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Ex-Border Patrol Agent Gets 7 1/2 Years For Taking Bribe
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com An ex-Border Patrol agent was sentenced Monday in Tucson to 7.5 years in federal prison for accepting bribes and acting as a scout for drug smugglers near Marana. Alberto M. Michel pleaded guilty earlier this year to taking $12,000 in exchange for providing counter-surveillance for marijuana smugglers while on duty in…

Does Robert Mueller Have A Conflict of Interest With The Russian Probe and an Oligarch?
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Life is complicated. In 2009, when Robert S. Mueller III ran the FBI, the bureau asked Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to spend millions of his own dollars funding an FBI-supervised operation to rescue a retired FBI agent, Robert Levinson, captured in Iran while working for the CIA in 2007. John Solomon writes in…

Electronic Frontier Foundation Wants to Know About the 7,800 Phones the FBI Says It Can’t Hack
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The Electronic Frontier Foundation is curious about the FBI’s claim that it had nearly 7,800 phones it couldn’t hack into while investigating crimes in 2017. So, the foundation has submitted a FOIA request to the FBI, as well as the Offices of the Inspector General and Information Policy at DOJ, asking…

Mexican Police Commander Pleads No Contest to Leaking Sensitive DEA Information to Drug Cartel Members
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Here’s a scenario that has been played out countless times over the years. Jason McGahan of the Daily Beast reports: A top-ranking Mexican police commander who was the point person for intelligence sharing between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement has pleaded “no contest” in Chicago federal court to charges he leaked…

Theft Trial for ATF Senior Agent in Alabama is Delayed
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Trial in Birmingham, Ala., for senior ATF agent Jay Bagwell, who is charged with theft, has been delayed as a result of back surgery, AL.com reports. The “prescribed pain medication renders the defendant unable to effectively participate in the defense of his case,” U.S. Chief Judge Karon O Bowdre wrote. The trial…

Rep. Issa Rips DOJ, FBI, Accuses Them of Misleading Congress in Russia Probe
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The war of words inside the Beltway over the Trump-Russia investigation shows no signs of letting up. Rep. Darrell Issa accused the Justice Department and FBI of purposefully misleading Congress when it comes to the origin of the Trump-Russia investigation, Real Clear Politics reports. “I believe they’re lying through their teeth,”…

An Offer Philly Mob Boss ‘Skinny Joey’ Couldn’t Refuse
Jerry Capeci is regarded as an expert on the mob. His website, Gang Land News, is a subscription-based website. This article was republished with permission. By Jerry Capeci Gang Land News In the end, it was an offer Philadelphia mob boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino couldn’t refuse. After battling federal prosecutors to a draw in a hard-fought racketeering trial…

Majority of Republicans Believe FBI, DOJ Are ‘Framing’ Trump
A majority of Republicans believe the FBI is conspiring to frame President Trump as part of the special counsel investigation into connections between his campaign and Russia, according to a new poll from YouGov released Wednesday.