By Josh Gerstein Politico WASHINGTON — The unfolding scandal over a gunrunning investigation allegedly botched by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could do what years of criticism of the long-beleaguered agency never quite accomplished — result in its demise. That, at least, is the view of some former ATF employees and advocates…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The James “Whitey” Bulger story ain’t going away any time soon. The latest: A Las Vegas man is livid. The Boston Herald reports that the man claims the FBI ignored his tip in 2008 that he spotted Bulger on the Santa Monica Pier and alerted “America’s Most Wanted.” “The FBI should…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Terracotta plaques and other ancient artifacts stolen in Iraq by defense contractors in 2004 were returned Thursday by the FBI to the Iraqi government in a ceremony at the Iraqi Cultural Center in Washington. The FBI said it seized the invaluable items during a 2006 investigation. The items included two pottery…
By DEBORAH BECKER and LISA TOBIN WBUR Radio BOSTON — When Bob Fitzpatrick was brought in as second-in-command of the Boston FBI office back in the early 1980s, it didn’t take him long to figure out something wasn’t right. “It was almost immediate upon my arrival,” he said. It would be 20 more years before…
By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com How many books have you read recently that actually changed your thinking on opinions you have held near and dear for decades? Not many, I wager. In my case, damn few. Like most people I read for entertainment, education, reinforcement, seldom to challenge firmly held views. As a three-decade drug prosecutor,…
Ross Parker was chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit for 8 years and worked as an AUSA for 28 in that office. By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com How many books have you read recently that actually changed your thinking on opinions you have held near and dear for decades? Not…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Sen. Chuck Grassley on Thursday issued a press release questioning “why the Justice Department declined to prosecute an Assistant United States Attorney after the department’s Inspector General found at least one image of child pornography on the attorney’s work computer.” Grassley said the Inspector General also determined that the attorney had…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A Mexican man was sentenced to life in prison in San Diego Friday for striking and killing U.S. Border Patrol agent Luis Aguilar with a Hummer filled with drugs in January 2008 at California’s Imperial Sand Dunes, the Associated Press reported. Jesus Navarro testified during his two-week trial that he wasn’t…
