Nearly 200 American cities affected by cartels
Los Angeles Times Nov 17, 08 8:40 AM CST
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Mexico’s drug violence has been creeping northward into the US for the past several years, and officials now say that cartel-related crime has hit 195 American cities spanning every state except Vermont and West Virginia, the Los Angeles Times reports. Atlanta has emerged as a trafficking hub, but the kidnappings, deaths, and related violence have spread from Honolulu to Boston.
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Bolivia, Ecuador latest to repudiate US anti-drug operations
Christian Science Monitor Nov 10, 08 12:02 PM CST
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Some Latin American countries are pushing back against the US by cutting off DEA operations, the Christian Science Monitor reports. President Evo Morales, saying DEA agents "worked to conduct political espionage," gave them 3 months to leave Bolivia. Ecuador, meanwhile, has refused to renew the US lease on a key airbase, which an American official says creates a "serious gap" in drug-interdiction operations.
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Drugs packaged with toys in Puerto Rico, mailed to New York
New York Daily News Sep 24, 08 11:49 AM CDT
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Federal agents announced the arrest yesterday of a pack of Bronx drug dealers accused of smuggling cocaine into New York with the help of the world’s smallest traffickers: Lego men. Agents say the cocaine was sent from Puerto Rico through normal US mail, ingeniously hidden within buckets of the plastic blocks. Or maybe not-so-ingeniously, since investigators tracked the shipments for 5 months, and eventually nabbed eight suspects.
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Nationwide initiative a key step in border drug war, authorities say
Los Angeles Times Sep 18, 08 8:31 AM CDT
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US officials arrested 175 suspected Mexican drug traffickers this week in raids in a dozen states, the LA Times reports. Prosecutors believe the suspects are part of the violent Gulf cartel, considered to be a driving force in Mexico’s escalating drug wars. The raids were part of a 15-month DEA investigation that has netted 507 arrests and the seizure of more than $60 million.
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110K marijuana plants already confiscated this year
Associated Press Aug 10, 08 4:50 PM CDT
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Washington state is cracking down on drug dealers' latest innovation: Using vineyards to secretly grow marijuana crops, the AP reports. Police have made 22 arrests this year and confiscated 110,000 pot plants from the Yakima Valley alone, worth more than $100 million. But tracking dealers isn't easy: Some are in Mexico and others buy farms with fake names in quick cash deals.
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Olsen twin last to be interviewed in fed investigation
New York Post Aug 4, 08 10:53 AM CDT
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Mary-Kate Olsen, the first person phoned after a masseuse found Heath Ledger’s body, won't agree to be interviewed by federal investigators without a guarantee of immunity from prosecution, the New York Post reports. The feds have interviewed everyone else they consider connected to the case, including a “nice and cooperative” Michelle Williams—except the Olsen twin.
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Agency now holds $280K worth of vintage Ty Cobbs, others
Washington Post Jul 6, 08 4:00 PM CDT
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Long accustomed to confiscating snazzy cars and jewelry from those who run afoul of the law, the DEA found itself in possession of something a little more unusual when it nabbed a Tennessee doctor who was dispensing fraudulent prescriptions—an impressive collection of baseball cards worth $280,000. The doc faces 20 years, and the DEA is considering an auction. Some of the cards: 1909 Ty Cobb from the rare T206 series 1938 Goudey card featuring Joe DiMaggio
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UPDATED
75 students involved, with heavy fraternity presence, DEA says
CNN May 6, 08 5:09 PM CDT
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Ninety-six people were arrested today in a massive drug bust at San Diego State University. Seventy-five of those nabbed were students, many of them studying for criminal-justice or homeland-security degrees, CNN reports. Cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy were being dealt, largely by fraternity members, during a 5-month undercover DEA operation, the agency said.
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'Unselling the product' leads to 70% drop among adults, 45% in teens
Christian Science Monitor Mar 27, 08 1:23 PM CDT
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In 2005, Montana had the fifth-worst methamphetamine problem in the US; now it’s 39th, and negative advertising is to credit for much of the stunning turnaround. Montana’s nonprofit Meth Project launched a massive blitz against the drug, blanketing airwaves, websites, newspapers, and billboards. “The intention is to treat meth like a consumer product,” said one backer.
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Both sides await word on possible immunity
for carriers
New York Times Dec 16, 07 2:33 PM CST
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The telecom industry will be all ears to proceedings beginning tomorrow on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers will decide if companies helping the government’s warrantless surveillance program should receive immunity. President Bush personally lobbied Congress to further the NSA’s tenuous alliance with the industry, whose members are increasingly resistant to phone record requests, the New York Times reports.
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Study concludes that longer sentences don't make streets safer
Reuters Nov 20, 07 6:23 AM CST
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Getting tough on criminals through longer prison terms—at an annual cost of tens of billions of US taxpayer dollars—hasn't made a major impact on crime, concludes a study released yesterday. The US prison population has increased 800% since 1970—giving the nation has the world's highest incarceration rate—but the crime rate is equal to that in 1973, researchers reported.
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Raids medical-marijuana supplier Tainted Inc.
Associated Press Sep 28, 07 1:45 PM CDT
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Feds yesterday kicked in the doors of a factory producing marijuana-laced candy, snacks, and drinks for the medical marijuana market, the AP reports. Three were arrested, but the company’s founder is still on the lam. Authorities fear Tainted Inc. is one of many large-scale marijuana-lacing operations capitalizing on legalized medical dispensaries in California and other states.
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Biggest crackdown in history will yield thousands of names
Yahoo! Sep 24, 07 10:16 AM CDT
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The DEA racked up the biggest steroid bust in history in a series of raids over the last four days, Yahoo News reports, arresting 124 people at 56 labs across the country. More than 11 million doses of the performance-enhancing drugs were seized from an illegal, underground network, as well as the names of hundreds of thousands of purchasers.
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Raids stepped up on medicinal marijuana dispensaries considered legal by the state
Reuters Aug 15, 07 12:24 AM CDT
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The federal Drug Enforcement Agency is stepping up raids on California's medicinal marijuana distributors, confiscating drugs and arresting vendors at ten Los Angeles operations last month alone, Reuters reports. California legalized medicinal marijuana use more than ten years ago, but possession of the drug violates federal law. Federal officials argue that a legal alternative, a pill called Marinol, works as well, but users disagree.
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Chinese-born fugitive doesn't get to finish his codfish, DEA says
Washington Post Jul 25, 07 1:17 PM CDT
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A reputed Mexican drug lord known for his flamboyant lifestyle and vast supply of cash fell into the hands of the DEA Monday in a decidedly unglamorous setting: a suburban Maryland mall. Zhenli Ye Gon faces charges under US drug laws, the Washington Post reports, and Mexico wants him extradited. He claims the case against him is a political set-up.
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