By Will Grant BBC News, Guadalajara Twenty seven years ago, the kidnap, torture and murder of a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent by Mexican drug traffickers sparked one of the biggest manhunts the US government has ever launched in North America. It also offered an ominous warning of things to come. The picturesque Mexican city…
By Kevin Johnson USA TODAY The chairman of the House’s chief investigative committee today threatened Attorney General Eric Holder with contempt of Congress if he failed to provide additional documents in the panel’s ongoing inquiry into allegations that federal agents allowed hundreds of weapons to flow to Mexico and into the hands of drug cartel…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Like a pit bull, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) ain’t letting go, ain’t giving up easily in finding out more details about ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious, which encouraged Arizona gun dealers to sell to “straw purchasers”, all with the hopes of tracing the weapons to the Mexican cartels. The latest: Issa,…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Things did not go the way Gerardo Castillo-Chavez and Armado Garcia had hoped in Laredo, Texas, on Wednesday. Both men saw guilty verdicts returned on all charges against them, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced. Castillo-Chavez, a 25-year-old from Tamaulipas, Mexico, was convicted of “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Houston ATF agents hit a small jackpot recently when they raided the home used by a Mexican cartel member. The local KPRC-TV reports that agents seized dozens of guns and 45 pounds of marijuana. Agents were lead to the home by Juan Garcia, who had been arrested after purchasing high-powered rifles…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The Mexican drug cartels just aren’t selling drugs to make cash. AHN News reports that the cartels are increasingly extorting protection money from retail stores on the U.S. side of the border. Citing the DEA, the news agency reports that businesses often don’t report the extortion demands because they employe illegal…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A man charged in the Feb. 15 murder in Mexico of ICE agent Jaime Zapata and the attempted murder of ICE agent Victor Avila has been extradited from Mexico to the U.S. to face trial. The Justice Department announced the charges and the extradition on Wednesday of Julian Zapata Espinoza, aka…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Despite fiery rhetoric from congressional Republicans, it appears that botched gun-walking programs have not completely soured relations between Mexican and US federal law enforcement. Fox News Latino cites a Spanish-language news report that at least 80 former employees of the Mexican government are currently working for US agencies as spies. The La…
