A longtime Mexican drug trafficker accused of helping transport tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. over the span of four decades was sentenced Friday to 21 years and 10 months in prison.
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The Office of Inspector General has officially cleared DEA official Richard Dobrich of wrongdoing. He retired in October as the Senior Executive Service Regional Director of DEA’s Andean Region (Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela). The ordeal began when the DEA received an anonymous complaint in August alleging Dobrich directed Colombian drivers working for…
Ross Parker was chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit for 8 years and worked as an AUSA for 28 in that office. By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com DEA Special Agent James “Terry” Watson had spent an enjoyable evening with friends at a Bogota restaurant watching Game 7 of the…
Shoshanna Utchenik ticklethewire.com U.S. officials report a break-through in tackling drug trafficking from South America, according to the Associated Press. A former Venezuelan Supreme Court justice Eladio Aponte may be seeking permanent refuge in the U.S. for himself and his family in exchange for evidence linking Venezuelan officials to drug trafficking and corruption, and linking Venezuela…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Elio Lorenzana, on who’s head the U.S. government placed a $200,000 reward, was peacefully detained after a DEA-supported operation. The lede of the story, on the website InSight (tagline: “Organized crime in the Americas”), reads: “Guatemala has now captured more top-level drug traffickers in the past two years than in the…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Three years after expelling US Ambassador Phillip Goldberg and the DEA, Bolivia’s populist president Evo Morales has made moves to warm ties with the US. But not so fast for the DEA, says a report from the Associated Press. Morales kicked US diplomats and law enforcement officias out of the country…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Tuesday the arrests of 678 suspected gang members and associates, many with alleged ties to drug organizations around the world from Mexico to South America and Asia. Dubbed “Project Southern Tempest”, ICE and and Homeland Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said investigators targeted 168…
