By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Sophisticated and a person of means, convicted health care executive Rebecca S. Parrett was one tough person to track down. She was on the lam for two years. But the Justice Department announced Wednesday that Mexican authorities arrested Parrett, 62, Tuesday in the resort town of Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico, thanks to…
By William Booth and Nick Miroff Washington Post Foreign Service SAN DIEGO — When a major Mexican drug cartel opened a branch office here on the California side of the border, U.S. authorities tapped into their cellphones – then listened, watched and waited. Their surveillance effort captured more than 50,000 calls over six months, conversations…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com More signs of the Mexican drug cartels reaching into the U.S.: The Washington Times reports that the Department of Homeland Security is warning Arizona authorities that Mexican drug gangs have sent assassins or “sicarios” into the state to kill bandits who are ambushing and stealing loads of cocaine, marijuana and heroin,…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III is pushing to update laws to help agents keep up with the rapidly changing technology so they can effectively conduct surveillance of communications in anti-terrorism and other cases. At a conference of intelligence experts in Washington, Mueller said there have been instances in…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com More frustrating news about guns, drugs and Mexico. The Washington Post reports that efforts to crack down on the flow of guns from the U.S. to the Mexican drug cartels “have been frustrated by bureaucratic infighting, a lack of training and the delayed delivery of a computer program to Mexico, according…
By Anne-Marie O’Connor and William Booth Washington Post Foreign Service TANCITARO, Mexico – Gustavo Sanchez worked hard in this Mexican farming town at one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. He was a mayor. Last weekend, Sanchez and a town councilman disappeared. Their bodies were found Monday, the skulls smashed open in the…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com In the Mexican-U.S. drug war, money still corrupts on both sides of the border. The latest: A U.S. border inspector was charged Friday with taking more than $50,000 to let drug-filled vehicles from Mexico pass through his lane, the Associated Press reported. Authorities charged that Oscar Osbaldo Ortiz Martinez,30, a Customs…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Two men have been indicted in Oklahoma on charges of illegally buying weapons including military type semi-automatic rifles and smuggling some into Mexico, authorities announced Thursday. Gregorio Morales-Martinez, 34, an illegal immigrant from Lewisville, Tex. and Jorge Alexis Blanco, 25, of Stillwater, Ok. were charged with illegally purchasing 43 firearms, including…
