Muhammad Ali in 1966

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI spied on late boxer Muhammad Ali in 1966, keeping tabs on his divorce and a speech at a Miami mosque, while agents investigated the Nation of Islam, according to newly released documents by the bureau.

The documents were released on the FBI’s website and first reported but the New York Times on Thursday.

The FBI stressed in documents that Ali was not personally under investigation, but his connection to the Nation of Islam made him an interest “from an intelligence standpoint.”

The documents, which refer to Ali by his birth name Cassius Clay, show agents monitored his divorce.

“The Miami (FBI) office is requested to follow the divorce action between Cassius and Sonja Clay with particular emphasis being placed on any NOI (Nation of Islam) implication being brought into this matter,” one memo stated.

The bureau also alluded to a speech at a Miami mosque, where Ali talked about efforts to remove his heavyweight title.

Ali was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, leading to the stripping of his boxing title in 1967.

Yahoo headquarters

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI is investigating a massive hack that may have comprised more than 1 billion Yahoo accounts, the White House announced Thursday.

The technology company recently announced the 2013 breach, just three months after disclosing a 2014 intrusion involving roughly 500 million accounts, USA Today reports. 

In September, Yahoo said it had evidence tying the previous hack to a state-sponsored hacker. It’s unclear who was behind the most recent attack, but Yahoo said it doesn’t believe the two are linked.

The FBI declined to comment further on the September disclosure.

“We take these types of breaches very seriously and will determine how this occurred and who is responsible,” the FBI said at that time. “We will continue to work with the private sector and share information so they can safeguard their systems against the actions of persistent cyber criminals.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A Border Patrol agent has been charged with bribery after prosecutors allege he accepted $10,000 in bribes to deliver what he believed was methamphetamine and cocaine dropped off at the border fence with Mexico.

Noe Lopez, 36, is accused of receiving the cash from a confidential government source lat week for delivering the phony drugs, the Associated Press reports. 

Lopez was placed on unpaid leave.

“Border Patrol agents are held to the highest standards, and we remain committed to performing our duties for the American people in the most professional way,” said Richard Barlow, chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector.

Lopez is a 10-veteran of the agency.

DEA makes major drug bust in Afghanistan.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The DEA, with the help of American Special Forces and an Afghan counternarcotics, seized a whopping 20 tons of drugs in what officials have described as “the largest known seizure of heroin in Afghanistan, if not the world.”

“This drug seizure alone prevented not only a massive amount of heroin hitting the streets throughout the world but also denied the Taliban money that would have been used to fund insurgent activities in and around the region,” DEA spokesman Steven Bell told ABC News Thursday. 

The estimated street value was $60 million for 12.5 tons of morphine base, 6.4 tons of heroin base, 134 kilograms of opium, 129 kilograms of crystal heroin and 12 kilograms of hashish, all of which was seized during an Oct. 17 raid that was just made public.

“If that was Pablo Escobar‘s stash, that would be considered a lot of frickin’ heroin,” said one combat veteran of the DEA’s 11-year counternarcotics mission to blunt the country’s heroin trade, referring to the Medellin, Colombia, narcotics kingpin killed two decades ago. “That’s going to make a dent in the European market.”

Other Stories of Interest

• Human Says She Never Received FBI Warrants for Email Searches
• Justice Department to Investigate Use of Jailhouse Informants in Orange County
• Justice Department Targets Islamic State Antiquities Trade
• FBI Arrests Bloomingburg Developer Shalom Lamm
• FBI Adds Suspect in Milwaukee Double Homicide to Most Wanted List