By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A suspected member of the violent Juarez Drug Cartel in Mexico has been extradited to the states, the DEA in El Paso said. Felipe DOMINGUEZ-Vargas was extradited on Aug. 10 and made his initial appearance on drug charges in U.S. District Court in El Paso on Monday, according to Joseph M….
By Matt Castello ticklethewire.com For a big-time Louisiana drug trafficker, the dog and cockfighting ring served as the ideal venue to help expand his drug ring. Pedro Mendez Ramos, of Church Point, La., who authorities described as “an avid pit bull and cock fighter”, used more than 300 gamecocks and 60 pit bulls as a…
By Glynnesha Taylor ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed legislation drastically reducing the sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine — a longtime disparity critics saw as unfairly targeting African Americans. Previously, under the 1986 law, a person selling crack got the same sentence as someone selling 100 times the amount of powdered…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Planes and boats aren’t the only way to transport drugs across water. The DEA said Saturday it helped Ecuadorian officials seize a submarine that could have transported tons of cocaine, the Associated Press reported. It was seized near a tributary close to the Ecuador-Colombia border before it could make its maiden…
By Glynnesha Taylor ticklethewire.com The son of Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf worked undercover with the DEA to bust up a group of drug smugglers who tried using Liberia as a staging area to distribute more than $100 million in South American cocaine to Europe, Africa and the U.S., the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said….
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com One of the founders of the violent Juárez drug cartel in Mexico, who had been wanted in the U.S. since 1985, was extradited to San Antonio on Friday, the El Paso Times reported. Juan Jose Quintero Payán aka Don Juan-Jo, was extradited after a long drawn out ordeal that stretched over…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A bill that lessens the sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine sailed through the Senate Wednesday night, the website Main Justice reported. The Fair Sentencing Act establishes an 18-to-1 sentencing ratio for crack and powder cocaine offenses as opposed to the current 100-to-1 ratio. In other words, a…
