Tim Shea

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Tim Shea, the top federal prosecutor in Washington D.C. and a former senior adviser to Attorney General William Barr, will soon be tapped to become the DEA administrator, ABC News reports, citing an administration official.

President Trump plans to replace him with Justin Herdman, the U.S. attorney in Cleveland.

Shea oversaw the Justice Department’s move to drop charges against Michael Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser. He also played a significant role in reversing the sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally.

Shea will replace Uttam Dhillon, who was serving as acting DEA administrator. Dhillon will be transferred to a senior leadership position in the Justice Department.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A DEA agent and a telecommunications specialist have been suspended amid allegations that they stole person protective equipment, toilet paper and other supplies that have been in short supply amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Special Agent Javier Hernandez is accused of stealing PPE, toilet paper and batteries from an agency warehouse used to store the items in Florida, the Associated Press and 10News WTSP report.

The telecommunications specialist, whose identity was not disclosed, also is suspected of stealing the items but returned them after he was confronted by a supervisor.

It wasn’t clear whether the employees acted alone or together.

Agency officials are investigating the security measures at the facility.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The DEA agents arrested more than 600 people nationwide as part of a six-month investigation into members of one of the world’s fastest growing drug-trafficking organizations.

The joint DEA-DOJ operation, dubbed “Project Python,” targeted members of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), led by the drug lord known as “El Mencho.”

The cartel is known for transporting massive amounts of methamphetamine.

“Project Python marks the most comprehensive action to date in the Department of Justice’s campaign to disrupt, dismantle, and ultimately destroy CJNG,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski, of the Criminal Division, says in a news release.  “When President Trump signed an Executive Order prioritizing the dismantlement of transnational criminal organizations, the Department of Justice answered the call and took direct aim at CJNG.  We deemed CJNG one of the highest-priority transnational organized crime threats we face.  And with Project Python, we are delivering results in the face of that threat for the American people.”

Added DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon, “This strategic and coordinated project exemplifies DEA’s mission: to disrupt, dismantle, and destroy drug trafficking organizations around the world and bring their leaders to justice. Today, DEA has disrupted CJNG’s operations, and there is more to come as DEA continues its relentless attack on this remorseless criminal organization.”

By Steve Neavling.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Detroit police are pulling out of a DEA task force over the use of an informant who went on a killing spree.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig told The Detroit News that he pulled his officers from a DEA/Detroit police task force after meeting with Keith Martin, special agent in charge of the DEA’s operations in Michigan and Ohio.

“I said during the meeting I felt there was a breach of trust,” Craig said. “Because of this failure to acknowledge ownership that (Kenyel) Brown was signed as an informant working for the DEA/DPD task force, I’m pulling my officers from the task force.”

Detroit police had worked with the DEA for more than 20 years, the chief said.

Martin responded that the DEA is still “committed to working with the Detroit Police Department.”

The controversy involves the DEA’s use of Kenyel Brown, whom the task force paid $150 in October for information about a southwest Detroit gang dealing drugs.

Brown committed suicide by shooting himself in the head Monday as officers prepared to arrest him on allegations he was involved in six homicides, a shooting and two carjackings in Detroit and two suburbs.

Brown was kept out of prison while he was used as a federal informant, despite “multiple violations of his probation,” The Detroit News reported.

DEA Agent Enrique Camarena

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Federal authorities are investigating new bombshell allegations that a CIA operative and DEA official conspired with a drug kingpin to torture and murder DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.

Multiple witnesses who have been re-interviewed in the case told USA Today that Camarena may have been betrayed by his own country.

Whether American operatives were involved remains unknown, but the allegations are too explosive to ignore, officials said.

“You can’t just put it in a drawer and forget about it,” one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

Camarena’s widow, Mika, said authorities have told her they are investigating the allegations.

“I want the truth to be out,” told the publication. “At this point, nothing would surprise me.”

Witnesses who were re-interviewed shared startling allegations that U.S. officials had been secretly helping drug cartels. Those witnesses, former Mexican police officers Ramon Lira, Rene Lopez and George Godoy, who had worked as security guards for cartel kingpins, shared their accounts with the USA Today.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Ex-DEA agent Jose I. Irizarry has been charged with working with Colombian drug dealers to launder money seized from undercover drug operations, the Justice Department announced Friday. He allegedly used the cash to buy a Tiffany diamond ring, a $135,000 Land Rover and a home in Cartagena.

The 19-indictment unsealed in Tampa, Fla., also named his wife Nathalia Gomez-Irizarry (Gomez), 36.

Authorities charged the scheme involved diverting money from undercover money laundering investigations into bank accounts the couple controlled along with family members and criminal associates.

Authorities allege that Irizarry was in personal bankruptcy proceedings for nearly the duration of this criminal conduct and failed to disclose any of his illicit income to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Irizarry is charged with conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, honest services wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit identity theft and aggravated identity theft.  Gomez is charged with conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

‘El Chapo’ Guzman

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The biggest criminal threat to the U.S. is Mexico’s deadly Sinaloa Cartel, a notorious drug trafficking syndicate whose leader is serving life behind bars, according to a new DEA report.

The cartel, founded in 1988, “maintains the most expansive footprint in the United States,” according to the 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment, reported by The Daily Mail.

The Sinaloa Cartel generates an estimated $11 billion annually through sales of fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine that are smuggled into the U.S. through borders in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and West Texas.

In July 2019, the cartel’s notorious leader, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was sentenced to life in prison. Despite his arrest and conviction, the cartel remains strong and is led by his sons, Ovidio Guzmán López, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán and Jesus Alfredo Guzmán.

Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain, via Fox News screenshot.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A Mexican cartel doctor accused of helping torture DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in the 1980s is running a taco restaurant in Guadalajara, Mexico, Fox News reports.

Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain, allegedly a member of the Guadalajara Cartel at the time, is one of the suspects accused of helping kidnap, torture and murder Camarena in 1985.

Authorities believe Camarena was tortured for two to three days, and was kept alive by Mechain to prolong the pain.

DEA Agent Enrique Camarena

Mechain was charged and tried for his alleged role in the attack in 1992, but the case was dismissed due to a lack of evidence, Fox reported.

“Even to this day, there’s a current ongoing investigation into Kiki’s death,” Terrance Cole, a retired assistant regional director of the DEA in Mexico City, told Fox.

Fox reporter Lara Logan, who had a DEA escort, tracked down Mechain and confronted him at a sidewalk taco restaurant in Guadalajara.

“Did you have any involvement in Kiki’s death?” Logan asked Mechain.

“Absolutely not,” Mechain responded through an interpreter.

He continued, “Tell her that since I left the United States prison, I’ve been here at this little business and keep enjoying it … I feel very proud that I was able to get out of a federal court trial in the United States.”

Logan asked her DEA escort, “How come the doctor’s not in jail?”

He responded, “There’s no justice for anyone here. You’re lucky if you get justice for anyone.”