Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Following the mass shooting in a Connecticut elementary school, attention has shifted to the ATF, the federal agency responsible for regulating the gun industry. A Washington Post investigation found that ATF is inadequately resourced and so beleaguered that it hasn’t had a director in years. Sources said the gun industry, particularly the NRA,…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Four senior ATF managers behind the botched Fast and Furious gun-smuggling investigation face termination after a disciplinary board recommended they be fired, the Washington Times reports. The ATF Professional Review Board recommended the termination of the four managers, William Newell, former special agent in charge of the ATF’s Phoenix office; George Gillett,…
Reno Gazette-Journal Editorial The ongoing dispute between the Reno offices of the U.S. Attorney and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — a dispute that should have been resolved months ago in the interest of effective law enforcement — has gone from the absurd to the downright dangerous. The rift, more than a…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mi. — Authorities said today that a 43-year-old man they arrested last night in Wixom, a suburb of Detroit, in connection with the I-96 shootings is a prime suspect and could be charged, possibly tomorrow. “The arrest was the result of the information received during the investigation over the…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com ABC7 News takes a tour of one of the country’s three ATF labs to show how evidence is examined. The lab in Walnut Creek, Calif. – the others are in Maryland and Atlanta – has state-of-the-art equipment used to help investigate fires, explosives and weapons. At the heart of the lab is…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The ATF special agent who was fired recently after blowing the whistle on the failed gun-running operation, Fast and Furious returned to his job, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. Vince Cefalu is back on the payroll for at least 45 days while the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, which oversees federal employment…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Three members of Congress are increasingly putting pressure on Attorney General Eric Holder to explain the U.S. Attorney’s dysfunctional relationship with the Reno-based ATF office, Main Justice reports. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada has refused to prosecute ATF cases in the Reno office, leaving as many as a dozen cases untouched…..
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A little more than a month on the job, ATF agent Jeff Ryan was helping arrest a man with a history of impersonating police officers when all hell broke loose on Aug. 31, 2001, the Syracuse Post-Standard wrote in a report about the incident. Crouched behind a car, Ryan watched L.A. Deputy…
