By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com The DEA sting operation involving the laundering of money to drug cartels that has angered some Republican congressmen actually dates back to the Reagan administration, according to the Justice Department. Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Ronald Weich sent a letter to Rep. Darrel Issa–the Republic congressman leading the charges against…
Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Shades of Operation Fast and Furious? DEA agents have laundered or smuggled–or, “let walk”–millions of dollars in drug proceeds in an effort to trace the money to the end recipients, reports the New York Times. The DEA sought to understand how cartels moved their money, where assets were kept and, ultimately, who…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com The latest in a series of secret passages used to smuggle drugs from Mexico to the US was found on Tuesday, linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, reports the Associated Press. “It is clearly the most sophisticated tunnel we have ever found,” Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com The tentacles of the Mexican cartels can be found throughout the U.S. The latest: 20 defendants — five of them suspected members of a Chicago cell of the violent Zetas Mexican drug cartel — were charged in major drug indictment in Chicago following a joint FBI-DEA investigation, Chicago’s US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com The face of Mexico’s drug war went down in a fatal helicopter crash caused by foggy weather on Nov. 11, reports Bloomberg. Authorities ruled it was an accident and not sabotage as many had suspected. Interior Minister Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico’s point man in the war against drug traffickers, died…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) defended the ATF at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, reports the website Main Justice, saying the real problem is lax gun laws. “The number of deaths caused by American guns are up in the tens of thousands,” she said, claiming that 70 percent of guns…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com A major drug bust in Arizona targeted folks linked to a Mexican cartel believed to handle 65 percent of all drugs illegally transported to the United States, and resulted in the seizure of thousands of pounds of narcotics and at least 70 arrests, reports Reuters. The raids, overseen by the DEA, Arizona…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Patricia Gonzalez has worked for years with US officials on combatting and prosecuting drug violence. Last fall, Gonzalez, the Mexican state of Chihuahua’s top state prosecutor, watched helplessly as the media reported on her brother Mario’s kidnapping and torture at the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Mario was forced to record…
