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Family of Man Fatally Shot by FBI in New Orleans Files Civil Rights Lawsuit
Steve Neavling ticklethwire.com The FBI used excessive force when fatally shooting a 37-year-old man during a drug sting at a New Orleans motel, a civil rights lawsuit filed Thursday by the man’s family alleges. The Times-Picayune reports that the family of Allen Desdunes also claims that FBI agents and other law enforcement tried to cover…
Frank Montoya Jr. Becomes Next Special Agent in Charge of FBI’s Seattle Division
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Frank Montoya Jr., who acted as head of national counterintelligence for the U.S. government, has been named special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle Division, the Seattle Times reports. Montoya most recently served as the national counterintelligence executive in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Montoya replaces Laura M….
Border Patrol Agent Who Died in Car Crash While on Duty Wasn’t Wearing Seatbelt
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A Border Patrol agent who was killed while in a rollover accident on duty was not wearing a seatbelt, the Arizona Daily Star reports. Agent Alexander Irving Giannini was driving a Dodge patrol truck on Interstate 10 in Arizona on Wednesday morning when “the truck’s left rear tire failed when the tread…
Secret Service Agents to Return to Columbia After Agency Rocked by Prostitution Scandal in 2012
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Secret Service agents are expected to be on their best behavior this time. Two years after the infamous prostitution scandal rocked the Secret Service, agents are returning to Columbia where Vice President Biden is expected to travel during the week of June 16, the Daily Caller reports. “In Colombia, the Vice President…
House Votes To Stop DEA from Targeting Medical Marijuana Operations in States
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The DEA’s crackdown on state-licensed medical marijuana operations may finally come to an end under a measure passed late Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives, Huffington Post reports. The bipartisan amendment, approved 219-189, would prevent the DEA from using federal funds to go after medical cannabis in states where it is legal….
Court Overturns Murder Conviction of Former FBI Agent John Connolly Jr. Linked to Mobster Whitey Bulger
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A Florida state court panel on Wednesday ruled that former FBI Agent John J. Connolly Jr. was wrongfully convicted of participating in a plot to kill a Florida businessman in 1982 at the urging of Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger. The Los Angeles Times reports that the three-judge appellate panel tossed out…
FBI Spied on Nelson Mandela During His First Visit to U.S. in June 1990
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com When Nelson Mandela visited the U.S. for the first time in June 1990, he was under the watch of the FBI. Al Jazeera America reports that the FBI used a confidential source to spy on Mandela, who had been recently released after spending 27 years in prison. The newly released documents are…
Columnist: Another Kafkaesque Moment in Saga of FBI’s Embrace of Whitey Bulger
By Kevin Cullen Boston Globe Pat Donahue was on the phone, incredulous not for the first time in this sordid, relentless mess. “So what you’re telling me,” she said, “is that John Connolly is getting off on a technicality, that he is probably going to get out of prison because of the statute of limitations?”…