Monday, June 25, 2012

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 25-6-12

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 25 JUN 2012 

Note:  From Barbara Espinosa's American Freedom blog 
http://www.americanfreedombybarbara.com/  
On target?  

BTW, Janet Napolitano and former U.S. Atty. for AZ, Dennis Burke have been very close for many years.   Can't believe they didn't work together on this one also.  


SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012
Breaking! New evidence shows Hillary a mastermind behind Fast and Furious*Audio*
HAIR ON FIRE INTERVIEW WITH MIKE VANDERBOEGH...
ON GUN WALKING/FAST and FURIOUS

We were on this story a year ago with Guest: Mike Vanderbeogh Of the Sipsey Street Irregulars about this criminal action by ATF and the Obama Administration. Do you know about the Project Gunrunner. We are going to have one of the two (David Codrea who writes for the Examiner couldn't be with us, he had another commitment ) who broke the story on the Brian Terry killing. A gun used in this operation was involved in a December 2010 incident in which US Border Patrol Brian Terry was killed. According to Mike Vanderbeogh at Sipsey Street Irregulars blog The upper management at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, seemingly with a green light from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, was allowing thousands of semiautomatic firearms to be purchased from Phoenix-area gun shops by drug cartel criminals who then walked these weapons across the Mexican border. Guest: Jeff Knox; Firearms Coalition a long time gun advocate and author of Knox News.
Via: Examiner (via Tom Tancredo)
Last week it was reported that the State Department and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were deeply involved in the scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious, or Project Gunwalker.
 
Today, however, new evidence has surfaced indicating that not only was Hillary deeply involved in the scandal but was one of the masterminds behind it. According to investigative citizen journalist Mike Vanderboegh, sources close to the development of the Gunwalker scheme state that early on, Hillary and her trusted associated at State, Andrew J. Shapiro, devised at least part of the framework of what would later become Operation Fast and Furious. It was Shapiro who first described the details of the proposed scheme early in 2009 just after the Obama Administration took office. Vanderboegh relates the following:
My sources say that as Hillary's trusted subordinate, it was Shapiro who first described to the Secretary of State the details of what has become the Gunwalker Scandal. The precise extent to which Hillary Clinton's knowledge of, and responsibility for, the Gunwalker Plot, lies within the memories of these two men, Shapiro and Steinberg, sources say. The sources also express dismay that the Issa committee is apparently restricting itself to the Department of Justice and not venturing further afield. The House Foreign Affairs Committee, they say, needs to summon these two men and their subordinates — especially at the Mexico Desk at State — and question them under oath as to what Hillary Clinton knew about the origins of the Gunwalker Scandal and when she knew it. There is one other thing those sources agree upon. The CIA, they say, knows "everything" about the "Mexican hat dance" that became the Gunwalker Scandal.
The 'Steinberg' mentioned in the quote above is Hillary Clinton's former Deputy Secretary of State, who was appointed directly by Barack Obama and was considered from the start to be an 'Obama man' whose objective was to carry out the wishes of the President in the State Department. Hillary had said of Steinberg,
Clinton said Steinberg had been a "fixture" at meetings with the National Security Council (NSC) and frequently represented the US State Department at the White House.
That statement is key. Hillary herself stayed out of all meetings dealing with strategy concerning the euphemism the Administration used to designate Gunwalker, 'strategy meetings on Mexico and the problem of drug and gun trafficking.' Hillary's absence would give the impression that she had no connection to the scheme while making sure that her views were represented by Steinberg and Shapiro, both of whom were fully complicit with the details that developed concerning how to pad statistics on U.S. guns in Mexico. According to sources, Hillary was obsessed with gun statistics that would prove that '90% of the firearms used by Mexican criminals come from the United States.' As previouly reported, that meme, repeated incessantly by Democratic Senators, Barack Obama, certan members of the ATF, Janet Napolitano, and Hillary Clinton was patently and blatantly false. The fact that they all knew it was false is borne out by the lengths to which each of the above named co-conspirators went to attempt to 'prove' that the 90% figure was true. Again, Vanderboegh relates the following:
My sources say that this battle of the "statistics" was taken very seriously by all players — the White House, State and Justice. Yet, WHY was this game of statistics so important to the players? If some weapons from the American civilian market were making it to Mexico into the hand of drug gang killers that was bad enough. What was the importance of insisting that it was 90 percent, 80 percent, or finally 70 percent? Would such statistics make any difference to the law enforcement tactics necessary to curtail them? No. This statistics mania is similar to the focus on "body counts" in Vietnam. Yet if Vietnam body counts were supposed to be a measure of how we were winning that war, the focus on the 90 percent meme was certainly not designed to be a measure of how we were winning the war against arming the cartels, but rather by what overwhelming standard we were LOSING. Why? Recall what the whistleblower ATF agents told us right after this scandal broke in the wake of the death of Brian Terry: "ATF source confirms 'walking' guns to Mexico to 'pad' statistics."
Thus, from the beginning the scheme was to pad statistics on U.S. guns in Mexico in order to be in a strengthened position to call for gun bans and strict gun control at a time when it was politically unpopular. Further, the scheme would involve a made-up statistic, out of thin air–90%–which then had to be proved by using civilian gun retailers along the southern border as unsuspecting pawns to walk U.S. guns into Mexico by ATF agents, straw purchasers, and others with connections to Mexican drug cartels. And the evidence points to the fact that Hillary Clinton was one of the original Administration officials who was 'in the loop' on the scheme from the very beginning. Be sure to catch my blog at The Liberty Sphere. Visit my ministry site at Martin Christian Ministries. Subscribe by clicking the links at the top of the page, or below, and you will receive free notifications of new articles plus a free newsletter. A FREE, COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION IN CONSERVATIVE POLITICS. You will find it each week at WFHT-AM 1390 in Orlando-Avon Park, Florida on the weekly program 'A Voice for Freedom.'Join Lori Hendry, Ginger Carlisle, and Lin DiCesare each Saturday morning from 11 AM to 12 Noon for interesting guests and news of vital importance to conservatives. Those living outside the station's listening area can tune in via Livestream on the Internet. Oh, and yours truly will provide a rundown of the top political stories of the week plus searing and insightful commentary from a conservative perspective.
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POSTED BY BARBARA AT 9:41 PM 0 COMMENTS   LINKS TO THIS POST
LABELS: DAVE CODREA, EXAMINER, FAST ANS FURIOUS, HILLERY CLINTON, MIKE VANDERBEOGH, TOM TANCREDO

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

AZMEX UPDATE 19-6-12

AZMEX UPDATE  19 JUN 2012

Note:  Obied Cano Zepeda nephew of El Chapo said to have been killed in Culican on Sunday.


Investigating SEDENA  (Army) arms trafficking to drug traffickers 
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
http://www.blogdelnarco.com/2012/06/investigan-trafico-de-armas-de-la-sedena-a-narcos/ # more-12223

The PGR is investigating an alleged trafficking of  Army weapons and explosives to the cartels; Milenio,, the Familia Michoacana and the Gulf.

According to the investigations, the proprietor of a armory in Mexico City has sold high-caliber weapons and the explosive C4 Military Camp No. 1 to middlemen who would supply to "The Resistance", which brings together bands of the three cartels.

In the investigation PGR/SIEDO/UEIORPIFAM/148/2011 know that the crime was discovered after the dismantling of a cell of "The Resistance" on September 7, 2011, in Guadalajara.

The investigation led also to Gabriel Abrego Garcia and his father Gabriel Herminio Abrego  Vargas, owners of the former armory "El Venado", located in a modest local Tlalnepantla, Estado de Mexico.

The suspects have traded seized arms and explosives to "The Resistance".

The PGR intercepted telephone conversations of Garcia Abrego, which presumably is exposed the relationship with the military to smuggle weapons.

The most frequent calls were with Victor Manuel Rios Lopez, gun collector, and Captain Cesar Abel Batres Ortiz, who was the right hand of Brigadier General  José Luis Ramón Velasco Guillén 

Three months ago, Velasco served as CEO of the Federal Firearms Register in the Department of Defense.   In principle, Velasco does not appear linked to this investigation.

Sources said that the Department of Defense Military Prosecutor found no case directly related to the matter and so far there is no information from the PGR.

The Directorate of Arms Trading,  not the Federal Register of Firearms is controller of the weapons.




El Paso City Council rep. to ask for jailed US trucker's release
By Aileen B. Flores \ El Paso Times
Posted:   06/19/2012 12:00:00 AM MDT
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_20886345/city-ask-jailed-us-truckers-release  

El Paso Northeast city Rep. Carl Robinson is asking for the humanitarian release of the Texas trucker incarcerated for allegedly smuggling arms in Mexico.
Jabin Akeem Bogan, 27, was detained April 17 by Mexican federal customs officers at the Bridge of the Americas in Juárez with 268,000 rounds of ammunition. Bogan is currently being held in a federal prison in Veracruz, Mexico.
Dennis Mekenye, owner of Arlington-based Demco Transportation Inc. and Bogan's boss, have said Bogan ended up in Mexico by accident when he took a wrong turn toward the Bridge of the Americas and that the cargo was headed to Phoenix.
"I do believe it was an accident, it wasn't anything intentional," said Robinson.
A resolution to request Mexican authorities to review the case and urge the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and the Department of State to help resolve the release of Bogan is expected to be approved by council today.
The intent of the petition is not to be antagonistic or to point fingers, Robinson said.
"Bogan just made the wrong turn and got stuck in traffic and was not able to get back before he got caught in that situation," he said.
It is not difficult to end up in Mexico by accident when driving in the Spaghetti Bowl area, Robinson said.
"It almost happened to me a couple of weeks ago, even though I know the area," he said. "It's very easy for a mistake like that to happen."
Robinson now hopes to appeal to the good conscience of the authorities in Mexico
that it was not an intentional act on Bogan's part. He was not smuggling weapons, Robinson said.
The bullets are legal to buy in the United States but the ammunition is banned in Mexico, which considers those types of rifles and bullets only for military use. 



New Border Patrol Agent in Charge selected for Douglas Border Patrol station
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 1:47 PM MDT
http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2012/06/19/news/doc4fd8ee7f1ebaf035922974.txt

On May 6, 2012, the Tucson Sector welcomed R. Alan Booth as the new Patrol Agent in Charge (PAIC) of the Douglas Border Patrol Station.

"PAIC Booth brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our operations in Douglas," said Rick Barlow, Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent. "He is a proven leader who appreciates working with stakeholders toward smart border security solutions."

PAIC Booth entered on duty with the U.S. Border Patrol in 1997 as a member of Class 358. His first duty assignment as a Border Patrol Agent was at the Lordsburg, New Mexico station in the El Paso Sector.

In 2001, PAIC Booth successfully completed the selection process for the Border Patrol Tactical Unit and was later selected as a Field Operations Supervisor. For the next two years, he was a Special Operations Supervisor assigned to El Paso, Texas, where he planned and executed operations throughout the United States.

During his career, PAIC Booth has served as Assistant Chief of Operations for the Arizona Joint Field Command and as the Assistant Patrol Agent in Charge in Sonoita, Ariz. PAIC Booth also worked as an Assistant Chief at Border Patrol Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Most recently, he was assigned to the Tucson Sector Headquarters as an Executive Officer.

Customs and Border Protection welcomes assistance from the community. Citizens can report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol and remain anonymous by calling 1-877-872-7435 toll free.

  

Monday, June 18, 2012

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 18-6-12

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 18-6-12 
Note:  one of several delayed, deal time?

Sentencing reset for man in Fast and Furious case
Jun. 18, 2012 08:02 AM
Associated Press
PHOENIX -- A new sentencing date has been set for a man who admitted to participating in a gun smuggling ring that was being monitored as part of the federal government's botched investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.
The sentencing date for Dejan Hercegovac was moved from June 25 to Aug. 13.
Hercegovac had pleaded guilty in April to a charge of conspiracy.
He admitted buying 31 guns for the ring and saying that the guns were for him when he was actually making the purchases on behalf of the ring.
He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Federal authorities have faced criticism for allowing suspected straw gun buyers to walk away from gun shops with weapons, rather than arrest the suspects and seize th
 
case-sentencing-reset.html#ixzz1y9ujdWq1

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

AZMEX UPDATE 12-6-12

AZMEX UPDATE 12 JUN 2012

Note:  group of 37 west of Tucson.  Representative of more and larger groups over past couple months, all along the border.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov_6L9ryN-Y&feature=g-all-u  


Gunmen in Nogales, Sonora chase down, kill local physician
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/gunmen-in-nogales-sonora-chase-down-kill-local-physician/article_10c7dfe8-b495-11e1-8387-0019bb2963f4.html  
 
Photo courtesy of Radio XENY
Crime scene
Investigators surround the crime scene Monday night.
Posted: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 6:46 am | Updated: 6:53 am, Tue Jun 12, 2012.
Nogales International 
A well-known internist was gunned down in mid-town Nogales, Sonora Monday night following a pursuit by gunmen in at least two vehicles.
While the name of the victim had yet to be confirmed officially, Radio XENY reported sources saying Dr. Armando Flores Haro, 52, of Nogales, Sonora died at the scene near the intersection of Vasquez Street and Obregon Avenue after being shot as he exited his vehicle about 10 meters from the intersection and approximately five blocks from the U.S. border. The newspaper Nuevo Dia, citing investigators from the state Attorney General's Office, also identified the victim as Flores Haro.
The media reports said Flores Haro was driving east on Calle Vasquez toward Avenida Obregon in a late-model red Jeep Liberty with Arizona plates and apparently made a U-turn. It is speculated he was confronted by his assassins at that point.
Nuevo Dia reported that gunmen fired at his vehicle during a pursuit, shattering the Jeep's windshield. At that point, the paper said, investigators believe he got out of the vehicle and tried to flee on foot, but was gunned down.
His body was found lying on the pavement a few feet from his vehicle, which was facing in an westerly direction.
Sources told Radio XENY that investigators found 11 spent 9 mm bullet cartridges. The incident remains under investigation.




Note:  Update
Arrests made in murder of border doctor
4 hours ago  •  
Tim Steller, Arizona Daily Star
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/arrests-made-in-murder-of-border-doctor/article_713b75d6-b4bf-11e1-8256-0019bb2963f4.html  

Police in Nogales, Sonora have arrested two men in the brazen Monday night murder of a well-known border-area doctor.

The two men targeted Dr. Armando Flores Haro for robbery and shot him when he resisted, said Sonora's attorney general, Carlos Alberto Navarro Sugich, in a press release.

The shooting happened at about 8:35 p.m. Monday when Flores Haro was chased as he drove his 2006 Jeep Liberty on Calle Vazquez, near Avenida Obregón in downtown Nogales, the release said. The pair rammed his car, and when he tried to get away, they shot him.

He died in an area of Nogales frequented by Americans who cross the border for medicine, medical appointments or tourism.

Police spotted the suspects' car, a 2005 Audi, in a nearby neighborhood and arrested them, the release says. The suspects are Abraham Minjares Covarrubias and Francisco Javier Salazar Nolasco, both 23 and from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora.

They also seized two pistols and an AR-15-type rifle from the vehicle, the release says.

Flores Haro was a well-known doctor in the border area, with patients from both sides of the line, said assistant Lisabet Martinez, who was answering constant calls at the doctor's office today.
Employees in Flores Haro's nine-doctor office were feeling "destroyed," Martinez said through tears. Flores Haro was an internist who headed a local emergency center, Hospital del Socorro.

The dramatic killing comes after a year of relative peace from such dramatic public attacks, which proliferated from 2007 to early 2011.




Publicada: 12/06/2012 02:44    Por: Redacción ElImparcial       
Matan pistoleros a dos en Caborca
http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Policiaca/12062012/598980.aspx

HERMOSILLO, Sonora(PH)
José Larrinaga Talamantes detalló que en coordinación elementos del Ejército Mexicano y de la Policía Federal y Municipal, se realiza un operativo para dar con los presuntos responsables.

Alrededor de las 18:50 horas del domingo, expuso, se tuvo conocimiento a través del C4 de que varios hombres a bordo de automóviles y que portaban armas largas, habían asesinado a dos personas.

El primero de ellos fue en la calle Alejandro Espinoza esquina con Roberto Vásquez, precisó, donde se localizó sin vida a un hombre, de tez morena, estatura baja, complexión regular y que presentaba varias heridas producidas con proyectil de arma de fuego, en diferentes partes de su cuerpo.

La víctima llevaba entre sus ropas una credencial del IFE a nombre de Jesús Campos Tenorio, de 36 años de edad, originario de El Jobo, Omealca, Veracruz, señaló el vocero.

La víctima llevaba entre sus ropas una credencial del IFE a nombre de Jesús Campos Tenorio, de 36 años de edad, originario de El Jobo, Omealca, Veracruz, señaló el vocero.

En el mencionado lugar, a seis metros aproximadamente del cuerpo, se aseguraron dos casquillos percutidos calibre 7.62 x 39 milímetros.

En un segundo domicilio, ubicado en calles Alejandro Espinoza y Ramón Badillo, a una cuadra al Este del anterior, en Las Torres, poblado La Y Griega, se encontró a la segunda víctima, en el interior del patio trasero, indicó.

Era de tez morena clara, complexión delgada, de 1.60 metros de estatura, pelo entrecano, de alrededor de 60 años de edad, apuntó Larrinaga Talamantes, presentaba también varias heridas producidas por proyectil de arma de fuego en diferentes partes de su cuerpo.

Era de tez morena clara, complexión delgada, de 1.60 metros de estatura, pelo entrecano, de alrededor de 60 años de edad, apuntó Larrinaga Talamantes, presentaba también varias heridas producidas por proyectil de arma de fuego en diferentes partes de su cuerpo.

En el interior del mencionado domicilio se encontraron residuos de la droga conocida como "crystal", misma que estaba en pedazos de focos convencionales; asímismo se aseguraron ocho casquillos percutidos y uno útil, calibre 7.62 x 39 milímetros.

Al lugar de los hechos acudió el agente segundo del Ministerio Público del Fuero Común, quien ordenó el levantamiento y traslado de los cuerpos para realizar las diligencias de ley.    


AZMEX I3 10-6-12

AZMEX I3 10 JUN 2012

Note:    This scheme not limited to Chinese obviously.   But not to forget large, but unknown, numbers of Chinese coming across from Mexico.  Back during the China/Mexico dispute over the flu a couple years back, we got a look into the human smuggling operation.  The Mexicans were irritated over Chinese treatment of Mexican travelers, and started "catching" groups on the way into U.S.  The Chinese here illegally keep a very low profile.  A necessary question is:  how much of a national security risk is this?  
Once again, driver's license is the primary ID for purchasing firearms.  Have to wonder if op has expanded to CCW docs also?  

A side note is that tons of the chemicals for synthetic illegal drugs come directly from China.  


Fake IDs coming from China, can fool experts
 by John McAuliff - Jun. 9, 2012 11:45 AM
USA Today

Not even fake IDs are made in America anymore.

Overseas forgers from as far away as China are shipping fake driver's license and other IDs to the United States that can bypass even the newest electronic digital security systems, according to document security experts and the Secret Service.

The new IDs are "an affront to the very sovereignty and dignity of the states that issue them," says David Huff, a senior special agent in enforcement for Virginia's Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control, which has investigated some of the frauds.

Most troubling to authorities is the sophistication of the forgeries: Digital holograms are replicated, PVC plastic identical to that found in credit cards is used, and ink appearing only under ultraviolet light is stamped onto the cards.

Each of those manufacturing methods helps the IDs defeat security measures aimed at identifying forged documents.

The overseas forgers are bold enough to sell their wares on websites, USA TODAY research finds. Anyone with an Internet connection and $75 to $200 can order their personalized ID card online from such companies as "ID Chief." Buyers pick the state, address, name and send in a scanned photo and signature to complete their profile.

ID Chief, whose website is based in China, responds personally to each buyer with a money-order request.

Brian Zimmer, president of the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, said the ease at which people can get fake documents is alarming. "If the ID buyers are terrorists, the list of protected targets they can now access is a Homeland Security nightmare," he said.

In August of 2011, federal prosecutors uncovered a counterfeit ring of Chinese foreign nationals in Albuquerque forging New Mexico IDs for illegal Chinese immigrants. They ran advertisements in Chinese-language newspapers in New York offering false identification for $1,500.

The website "Link-i-d" is another popular source of identification registered in Panama. According to its website, the company sells ID cards that will pass security scans, have accurate holograms and ultraviolet-sensitive ink. Customers can send a money order of $100 for two cards. The website launched this year.

ID Chief in particular is a major source of concern because the IDs are cheap, easy to obtain and entirely legal -- until buyers use it to lie about their age. The risks go beyond easier underage drinking.

The security risks include immigration, employment verification and, most important, aviation security, said Andrew Meehan, a policy analyst for the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License. He said the most concerning threat is that the U.S. government can do very little about it.

"Short of filing a complaint to the World Trade Organization, the request has to be made to the Chinese government," he said.

According to Huff of the Virginia agency, it has always been easy for the untrained eye to be fooled by fake IDs. The difference is, Huff said, that the new generation of forged IDs is "good enough to fool the trained eye."

For buyers from ID Chief and other companies, the easy-to-use online form does not come without risk. Buyers have reported identity theft and hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt in their names after buying from the Chinese forgers, authorities say


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/09/20120609PNI0609-wir-fake-IDs-china-forgeries-holograms.html#ixzz1xPAmtp7l

Monday, June 11, 2012

AZMEX UPDATE 10-6-12

AZMEX UPDATE 10 JUN 2012

Sonora-Arizona: Together for Safety
Details Posted on Sunday, June 10, 2012 7:05
Written by EDITOR / theOfficial
ERNESTO MUNRO PALACIO SECRETARY OF PUBLIC SAFETY
TUCSON, AZ
http://eldiariodesonora.com.mx/index.php/local/noticia-local/nogales/3821-sonora-arizona-juntos-por-seguridad

Greater confidence in the safety issue is that between Sonora and Arizona said the owner of that secretariat Ernesto Munro Palacio.

After holding a meeting at the Security Committee of the Commission that links the two states, the Executive Secretary of Public Security said that sharing information has helped both sides of the border and corporations have done better.
Given this, it will be in July when an official coordination between authorities is greater, that the shared database privileged to strengthen the relationship, especially with border security.
"In that sense we have done very well, we've trained them (U.S. officials) to identify official Mexican documents and can identify when the document is false, be it voter registration, passports, licenses and birth certificates and they would have helped us with the latest technology to detect stolen vehicles, "said the head of the SESP.
Munro Palacio stressed at the end of the plenary reuion Sonora-Arizona Commission, which focused results were achieved to share strategies that will give more comfort to the inhabitants of this border region.
He said the police tactics, intelligence and training among staff of both entities, have achieved better results, as the assurance of 20 000 doses of drugs, 12 firearms, 12 arrest warrants were pending, all in the span of the past April 23 to May 31.
He also recalled that 40% of prisoners in jails in Arizona are Hispanic and have outstanding accounts in Mexico and at this, Sonora requested information from their prisoners, all to be aware of potential releases, to meet your time crimes that did not happen in Mexico and as before, that those released at the border without notifying local authorities.
"And now when will they release criminals at the border that are from Mexico that we already have their background, we have databases and nationally Sonora is Mexico and we check and write  whether there is any situation that does help stop them if there are outstanding arrest warrants, "explained Munro Palacio.
Segurdiad Secretary added that although officials are working together with authorities in Arizona to achieve this year police will be from July when the formalization of actions, which are the result of more than two years of efforts by the State of Sonora.



Note:  There continues to be serious doubts about the raid that killed Jose Guerena.  

Family's ties to alleged pot ring detailed
INDICTMENT CITES MAJOR CASH, VEHICLE HOLDINGS; BROTHERS OF MAN KILLED IN SWAT RAID SOUGHT
June 10, 2012 12:00 am  •  Kim Smith Arizona Daily Star
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/family-s-ties-to-alleged-pot-ring-detailed/article_7aa21b04-49b9-5338-92bb-3092969902b8.html

Both brothers of a Tucson man killed during a SWAT raid in 2011 are among five people named in a 29-count indictment alleging they imported and sold at least $4.9 million worth of marijuana between 2005 and the time of the fatal raid.

According to an indictment unsealed Friday in Pima County Superior Court, Alejandro Guerena, 28, and Gerardo Guerena, 24, were indicted March 2 along with Alejandro's wife, Pauline Guerena, his sister-in-law, Denise Ruiz, and his father-in-law, Jose Celaya.

The Guerena brothers have outstanding warrants for their arrest. Ruiz and Pauline Guerena were released from jail to the county's Pretrial Services agency, and Celaya posted a $50,000 bond.

The group is charged with illegally conducting a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to commit possession of marijuana for sale, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.

The indictment alleges Jose Guerena and his relatives imported, stashed and sold bulk, wholesale quantities of marijuana to brokers or distributors who would travel to Tucson to buy it at wholesale prices. Handwritten records found at Alejandro Guerena's home documented the sale of at least 10,553 pounds of marijuana for between $475 and $600 per pound.

Jose Guerena, 26, was fatally shot May 5, 2011, by members of the Pima County Regional SWAT team who raided his home and three others simultaneously as part of a drug-trafficking investigation.

Court documents indicate two of the homes were Celaya's, including one he shared with his wife, Graciela, and occasionally some of his co-defendants, including Alejandro and Pauline Guerena and Ruiz.

Nearly $100,000 was found in a shoe box under Alejandro Guerena's bed, court documents indicate. Ledgers, an AK-47, other guns, ammunition, bulletproof vests, a stolen vehicle and marijuana were also seized from Celaya's homes.

Body armor, guns, a rifle, a dozen cellphones and a hat with the U.S. Border Patrol logo were found at Jose Guerena's home.

Court documents indicate the drug-trafficking investigation began in January 2009 after a deputy found a semiautomatic gun and several thousand dollars in cash during a traffic stop of Alejandro Guerena. He was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon.

In April 2009, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents found more than 1,300 pounds of marijuana at a home on South Sunset Road. The home's electric bill was in Ruiz's name; the water was in Gerardo Guerena's name; and the landlord said Ruiz had rented the home. Alejandro Guerena visited the home several times; Jose Guerena's vehicle was spotted there on occasion; and he was there the day arrests were made. ICE agents listed Jose Guerena as a "person of interest" in their investigation.

The drug investigation was put on the back burner in March 2010 after one of Jose Celaya's five daughters, Cynthia, 34, and her husband, Manuel Orozco, 36, were slain during a home invasion.

The investigation revved up again in April 2011 after deputies were called to one of the Celaya homes. Jose Celaya had received a call from a man named "Stuart" saying there were men with guns on the property. When deputies arrived, they found the doors to the home open, a puddle of blood on the floor and several shell casings, records show. Deputies did not find anyone inside, but they found enough wrappings for one ton of marijuana and a holster next to bloody footprints leading out of the home. "Stuart" has never been found.

The indictment unsealed Friday and other court documents obtained by the Arizona Daily Star reveal:

• Pauline Guerena, Alejandro Guerena, Gerardo Guerena and Graciela Guerena all claimed to earn their living at JC Stables, but JC Stables employed zero employees and earned a minimal amount of money.

• Arizona Department of Economic Security reported zero earnings for Celaya, Alejandro Guerena, Pauline Guerena, Gerardo Guerena and Ruiz.

• Jose Guerena earned $16,000 in 2009 and $54,000 in 2010 at Asarco, but was the registered owner of six vehicles, five of which had a total combined value of more than $100,000.

• Alejandro Guerena deposited nearly $82,000 into a bank account between December 2008 and December 2009 and withdrew $70,000. He told investigators he made his living horse racing, buying and fixing cars and remodeling houses. He also said he received food stamps and AHCCCS, and has never filed an income tax return. Investigators never saw him working on cars.

• Alejandro Guerena was the registered owner of four vehicles, but also told investigators he owned a $39,000 Ford truck registered to Jose Guerena.

• Pauline Guerena took out a $65,000 loan on some undeveloped land in March 2008 and obtained another loan for a 2008 Charger in August 2008. Each time, she put down $5,000 cash.

• Celaya owned two properties with a combined value of $278,000 and was the registered owner of nine vehicles. Seven of the vehicles were valued at nearly $58,000. He told investigators in May 2011 he was not working, could no longer afford his mortgage and received AHCCCS. Investigators found $2,900 cash in a boot box in his closet on May 5, 2011.

• Ruiz earned $3,214 in 2009 and zero in 2010, and was the registered owner of six vehicles valued at nearly $42,000. In July 2010, someone deposited nearly $11,000 into her bank account from Michigan.

• Gerardo Guerena was the registered owner of five vehicles valued at nearly $23,000. He told investigators he lives in Mexico and he buys and sells cars and tends to horses for a living.

• Alejandro Guerena bought six cars at auction on one day in December 2008. On the same day he spent $4,200 at Burberry, a clothing store.

• Alejandro Guerena spent nearly $10,000 at Jared's Jewelry in May 2009.

• The Guerenas frequently bought and traded newer model vehicles with cash from marijuana transactions, investigators say.

Capt. Christopher Nanos, who heads up the sheriff's criminal investigations division, said the investigation into the drug ring is ongoing and charges could be brought against additional people. The investigation into the killing of the Orozcos is also ongoing.

The Guerena brothers cannot be ruled out as suspects in the Orozcos' slayings, Nanos said.
"Our belief is they have more knowledge of that case than what they are sharing with us," Nanos said of the Guerenas, the Celayas and the Orozcos.

While most home invasions involve people demanding drugs and money, the couple's killers made no demands, Nanos said. They simply came into the home, shot the couple and left.

During the course of the drug investigation, statements were made linking both Orozcos to the Guerena/Celaya drug organization, and Manuel Orozco had no reported income during the relevant time frame, Nanos said.

DNA was collected from the scene, and investigators have identified other people of interest and are attempting to find them, Nanos said.

Nanos declined to specify what specific roles each of the Guerenas and Celayas played in the drug organization, including who was the ringleader.

What's clear is Jose Guerena did play a role, Nanos said.
"Although he was a former Marine, it doesn't mean he was out there doing what we expect good Marines to do," Nanos said.

On April 13, the Pima County Attorney's Office began forfeiture proceedings for four homes, five vehicles, $137,000 cash and 11 weapons.

Attorneys for Pauline Guerena and Celaya are fighting the seizure of the property. Celaya's attorney says Jose Celaya and his wife purchased both their homes using proceedings from a wrongful death lawsuit involving their 9-year-old son, Jose Jr., who was killed by a drunken driver in 1995.

Attempts to reach the attorneys for Pauline Guerena, Ruiz and Celaya were unsuccessful.

Christopher Scileppi, who represents Jose Guerena's widow, Vanessa, in a wrongful-death lawsuit against the county, said, "I have reviewed countless indictments during my career, but this is a first," describing the indictment as no more than an attempt "to damage the reputation of a Marine killed in his home by the police."

"There is absolutely no reason to name Jose Guerena in the indictment other than a poorly veiled attempt to disparage him, his wife and children," Scileppi said, adding: "This, after the police barged into their home with apparent little regard or care for human life, shooting wildly with handguns and a high-powered ballistic rifle more than seventy times mere feet away from Mrs. Guerena and their 4-year-old boy."

On StarNet: Follow the news and events at Pima County's courthouses in Kim Smith's blog, At the Courthouse, at go.azstarnet.com/courthouse

"Although he was a former Marine, it doesn't mean he was out there doing what we expect good Marines to do."
Pima County sheriff's Capt. Christopher Nanos,
on Jose Guerena, who died in 2011 SWAT raid  



Note:  Despite the significant increase in resources, the following, not a place most would try this:

Published: 10/06/2012 12:08 By: Editorial ElImparcial
They kill man in front of military barracks in Cajeme
http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Noticias/10062012/598593.aspxCAJEME, Sonora(PH)  

One person was shot dead outside the military headquarters of 60 Infantry Battalion, in the community of Esperanza, Sonora, this morning, where they arrived officials from City and State, said the attorney. 
Sonora (PH)

One person was shot dead outside the military headquarters of 60 Infantry Battalion, in the community of Esperanza, Sonora, this morning, where they arrived items City and State, said the attorney.

In their report, the State Police Investigator inquire into the facts where a man, 39, was killed , being assaulted with a firearm projectiles, while riding aboard a vehicle around 08:00 am Today on International Highway, Km 8, compared with 60 facilities Infantry Battalion.

Who was killed by the name of Jose Maria Valenzuela Valenzuela, who was domiciled in the Colony Home 1, property of Esperanza, Sonora.

The events took place when the victim was driving the Chevrolet, Cheyenne, GMC pick-up truck, 2008 model, gray.

At the traffic lights which is located at kilometer 8 and perform the corresponding high, he was encountered by a black colored motorcycle, which approached with two men, dropping one of them, who wore a green helmet and wearing gray shirt, the same who shot the now deceased repeatedly with a gun.

The victim accelerated the vehicle, trying to flee, and impacted with a wall of the 60 Infantry Battalion, where he lost his life.

At the site of the attack on the International Highway, staff of Expert Services of the Attorney General of the State, secured six .9 mm caliber shell casings.

From the facts attested the Public Prosecutor of the civil courts, which ordered the lifting and transporting the body to conduct the proceedings of law.

AZMEX EXTRA 11-6-12

AZMEX EXTRA 11 JUN 2012


Feds seize more than 32K rounds of ammo in Arizona
By: Associated Press
Originally published: Jun 11, 2012 - 2:01 pm
http://www.ktar.com/22/1552434/More-than-32K-rounds-of-ammo-seized-in-AZ 

NOGALES, Ariz. - Federal authorities say they have seized more than 32,000 rounds of ammunition from a stash house at the southern Arizona border.

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations acted on information they developed about a stash house in south Nogales.

Agents say they discovered a large cache of ammunition that they suspect was being staged to smuggle into Mexico.

Seized were 10,000 7.62-caliber rounds; 8,000 .223-caliber rounds; 5,000 9 mm rounds; 5,000 .38 Super rounds; 3,500 .45-caliber rounds; and 1,000 10 mm rounds.

ICE officials said Monday that no arrests have yet been made in the case, which remains under investigation.


AZMEX F&F EXTRA 11-6-12

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 11 JUN 2012

Man in Fast and Furious case pleads guilty
Posted: Jun 11, 2012 11:50 AM MST
Updated: Jun 11, 2012 12:26 PM MST
 http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/18757928/man-in-fast-and-furious-case-pleads-guilty  

PHOENIX (AP) - A man who admitted to buying guns for a smuggling ring pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in the federal government's botched investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.

Julio Jose Carrillo faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court on Friday to a charge of dealing guns without a license.

Authorities say Carrillo had claimed that the guns he bought were for him when he was actually making the purchases on behalf of the ring.

So far, 11 people in the alleged 20-member smuggling ring have pleaded guilty.

Federal authorities have faced criticism for allowing suspected straw gun buyers to walk away from gun shops with weapons, rather than arrest the suspects and seize the guns there.


Sunday, June 10, 2012

AZMEX UPDATE 7-6-12

AZMEX UPDATE 7 JUN 2012  

Today's Milenio poll;
EPN 46%,   AMLO 27%,   JVM 23%,   GQT 3%  


Note:  probably the most significant news of the day, Sinaloa continues to be contested.

MUTILATED
Were from Sinaloa Cartel
PME states that they were from Guasave, where they operated
IONSA
06/07/2012
http://www.noroeste.com.mx/publicaciones.php?id=786080

The remains of the guasavense were found about 6:30 pm on Tuesday in Cologne Infonavit Humaya in Culiacan
Photo: IONSA.

CULIACÁN._ seven individuals found dismembered on Tuesday at the Colonial Infonavit Humaya were members of the Sinaloa cartel cell operating in the municipality of Guasave, investigations revealed the State Ministerial Police. 

According to data of the PME, the deceased were deprived of their liberty in Guasave on Saturday and Sunday.

The victims are Ariel Arnoldo López Ontiveros, 23, Jonathan Escarrega Enrique Aranda, 18, Luis Alberto Valdez Alcala, 18, Diego Armando Bojorquez Angulo, 21, and Cristian Fidencio Orduño Bojorquez, 18, all residents of the Colonia Tierra y Libertad in Guasave.

The others are  Juan Marcos Favela Angulo de 36 años y Jorge Oddy Ordorica Rodríguez, de 36, from la Colonia Ejidal. 

According to authorities, the seven belonged to the Sinaloa cartel cell that holds a fight to the death  in Guasave and Guamuchil against "The Mazatlecos" linked to the Beltran Leyva cartel.

According to information provided by PME, seven were shot and then severed.
The remains were found about 6:30 pm Tuesday in calle Luna Street between cerrada Luna and Cerrada Tierra, opposite the ballpark of the Colony Infonavit Humaya.

The mutilated bodies were in 13 black plastic bags with a message addressed to President Felipe Calderon, in which police accuse of protecting Sinaloa Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

At the time of finding the guasavenses was about eight hours after being killed.
Staff of the Public Ministry specialized in research of intentional homicide of the facts attested to initiate investigations.





Note:  no, don't know either what is going on with Fox.

The PRI will return to Los Pinos, because people want: Fox
POLITICS • 7 JUNE 2012 - 3:07 PM - REYNALDO OCHOA
The former president reiterated the need for people to vote on unity with the pointer in the polls, without mentioning him by name because he said there can be no more divided government by minorities.

http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/noticias2011/a091c4cf094bf704845c8202b59227db




Note:  very interesting commitment of resources for this area.

In Cajeme Will counter insecurity
 Written by Patricia Montoya Osuna 
http://diariodelyaqui.mx/n/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4757:en-cajeme-combatiran-inseguridad&catid=13:principal  
    
    
 Yesterday they met in the Palace, Army, Navy and police from the three levels of government to implement new operating

To implement new security strategies and better coordination between police forces against the violence experienced of late in Cajeme in the midst of an electoral process, yesterday gathered at City Hall federal law enforcement , state and municipal levels.

The session was attended by commanders of the Navy of Mexico, Mexican Army, Federal Police and its affiliates Federal Protection, Federal Highway Police, PGR, AFI, and Cajeme Public Safety and the Executive Secretariat of Public Security of the State.

Early on it was noted that City Hall was guarded by members of the Navy, Army and Federal Police and a checkpoint on Morelos Street, exit to Providence, the State, in addition to patrols throughout the city.

Inside City Hall was the Secretary of Public Safety Cajeme, Captain Mario Alberto Andrade Ramos, Executive Secretary of the State Public Security, Ernesto Munro Palacio, chairing an interagency meeting with federal controls.

The session started around 11:00 hours to implement new strategies to face the facts coordination of insecurity have worsened.




Posted June 7, 2012, 1:52 a.m.
Seized plane, drugs and a vehicle
Federal agents to discover clandestine airstrip Cucurpe
Hiram G. Machi
Nogales, Sonora - Nuevo Dia 
http://www.nuevodia.com.mx/estado/decomisan-avioneta-drogas-y-un-vehiculo/

A light air unit, fuel, marijuana and crystal, was the result of an assurance by federal police in a clandestine airstrip landing located near Magdalena de Kino.
From the facts it was possible to know that the operation was performed in a gap located over four kilometers of a road leading to the town of Cucurpe, where officers made the discovery.
At the site used as a landing strip, said federal agents made 34 packages of marijuana in duct tape with a weight over 300 kilos.
Likewise, in two plastic containers was found just over half a kilo of cristal and several liters of fuel for airplanes type Cesena, which was evidenced in a state of neglect, along with a van Hyundai Santa Fe, 6SVX457 California plates, white and late-model, reported as stolen.
In fact it was not possible the arrest of any person and all material and secured units were made available to the public prosecutor investigating officer of the federation, the enervating moving to this city to the preliminary inquiries.

AZMEX UPDATE 8-6-12

AZMEX UPDATE 8 JUN 2012

Note:  they need to come back with a police report. 

Men say bandits stole their dope
Posted: Wednesday, June 6, 2012 9:02 am | Updated: 9:30 am, Fri Jun 8, 2012.
By JB Miller The Bulletin 
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/the_bulletin/news/men-say-bandits-stole-their-dope/article_f561836a-aff0-11e1-8290-001a4bcf887a.html  

Armed bandits may have struck once again in Santa Cruz County, but this time the alleged incident occurred between Sonoita and Patagonia near State Route 82.
On Saturday, June 2, the Sonoita Border Patrol Station contacted the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office shortly after 7 p.m. about two illegal border-crossers agents had detained who claimed to have been assaulted by two bandits with firearms who took their narcotics.
 
Sheriff Antonio Estrada said the two men, Mario Heraclio Gutierrez-Gonzalez, 26, from Empalme, Sonora and Adan Aguirre Medalla, from Navojoa, Sonora, said they had walked into the U.S. with seven other people on Wednesday, May 30, all of whom were carrying 40-pound bundles of marijuana. As they made their way into an area between Patagonia and Sonoita known as Alamo Canyon, the men said, they encountered two men with weapons.
"When the victims heard gunshots they dropped their loads of marijuana and ran," said Estrada, who added that nobody was wounded. "Neither victim could identify the suspect or the type of weapon used."
While reports of armed robberies of migrants and drug smugglers are fairly regular occurrences in Santa Cruz County, most incidents in recent years have been in the rugged canyon lands west of Nogales. Following a string of incidents in the eastern Santa Cruz County area in 2009 – including one in August 2009 in which a woman in Sonoita called authorities to say that a man was in the bed of her truck claiming people wearing camouflage had shot at him – the reports died down in the area.
One exception came on Sept. 25, 2011, when a man apprehended by Sonoita Border Patrol agents claimed to have been shot in the face two months earlier after being held up by bandits southeast of Patagonia.


Detienen en Veracruz a Fernando Herrera Zurita El Orejón, operador financierode Los Zetas
Viernes, 8 de junio de 2012
http://www.blogdelnarco.com/2012/06/detienen-en-veracruz-a-fernando-herrera-zurita-el-orejon-operador-financierode-los-zetas/#more-11881

La Secretaría de la Marina- Armada de México (Semar) dio a conocer que la tarde de ayer jueves fue capturado Fernando Herrera Zurita El Orejón, acusado de desempeñarse como operador financiero y coordinador del trasiego de armas y drogas para el grupo delincuencial Los Zetas.

Herrera Zurita fue capturado en la carretera federal 140 Veracruz-Xalapa cuando personal naval le marcó el alto al conductor de una camioneta sin placas delanteras. La dependencia federal informó que pese a mostrarse renuente, el señalado detuvo su marcha.

Al revisar el interior del vehículo, los efectivos localizaron armas, municiones, drogas, equipos de comunicación y documentos. Herrera Zurita fue puesto a disposición de la Subprocuraduría de Investigación Especializada en Delincuencia Organizada (SIEDO), integrándose la Averiguación Previa PGR/SIEDO/UEIDCS/183/2012.

Material asegurado
Un arma corta
4 granadas de mano de fragmentación
73 bolsas con hierba verde con las características de la mariguana
Un tubo lanzagranadas 40 milímetros
7 granadas calibre 40 milímetros
10 cargadores
722 municiones calibre. 7.62 x 39 milímetros
Equipos de comunicación
Cargadores y municiones
Una credencial para votar apócrifa a nombre de Fernando Herrera Zurita

AZMEX EXTRA 7-6-12

AZMEX EXTRA 7 JUN 2012

Note:  still wonder whatever happened to the 10 yr. sentences

Jury convicts Houston woman of gun straw purchasing
June 07, 2012 8:38 PM
Jared Taylor
The Monitor
http://www.themonitor.com/news/mcallen-61449-purchasing-convicts.html

McALLEN — Jurors convicted a Houston woman Thursday afternoon in a gun straw purchasing case.

Nayely Ruby Herrera, 21, was convicted after two hours of testimony and about 30 minutes of jury deliberation Thursday in U.S. District Court in McAllen.

Prosecutors said Herrera had purchased three AK-47 assault rifles in February and eight more AK-47 assault rifles in April.

All the firearms Herrera purchased came from Erick Ford Kruger, owner of The Armory, a federally licensed firearms dealer in McAllen.

Federal agents uncovered the case when four rifles were discovered being transported into Mexico by another person.

Herrera was subsequently interviewed and admitted to buying the guns for another person. In all, she bought 15 AK-47s from The Armory.

U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez set Herrera's sentencing for Aug. 16, when she will face up to five years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.

Herrera was one of eight people named in a superseding indictment returned in March that alleged the straw purchasing ring. One other defendant, Noe Raymond Torres, was sentenced to five years in prison last month after he pleaded guilty in the case.

--

AZMEX UPDATE 5-6-12

AZMEX UPDATE  5 JUN 2012  

Today's Milenio poll
EPN 45%,   AMLO 26%,   JVM 25%,   GQT 4%  

Note:  The following will be of interest of weapons and equipment recovered across the river from Eagle Pass, TX.   

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #12
Friday, June 1, 2012 |  Borderland Beat Reporter Buggs
By David Kuhn and Robert Bunker
Small Wars Journal

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #12: Forensics of Recovered Weapons from Piedras Negras Tactical Engagement Between Los Zetas and GATE (Grupo de Armas y Tácticas Especiales)
Note— Borderland Beat Reporter Chivis Martinez provided additional informational support pertaining to the Piedras Negras incident for this tactical note.

Key Information: Chivis Martinez "Gunmen in Piedras Negras Attack, Block Roads and Terrorize the City." Borderland Beat, Wednesday, March 7, 2012
, http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/03/gunmen-in-piedras-negras-attack-block.html?m=1.

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/06/mexican-cartel-tactical-note-12.html  

Sylvia Longmire also took a look at it: http://borderviolenceanalysis.typepad.com/  
  


Updated Jun 5, 2012 - 6:36 pm
Police: Burned SUV with bodies is missing family's
Source: Arizona News
Originally published: Jun 5, 2012 - 6:36 pm

This image provided by the Pinal County Sheriffs Office, shows the vehicle where five burned, dead bodies were found, in Pinal County's Vekol Valley area, west of Casa Grande, Ariz. The bodies were so badly burned that investigators couldn't immediately determine their gender or ethnicity. Authorities say the incident may be drug related. (AP Photo/ Pinal County Sheriffs Office)

Associated Press
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - An SUV found burning in the desert with five bodies inside was registered to the home of a missing family of five, including three children, police in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe said Tuesday.

An acquaintance of the Butwin family told police on Monday that he was concerned about them after receiving a note from James Butwin with instructions on how to operate his construction business without him, Tempe police Sgt. Jeff Glover said.

Investigators went to the Butwin home and found "suspicious and concerning" evidence, but not the Butwins, and began treating the case as a murder-suicide. The family's white Ford Expedition also was gone.

AZMEX SPECIAL 10-6-12

AZMEX SPECIAL 10 JUN 2012


Retired Border Patrol, DHS agent tells of border experiences
June 10, 2012 10:53 AM
ShareThis| Print Story | E-Mail Story
By Julian Aguilar
http://www.themonitor.com/news/patrol-61506-ramirez-border.html

AUSTIN -- David Ramirez grew up on the gritty south side of El Paso, where an evening on the front porch could mean listening to oldies on the radio station or witnessing a Border Patrol chase or a street fight between rival gangs.

Years later, Ramirez would join the ranks of the U.S Border Patrol and eventually patrol the banks of the Rio Grande in Presidio. He eventually impressed enough people to earn an assignment as an assistant special agent in charge at the Department of Homeland Security.

The recently retired Ramirez sat down with the Tribune to talk about his book, Beneath the Same Sky; what is different about the patrolling the border today versus 30 years ago; the truth about corruption within the ranks of Mexican law enforcement; whether the U.S. needs to do more to acknowledge its role in the carnage in Mexico; and what it was like to arrest Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the ruthless former leader of the Juárez Cartel, only to have to let him go.

TT: You write in vignettes about your work life then follow them with stories about your personal life. What prompted you to write the book the way you did?

DR: First of all, it was never my intent to write a book. This is a result of what I call personal jottings, personal stories that I did for my benefit. And it eventually became a book. But I don't want to say now: "I want to tell my story about how it should be or how it was." I think readers can take from it what they want.

TT: The "cantaloupe" vignette (about allowing Mexicans to cross illegally to help U.S. farmers pick crops on the condition that 20 would later "surrender" to INS authorities) talks about bargaining. The department gets its funding, the workers get their money and the farmers get the crops picked. Was it really that simple back in the day? 

DR: It was, and I still think it is that simple. That's just the reality of things, and that is another reason I was encouraged to publish this — a lot of Americans don't get that view of the border, and in reality that is the way it was. The workers needed the jobs, the farmers needed to get the job done and the Border Patrol agents needed the stats for Congress. So in that story, in that reality, we all got what we needed. And the deal was made harmoniously.

TT: What has changed since that incident to now as far as why it's not that simple today?

DR: I did that and it wasn't necessarily agreed upon on, and I think that is one of the points that I am trying to make. One thing is to sit up in California, D.C., Seattle, wherever, and make judgments. And the other one is to be right there on the river and make decisions. So it wasn't encouraged, but at the time, I was there on the ground and that's the way it worked out. But it was not approved or encouraged or authorized.

TT: You also said that back in the day you'd get a load and the smugglers would run back to Mexico, but now they are shooting at you. Is it more dangerous now than when you were an agent?

DR: Definitely. And the world is changing, obviously. Before, most of them were economic migrants. Even the ones that were smuggling, what we called "mules," we would go up to them and they would scatter or run back and leave the contraband. Now they shoot back and they have armed guards, and it's escalated.

TT: One side says most of the people coming over are just here to do hard work, and the other side says most of the people coming over are doing so to commit crimes, do us harm and run drugs. Where do you fall in that spectrum?

DR: I am sure most adults realize that it's not 100 percent either way. Not everybody comes over here to work, but not everybody comes over here to commit a crime. I think most of them are economic migrants, and like in anything in any nationality and any business, there is that percentage that wants to take advantage of the system.

TT: You had at one point, the future leader of the Juárez Cartel, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, in your grasp (when you pulled him over and found an AR-15 and three boxes of ammunition). How did you feel having to let him go and then realizing who he was and what he became later?

DR: I just thought it was interesting. It was part of the job; it was somebody I encountered doing my job. He was a charismatic guy. We did our efforts to get him prosecuted and the agencies for whatever reason didn't want to pursue him. It was business, we encountered him, no one wanted to prosecute him, we wished him a good day and later he became what he became.

TT: You wrote that he laid out the rules of the game: no innocent people, leave the press alone and so on. What happened to create this shift in Mexico where it is no holds barred and cartels are violating these rules now and being outwardly ruthless?

DR: I really couldn't answer that. I can only tell you that it is the supply and demand, the magnet is so strong. The arrangements with political parties in Latin America or sometimes even the U.S., it changes. And I don't think he actually wrote those rules, but he followed them.

TT: Is Mexican law enforcement as difficult to work with as many U.S. officials say? Is there an element you can't trust? Are most on the take? Or are they trying to do better things for their country?

DR: I have a lot of respect for Mexican law enforcement at the higher levels. At the lower levels I respect them as well because they are trying to do an impossible job with no training and no real financial support, which one could say leads to the corruption. But in my six years in Mexico City, the higher-level officers that I dealt with, I saw they wanted to do the right thing, they are honorable gentlemen. But it's time to acknowledge that we are the ones that have the demand for what we expect them to take care of. There is the idea of saying that we want all these drugs and we are willing to pay whatever price, but Mexico and Latin America needs to take care of its problems.

TT: So you think the United States needs to take more responsibility?

DR: Definitely, in one way or another. I am not for legalization, but you either legalize it or build more prisons or start chopping off hands. But what we're doing now is not working.

TT: Why do you think the United States has been so reluctant to acknowledge its responsibility?

DR: I think that maybe it's because it doesn't affect the general American public as much as it does people on the border. What affects them is the price of the drug they do. They don't see the crime, they don't see the murders; they see that the price shifts.

TT: Do you anticipate any radical change immediately after next month's Mexican election?

DR: I say no, but I am not an expert, and the book is not about politics. I think that the change that needs to happen has to happen with both countries. It can't be one and not the other. It has to be both working together.

TT: Is the Southwest border attractive or vulnerable to Middle Eastern extremists or terrorists?

DR: I don't want to narrow it down to Middle Eastern terrorists. The objective, I would say, for people who want to do harm to the U.S. would be to get in to the U.S. One of the ways they get to the U.S. is the Southwest border. Now, in the book I wrote about Middle Eastern smugglers who smuggled hundreds of males into the United States. We prosecuted seven or eight of them and they each admitted to smuggling hundreds. The 9/11 commission alleged there were ties to terrorism, so the potential is definitely there. Whether it is U.S. law enforcement or Mexican law enforcement, if they take money, they are on the take for aliens, for dope or terrorists. They are on the take for everything, so there is corruption on both sides.

TT: A lot of people are quick to say that Mexican law enforcement officers are corrupt, but you highlight several U.S. agents who are on the take. How infiltrated is U.S. law enforcement?

DR: I don't know how infiltrated. I can only tell you my experiences and what I saw. It was the lure of the money, and as I write in the book, they offer this inspector $50,000 for what I call a "wave" — a loaded vehicle to come through the port. And they guaranteed them five vehicles a week, so you are talking that kind of money, which is tempting. You have to be a man or a woman who knows their moral ground so say, "No. I am not doing it."

TT: It sounds like you are saying that for any law enforcement agent in whatever country, if the price is right, then the potential is there.

DR: Definitely. That is a good statement.

TT: If you could wave a magic wand and have every reader come away with one uniform perception, what would it be?

DR: Enjoy the moments of your life and take the time to view them; don't just run through them. View the moments and enjoy them and take the good with the bad and the bad with the good.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public media organization that operates www.texastribune.org. Its mission is to promote civic engagement and discourse on public policy, politics, government, and other matters of statewide concern through original journalism and on-the-record, open-to-the-public events. The Monitor uses its content free of charge.

Friday, June 8, 2012

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 8-6-12

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 8 JUN 2012


Trial date set in Border Patrol agent's killing
27 minutes ago  •  
Tim Steller, Arizona Daily Star
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/trial-date-set-in-border-patrol-agent-s-killing/article_15fe0a6a-b17e-11e1-9f16-0019bb2963f4.html  

A judge has set a new trial date for the man accused of murdering U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

The trial of Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, which had been scheduled to start Tuesday, now is set for Nov. 6, 2012.

U.S. District Judge David Bury ordered the new trial date on May 31, but the order was unsealed this week as part of an ongoing practice of releasing some documents in a case that is otherwise sealed.

Terry, a member of the Border Patrol's elite tactical team, was shot and killed late on the night of Dec. 14, 2010 west of Rio Rico. The team Terry was with confronted a group of suspected bandits in that remote spot, gunfire ensued, and Terry was hit and killed while Osorio-Arellanes was hit and wounded.

Osorio-Arellanes is charged with second-degree murder, and the only known co-defendant is Rito Osorio-Arellanes, whose relationship to Manuel has not been confirmed. The identities of other co-defendants remain sealed.   

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

AZMEX EXTRA 6-6-12

AZMEX EXTRA  6 JUN 2012


Mexican Attorney civil suit ready against ATF for "Fast and Furious"
FIELDS GARZA LUCIANO
JUNE 5, 2012 · 3 COMMENTS
NATIONAL
http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=309812

MONTERREY, N.L. (Approved). - A Mexican lawyer is preparing a civil lawsuit against the Agency Snuff, Firearms and Explosives (ATF, for its acronym in English) United States, representing relatives of victims of the operation 'Fast and Furious', with which the U.S. government illegally brought weapons into the country to trace and catch the criminals that were acquired.
This is Eugenia Gonzalez Diana Saldana, who has two master's degrees in Criminal Science and Criminology from the University Autonomous of Nuevo Leon, and who, in coordination with an office in Houston, Texas, intends to take legal action against U.S. agency for the damage caused by the operation, whose failure has already been publicly acknowledged by the government of Barack Obama.
This would, she says, the first lawsuit brought by Mexico against the promoters of the failed plan to trace weapons smuggled into Mexico, most of which ended up, of course, at the hands of organized crime.
In an interview, the lawyer who litigates in particular, specifies that the Texan firm that shall assist asked to collect 50 cases to present solid way of a civil complaint in the neighboring country to the north.
Currently, she says, has documented four cases, including that of Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez, brother of the exprocuradora the state of Chihuahua, Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez, who was kidnapped and killed by one of the two thousand weapons smuggled into the country as part of the operation "Fast and Furious".
With this lawsuit, which claims not charged to those affected, she risks her integrity, but feels the need to do citizen, said the criminal.
"I'm playing the single. I'm risking my life, my things, my family, everything, but it's something that someone has to do because nobody has had the pants to do so. I can not believe anyone has come up with this idea, but what happens is that everyone is afraid,  "says Gonzalez.
Her plan is to file a civil lawsuit against ATF. Although in Mexico is not possible to sue an agency in the United States does and will be determined by a judge, whether to demand, who are the officials responsible.
The trial lawyer said she is willing to work for years to compile documents and boost demand in order to succeed to the district attorney of Houston, where she hopes to bring proceedings.
For two weeks he began collecting documentary evidence to structure the complaint.
"We want to be financially compensated for the families of the victims. The amount it receives each is set by the judge, but imagine what it would achieve demand. I do not want the body of the guilty prison, what interests me is that they leave in distress to the relatives, "he says.
The criminal complaints are those that take people to jail. The civilians, as presented, seeking compensation for damage.
She explains that the easiest part of the demand is going before the U.S. courts.
The hard part is to collect records from each of the documented cases of deaths in Mexico for weapons introduced by the operation failed.
Therefore she expected in the coming days to meet with the Attorney General of the Republic, Marisela Morales Ibañez, who plans to request access to documents to bolster her claim.
"If she gives me the green light to undertake this case, could access criminal records. It is also unconstitutional only interested to see the criminal records. Sure, I have to talk to the families of the victims to see if they agree, "she says.
The five U.S. attorneys office, which reserves the name for security reasons, you are asked folio 50 cases with court order to sustain a case to be confronted directly with the powerful U.S. government.
Those interested in information about the case allegarle may contact her by e-mail to: victimasdelatf@hotmail.com.

She says she is not focused on knowing who was the criminal that pulled the trigger on the victims, but to find those responsible for delivering high-powered weapons into the wrong hands, which took the lives of innocents.
According to a letter released by the Los Angeles Times, the Justice Department responded to the Justice Committee of the U.S. Senate at least 57 operational guns were used in 11 crimes in that country since it began to Fast and Furious end of 2009.
Among the victims are documented U.S.: Brian A. Terry, Border Patrol agent killed in Arizona, and Jaime Zapata, agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shot in Mexico.
Currently, Gonzalez is a candidate for deputy Saldaña local Labour Party (PT).
Asserts that this claim is presented as a citizen. She argues that the planned since before accepting the nomination and hopes that his political work does not interfere with this initiative does for the victims.
And it ensures that after the elections, whatever the outcome, will continue this initiative.
The lawyer is the wife of Aldo Fasci Zuazua, former Secretary of Public Security of Nuevo Leon, from who is separated.