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Indictment Says Times Square Car Bomb Suspect Funded by Pakistani Taliban; Got $12,000 in Cash
By Allan Lengel For AOL News In the months and weeks before allegedly planting a car bomb in Times Square, Faisal Shahzad was sent a total of about $12,000 from someone he understood worked for the Taliban in Pakistan, authorities charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. That allegation was contained in a 10-count…
Colombian Drug Trafficker Extradited From Mexico to U.S.
By Matt Castello ticklethewire.com A man who represented the interests of a major Colombian drug cartel in Mexico, has been extradited to New York to stand trial, authorities said. Pedro Antonio Bermudez, known as “El Arquitecto,” was arrested in Mexico City on Oct. 2, 2008 and remained in Mexican custody until his extradition to the…
Authorities Charge 1,215 People in Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Sweep
By Allan Lengel For AOL News WASHINGTON –The Justice Department today announced the “broadest mortgage fraud sweep” in U.S. history, with criminal charges filed against 1,215 people. Almost 500 have already been arrested in a 3 1/2-month crackdown dubbed “Operation Stolen Dreams.” Authorities said the operation uncovered $2.3 billion in mortgage fraud losses and recovered…
Bound to Happen: Fed Prosecutors Ask Judge to Gag Blago and His Attorneys
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Who didn’t figure this was coming? The Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office is asking U.S. District Judge James Zagel to impose a gag order to shut up ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his lawyers during the ongoing public corruption trial, the Chicago Tribune reported. Prosecutors claim the defense and Blago are trying to…
ATF Says Fatal Shooting of Biker By Agents Under Review
By Allan Lengel and Glynnesha Taylor ticklethewire.com The ATF office in Boston said Tuesday’s incident in Maine in which ATF agents shot and killed a biker who was named in a 27-person federal indictment is under review. “The shooting’s under review,” James McNally, a spokesman for the ATF office in Boston told the Boston Globe,…
ICE Working to Rebrand Its Image
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as ICE has an image problem. So ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton plans to “re-brand”, realign its duties and emphasize criminal investigations over immigrant deportations, the Washington Post is reporting. “By streamlining and renaming several offices, officials hope to highlight the agency’s…
Man Celebrated Pres. Obama’s Election By Burning Down African-American Church
By Glynnesha Taylor ticklethewire.com Not everyone rejoiced the day after President Obama was elected as the first African-American President. In fact, Massachusetts resident Benjamin Haskell, 23, celebrated by burning down a yet to be completed, predominantly African-American church in Springfield, Mass., on Nov. 5, 2008, the morning after the election, authorities said. On Wednesday, he…
Will Spike TV Spike Reality Show “DEA”?
By Matt Castello ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — NBC weatherman Al Roker predicts the weather, but his production company, which produces the reality TV show “DEA”, has been reluctant to predict whether there will be a third season for the program featured on Spike TV. By most accounts, the forecast for a third season looks doubtful. The…