Agent Mike Zummer filed an ethics complaint in 2013 against a federal prosecutor, Fred Harper, of New Orleans.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Zummer complained that Harper’s relationship with a defense attorney may have resulted in a lenient plea agreement for former St. Charle Parish District Attorney Harry Morel.

The FBI suspended Zummer and his security clearance earlier this year after he made the conflict-of-interest allegations in a letter to a judge.

“That looks like it could be a misuse of the security clearance process to mask retaliation for protected whistleblowing,” Grassley wrote in Nov. 15 letters to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey.

Grassley said he has not yet received a response.

San Bernardino couple who opened fire at a holiday party.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

It has been a year since Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people in a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, but the FBI is still struggling to answer key questions.

Feds conducted more than 600 interviews, served dozens of search warrants and waged a legal battle with Apple to unlock Farook’s iPhone.

But according to the Los Angeles Times, federal authorities “still don’t have answers to some of the critical questions posted int he days after the Dec. 2, 2015, attack at the Inland Regional Center.

One of the FBI’s most pressing concerns is whether the couple received help or whether anyone was aware of the couple’s plot.

“There are unanswered questions in this case,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. “There is an ongoing investigation into did they get financial or material support from anyone else.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The Border Patrol agent accused of lying to federal agents about a drug conspiracy case is headed to trial in early January.

Eduardo Bazan Jr. pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court, the Monitor reports. 

Bazan, 48, of Edinburg, was arrested on Nov. 3 and has been on administrative leave since.

Authorities allege he lied to Homeland Security investigators during an Oct. 31 interview.

“Bazan admitted he had lied to agents Oct. 31, 2016, and that Bazan had in fact received information from an individual that led to a seizure of 66 kilograms of cocaine; seized on Feb. 18, 2007,” the criminal complaint reads.

According to the complaint, Bazan admitted he lied to federal agents about th presence of suspects at the scene of the seizure.

“Bazan stated he had run from the scene to make other agents believe the vehicle had been occupied. Bazan further admitted that he had received a payment of approximately $8,000 for assisting the (Drug Trafficking Organization) with the staged seizure,” the court document states.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

An advisory council to Homeland Security criticized a report Thursday that suggested privately run detention facilities may be the only way to house the surging numbers of immigrants facing deportations.

More than three-quarters of the Homeland Security Advisory Council rejected a key section of the report that state the “reliance on private prisons should, or inevitably must, continue,” US News reports.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson formed a six-member subcommittee to write the report.

The Homeland Security Advisory Council upheld sections of the report that demanded more oversight and monitoring of immigration detention facility.

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• Justice Department Begins Yearlong Investigation of Memphis PD
• Drug Policy Experts Implore DEA to Keep Opiate-Like Plant Legal
• ATF Nabs Four Alleged Gun-Runners in Sting in New England
• ATF to Honor Fallen Agent Ariel Rios in Washington D.C.