I HATE TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO.
It should be obvious by now to even my most rabid detractors that this blog does not shoot from the hip. Years ago when I reported that a campaign was afoot to drive blacks out of certain neighborhoods, I was blasted by all and sundry for being everything from an alarmist, to a nutbag, to (according to one former editor of a weekly rag) "having an agenda for inciting racial hatred." In the fullness of time, the US Attorney filed a case against Avenues for precisely the campaign I had reported. Obviously I was on to something and events proved me correct. There's no joy in being right about something like that. Check out the latest: http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_13528363#
Earlier this week, I posted an item about Mexican cartels moving product through the med pot dispensaries. Again I was blasted for "really losing it" and other assorted attacks that weren't fit for the comments section. It took all of two days for LA County's top cop to validate my claim.
Just for the record, I don't pull stuff out of thin air. I deal in facts. Think of this blog as a beautiful iceberg. The visible part is what appears online. But there's ninety percent under the surface that you don't see. That tiny visible part could not exist without a mountain of facts supporting it. For future reference, do not doubt me. If it appears on this blog, there's enough evidence behind it to choke a whale.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
STEVE COOLEY'S BUZZ KILL.
Well that didn't take long. According to the LA Times, LA District Attorney Steve Cooley just announced that every single medical marijuana store is breaking the law and is subject to prosecution.
Obviously, this is going to drive Med Pot advocates insane. Just when they thought they'd won the fight, it turns out victory went to their head. They were a little too celebratory in victory. The explosion of legal and quasi-legal dispensaries has correctly drawn the attention of law enforcement.Look at the ads in KUSH L.A. Magazine and it's obvious that the stores are flaunting the regulations, even as thin and ineffective as they are.
No matter where you stand on the issue, you have to admit that there aren't that many people suffering from glaucoma and undergoing chemo that you need 800 dispensaries moving hundreds of pounds a day to take care of legitimate needs. The sheer number of stores has rightly resulted in concern that there may be something going on here that has little to do with sick people.
It's become clear to anyone familiar with the production and distribution matrix that illegal dope is entering the system and putting money into the hands of organized criminal groups. That's a legitimate law enforcement concern. And as the County's chief law enforcement officer, Cooley has an obligation to act.
The pro Med Pot war cry is this - Legalize it and Tax it. Proponents argue that it's a legitimate drug used for serious medical problems. On the other hand, they also want Cannabis treated like tobacco and liquor. Those arguments taken together frankly don't make sense. Tobacco and liquor are not medicine.
If cannabis is medicine, as they claim, then it should be regulated, controlled taxed and monitored like medicine. But that's one argument missing from their lexicon. The pro potters aren't busting down the doors at the FDA demanding to regulated, poked, prodded, tested and evaluated to the same degree as Ambasol.
The Med Pot lobby can't have it both ways. You can't use the medical argument if you object to being regulated and controlled like medicine. And you can't ask for equal treatment as tobacco and booze if you claim you're in the pharma business.
Tobacco and booze are heavily regulated. And Chivas Regal never claimed to cure insomnia. You can't for instance, brew up some bourbon in the back yard tub and sell it at the local quicki-mart. Same thing with tobacco. There's an agency called the ATF you have to deal with.
As the current Med Pot regulations are written, anyboby with a med card and ten square feet of dirt can get into the cannabis business. A cash business free of taxation, regulation or control. Consequently, it opens up huge possibilities for corruption and illegal operations.
The Med Pot proponents really need to examine their premises. Are they purveyors of recreational drugs? Or are they medical providers? Right now it appears they want to be treated with the deference of medical caregivers but they want to do it on the honor system. We don't let Wyeth or Glaxo work that way.
This issue needs to be reset to zero and finessed by somebody with the brains to make pot available to the genuinely sick while preventing corruption and reduce the likelihood of criminal exploitation.
Well that didn't take long. According to the LA Times, LA District Attorney Steve Cooley just announced that every single medical marijuana store is breaking the law and is subject to prosecution.
Obviously, this is going to drive Med Pot advocates insane. Just when they thought they'd won the fight, it turns out victory went to their head. They were a little too celebratory in victory. The explosion of legal and quasi-legal dispensaries has correctly drawn the attention of law enforcement.Look at the ads in KUSH L.A. Magazine and it's obvious that the stores are flaunting the regulations, even as thin and ineffective as they are.
No matter where you stand on the issue, you have to admit that there aren't that many people suffering from glaucoma and undergoing chemo that you need 800 dispensaries moving hundreds of pounds a day to take care of legitimate needs. The sheer number of stores has rightly resulted in concern that there may be something going on here that has little to do with sick people.
It's become clear to anyone familiar with the production and distribution matrix that illegal dope is entering the system and putting money into the hands of organized criminal groups. That's a legitimate law enforcement concern. And as the County's chief law enforcement officer, Cooley has an obligation to act.
The pro Med Pot war cry is this - Legalize it and Tax it. Proponents argue that it's a legitimate drug used for serious medical problems. On the other hand, they also want Cannabis treated like tobacco and liquor. Those arguments taken together frankly don't make sense. Tobacco and liquor are not medicine.
If cannabis is medicine, as they claim, then it should be regulated, controlled taxed and monitored like medicine. But that's one argument missing from their lexicon. The pro potters aren't busting down the doors at the FDA demanding to regulated, poked, prodded, tested and evaluated to the same degree as Ambasol.
The Med Pot lobby can't have it both ways. You can't use the medical argument if you object to being regulated and controlled like medicine. And you can't ask for equal treatment as tobacco and booze if you claim you're in the pharma business.
Tobacco and booze are heavily regulated. And Chivas Regal never claimed to cure insomnia. You can't for instance, brew up some bourbon in the back yard tub and sell it at the local quicki-mart. Same thing with tobacco. There's an agency called the ATF you have to deal with.
As the current Med Pot regulations are written, anyboby with a med card and ten square feet of dirt can get into the cannabis business. A cash business free of taxation, regulation or control. Consequently, it opens up huge possibilities for corruption and illegal operations.
The Med Pot proponents really need to examine their premises. Are they purveyors of recreational drugs? Or are they medical providers? Right now it appears they want to be treated with the deference of medical caregivers but they want to do it on the honor system. We don't let Wyeth or Glaxo work that way.
This issue needs to be reset to zero and finessed by somebody with the brains to make pot available to the genuinely sick while preventing corruption and reduce the likelihood of criminal exploitation.
LINES BLURRING BETWEEN CARTELS, THE MEXICAN MAFIA AND STREET SOLDIERS.
We might start calling them hybrids. Or maybe non-traditionals. Or maybe we can graft the two criminal orgs together and call the new entity a MEXTEL.
What we're talking about here is a developing phenomenon that first showed up along the border and making its way into our local neighborhoods. Based on information from reliable sources, border cops making their usual intercepts of migrant workers are also coming across Mexican nationals already tattooed up with U.S. gang identifiers. Basically these individuals already have some working or personal relationships with U.S. street gangs even though some of them have never been north.
At this point, it's an unclear dynamic as to who these trans-nationals are working for. Are they cartel-connected and working on behalf of the cartels in the U.S.? Or are they neighborhood connected and working on both sides of the border for U.S. shot callers? Or could it be both?
Since the early 1990s, some neighborhoods such as Pozole and Logan Heights in San Diego, there's been an easy alliance between U.S.-born and bred soldados and Associates hiring themselves out to the Cartels. Some of these people were purely free-lance operators but others had the full backing, support and even participation of high ranking shot callers in the U.S. So this latest phenomenon does have historical precedent. We may be seeing an expansion of that alliance in other neighborhoods in California and Arizona.
In Los Angeles, there's also been evidence of street operators and Associates serving two masters - one in the Bay and the other in Mexico. Sometimes they're serving both masters simultaneously because both overlords are involved in the same operation.
What we might be seeing here is the beginning of a higher order merger where it might be hard to separate the domestic and cross-border operators living and working under the umbrella of traditional neighborhood structures.
We might start calling them hybrids. Or maybe non-traditionals. Or maybe we can graft the two criminal orgs together and call the new entity a MEXTEL.
What we're talking about here is a developing phenomenon that first showed up along the border and making its way into our local neighborhoods. Based on information from reliable sources, border cops making their usual intercepts of migrant workers are also coming across Mexican nationals already tattooed up with U.S. gang identifiers. Basically these individuals already have some working or personal relationships with U.S. street gangs even though some of them have never been north.
At this point, it's an unclear dynamic as to who these trans-nationals are working for. Are they cartel-connected and working on behalf of the cartels in the U.S.? Or are they neighborhood connected and working on both sides of the border for U.S. shot callers? Or could it be both?
Since the early 1990s, some neighborhoods such as Pozole and Logan Heights in San Diego, there's been an easy alliance between U.S.-born and bred soldados and Associates hiring themselves out to the Cartels. Some of these people were purely free-lance operators but others had the full backing, support and even participation of high ranking shot callers in the U.S. So this latest phenomenon does have historical precedent. We may be seeing an expansion of that alliance in other neighborhoods in California and Arizona.
In Los Angeles, there's also been evidence of street operators and Associates serving two masters - one in the Bay and the other in Mexico. Sometimes they're serving both masters simultaneously because both overlords are involved in the same operation.
What we might be seeing here is the beginning of a higher order merger where it might be hard to separate the domestic and cross-border operators living and working under the umbrella of traditional neighborhood structures.
Monday, October 05, 2009
LOS ANGELES GIVES DRUG GANGS HUNDREDS OF NEW OUTLETS.
Now that the med pot experiment is well under way, it’s becoming clear that the current law has not done what it was intended to do. In some ways, it’s made the situation worse.
For years we’ve been hearing from the pro-dopers that the key to reducing drug related violence and take the profit motive out of drug smuggling was – wait for it – legalize it and tax it. Simple enough to fit on a bumper sticker.
Armed with this simplistic revelation, the LA City Council licensed hundreds of “caregivers” to grow dope and sell it to anyone with a doctor’s note. When bumper sticker policy hits the real world, however, the result is generally a Pandora’s box. Or a Pandora’s footlocker. In the case of LA's Med Pot, it's a Pandora’s cargo container.
Reality is a bitch. Which is why our elected officials choose to operate in fantasy land. The brains that run the city and passed the pot ordinance completely ate it the first time around. Med Pot 1.0 left so many holes in the system that you have to wonder if the real authors of the ordinance were guys like Chapo Guzman or the Humboldt County Pot Growers Association.
As currently formulated, the laws controlling the sale of “medical” pot are tailor made to promote criminality and create more of a problem than they were designed to prevent. For instance, there’s no monitoring of where the pot comes from. It’s SUPPOSED to be grown either on the premises of the store or some mysterious “secure” location. In reality those secure locations are places like Sinaloa, Mexico, the Los Padres National Forest or the verdant hills of Honduras.
There’s no indication in the ordinance as to who monitors the grow plots, how the cannabis is transported, who transports it or how big the plot is allowed to get before it becomes illegal. The loopholes are big enough for Mexican and domestic DTOs (Drug Trafficking Organizations) to drive vans full of weed to the allegedly legal dispensaries.
What the original ordinance accomplished was nothing less than hand the DTOs four hundred to six hundred legal retail outlets. Some LA City Council staff I spoke to called putting millions of dollars into the pockets of criminals an “unexpected consequence.” To anybody with a shred of common sense, this particular consequence was as unexpected as say, finding a Cosa Nostra connection in a North Jersey concrete company.
Legal pot did not reduce street sales and it didn’t cut the smugglers out of the loop. Instead, it just gave them a new market and increased their cash flow. And this is cash in the literal sense. The pot stores don’t like checks or credit cards. Cash leaves no paper trail. So nobody, including the IRS, knows how much these “caregivers” are making. And, since the retail proceeds aren’t even taxed by the city, state or federal government, the taxpayers are seeing zero benefit. That notion that DTOs could have written this ordinance doesn’t sound so far fetched. And we’re paying our elected officials to write a law that any drug smuggler would have happily written for free. When the aspirations of drug smugglers seem indistinguishable from the policies created by the City Council you have to wonder about politicians’ intelligence or their true intentions.
Med Pot 1.0 was a bust. Right now, LA is working on the 2.0 version. Like the first version, this one doesn’t address the looming holes that leave the system wide open to corruption. Is anybody in the City Council actually thinking?
Now that the med pot experiment is well under way, it’s becoming clear that the current law has not done what it was intended to do. In some ways, it’s made the situation worse.
For years we’ve been hearing from the pro-dopers that the key to reducing drug related violence and take the profit motive out of drug smuggling was – wait for it – legalize it and tax it. Simple enough to fit on a bumper sticker.
Armed with this simplistic revelation, the LA City Council licensed hundreds of “caregivers” to grow dope and sell it to anyone with a doctor’s note. When bumper sticker policy hits the real world, however, the result is generally a Pandora’s box. Or a Pandora’s footlocker. In the case of LA's Med Pot, it's a Pandora’s cargo container.
Reality is a bitch. Which is why our elected officials choose to operate in fantasy land. The brains that run the city and passed the pot ordinance completely ate it the first time around. Med Pot 1.0 left so many holes in the system that you have to wonder if the real authors of the ordinance were guys like Chapo Guzman or the Humboldt County Pot Growers Association.
As currently formulated, the laws controlling the sale of “medical” pot are tailor made to promote criminality and create more of a problem than they were designed to prevent. For instance, there’s no monitoring of where the pot comes from. It’s SUPPOSED to be grown either on the premises of the store or some mysterious “secure” location. In reality those secure locations are places like Sinaloa, Mexico, the Los Padres National Forest or the verdant hills of Honduras.
There’s no indication in the ordinance as to who monitors the grow plots, how the cannabis is transported, who transports it or how big the plot is allowed to get before it becomes illegal. The loopholes are big enough for Mexican and domestic DTOs (Drug Trafficking Organizations) to drive vans full of weed to the allegedly legal dispensaries.
What the original ordinance accomplished was nothing less than hand the DTOs four hundred to six hundred legal retail outlets. Some LA City Council staff I spoke to called putting millions of dollars into the pockets of criminals an “unexpected consequence.” To anybody with a shred of common sense, this particular consequence was as unexpected as say, finding a Cosa Nostra connection in a North Jersey concrete company.
Legal pot did not reduce street sales and it didn’t cut the smugglers out of the loop. Instead, it just gave them a new market and increased their cash flow. And this is cash in the literal sense. The pot stores don’t like checks or credit cards. Cash leaves no paper trail. So nobody, including the IRS, knows how much these “caregivers” are making. And, since the retail proceeds aren’t even taxed by the city, state or federal government, the taxpayers are seeing zero benefit. That notion that DTOs could have written this ordinance doesn’t sound so far fetched. And we’re paying our elected officials to write a law that any drug smuggler would have happily written for free. When the aspirations of drug smugglers seem indistinguishable from the policies created by the City Council you have to wonder about politicians’ intelligence or their true intentions.
Med Pot 1.0 was a bust. Right now, LA is working on the 2.0 version. Like the first version, this one doesn’t address the looming holes that leave the system wide open to corruption. Is anybody in the City Council actually thinking?
Thursday, September 24, 2009
AVENUES IN THE CROSS HAIRS. AGAIN.
There's probably no other single neighborhood that's been hammered harder than Avenues. This week the US Attorney unsealed a 222-page indictment naming some 88 Avenues, Eme members, Associates and various camaradas for crimes ranging from drug dealing to murder.
These are big time RICO charges that can put a lot of people away for a very long time. Avenues is no stranger to RICO cases. Or massive media attention.
Since 1993 when the Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Crime first hit Avenues with RICO charges, the progress and setbacks for Avenues would look like a stock market graph - peaks, valleys, periods of no growth and wildly erratic movement.
The up and down movement, as per usual, is generally connected to how much attention the Emeros are paying to the neighborhood and the amount of dope available.
A cursory reading of the indictment reveals a few interesting details for the careful observer. I don't want this blog dragged into court in the coming trial so we won't call out individuals by name. But it's obvious that the family that's had the single most powerful influence in Avenues is still calling shots and collecting. Even though two of the siblings are behind bars, easy communication facilitated by at least one crooked cop has allowed one of the brothers to continue controlling Northeast. Also interesting is that the patriarch has been named as a defendant in this case and may likely join his two sons behind bars. For years, Dad racked up a lot of minor beefs but never caught a RICO case.
What's also interesting is the number of fairly new players that joined the ranks after the last major prosecution. These individuals were minor players ten years ago but have matured and grown into managerial roles. This is a typical dynamic. Avenues, and lots of other neighborhoods, have an amazing capacity to reconstitute after big cases. Frankly, even this blog thought that it would take a lot longer for AVES to come back. They beat the odds and predictions and did it with impressive speed.
One curious fact emerges from the indictment. One of the major players in this case was apparently a tutor at a well-known and highly-celebrated gang intervention group in Los Angeles. This person was running dope and guns, according to the indictment at least, while working at this intervention program supposedly teaching youngsters how to stay out of the life. Chances are, there won't be any blowback for this intervention group when the details come to light during the trial. Some of these groups appear to be bulletproof to public scrutiny of questionable behavior.
Sorry to be cryptic about all this but we don't want to prejudice a potential jury or get dragged into the discovery process prior to trial. Let's see if the the Times, LA Weekly, Daily News and the rest of the gatekeepers have the cojones to cover these compelling topics.
There's probably no other single neighborhood that's been hammered harder than Avenues. This week the US Attorney unsealed a 222-page indictment naming some 88 Avenues, Eme members, Associates and various camaradas for crimes ranging from drug dealing to murder.
These are big time RICO charges that can put a lot of people away for a very long time. Avenues is no stranger to RICO cases. Or massive media attention.
Since 1993 when the Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Crime first hit Avenues with RICO charges, the progress and setbacks for Avenues would look like a stock market graph - peaks, valleys, periods of no growth and wildly erratic movement.
The up and down movement, as per usual, is generally connected to how much attention the Emeros are paying to the neighborhood and the amount of dope available.
A cursory reading of the indictment reveals a few interesting details for the careful observer. I don't want this blog dragged into court in the coming trial so we won't call out individuals by name. But it's obvious that the family that's had the single most powerful influence in Avenues is still calling shots and collecting. Even though two of the siblings are behind bars, easy communication facilitated by at least one crooked cop has allowed one of the brothers to continue controlling Northeast. Also interesting is that the patriarch has been named as a defendant in this case and may likely join his two sons behind bars. For years, Dad racked up a lot of minor beefs but never caught a RICO case.
What's also interesting is the number of fairly new players that joined the ranks after the last major prosecution. These individuals were minor players ten years ago but have matured and grown into managerial roles. This is a typical dynamic. Avenues, and lots of other neighborhoods, have an amazing capacity to reconstitute after big cases. Frankly, even this blog thought that it would take a lot longer for AVES to come back. They beat the odds and predictions and did it with impressive speed.
One curious fact emerges from the indictment. One of the major players in this case was apparently a tutor at a well-known and highly-celebrated gang intervention group in Los Angeles. This person was running dope and guns, according to the indictment at least, while working at this intervention program supposedly teaching youngsters how to stay out of the life. Chances are, there won't be any blowback for this intervention group when the details come to light during the trial. Some of these groups appear to be bulletproof to public scrutiny of questionable behavior.
Sorry to be cryptic about all this but we don't want to prejudice a potential jury or get dragged into the discovery process prior to trial. Let's see if the the Times, LA Weekly, Daily News and the rest of the gatekeepers have the cojones to cover these compelling topics.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
WHAT'S THE ROLLING STONE SMOKING?
For those who keep up with such things, the recent issue of Rolling Stone Magazine has an article on the cartels written by Guy Lawson. He's listed on the masthead as a Contributing Editor.
While there were some good things in the article, some of his assertions and conclusions were absolutely the product of bong hits.
Here's a link to my rebuttal:
http://frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=36298
In the interest of full disclosure, I contacted Rolling Stone to ask if I could submit a rebuttal but I got the usual silent treatment. I also tried the usual media outlets and they all said (rightly) that it's not their fight.
As the resounding silence on the ACORN scandal has convincingly demonstrated, the usual media is not the disseminator of news, it's the gatekeeper. It's not news, or significant, until they say it is. Remember the silence on the hate crimes and racially motivated homicides until the Federal case was filed against The Avenues in 2007. The media was able to ignore me, and others working the same stories, but it was hard to ignore the U.S. Attorney filing a major hate crimes case.
For those who keep up with such things, the recent issue of Rolling Stone Magazine has an article on the cartels written by Guy Lawson. He's listed on the masthead as a Contributing Editor.
While there were some good things in the article, some of his assertions and conclusions were absolutely the product of bong hits.
Here's a link to my rebuttal:
http://frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=36298
In the interest of full disclosure, I contacted Rolling Stone to ask if I could submit a rebuttal but I got the usual silent treatment. I also tried the usual media outlets and they all said (rightly) that it's not their fight.
As the resounding silence on the ACORN scandal has convincingly demonstrated, the usual media is not the disseminator of news, it's the gatekeeper. It's not news, or significant, until they say it is. Remember the silence on the hate crimes and racially motivated homicides until the Federal case was filed against The Avenues in 2007. The media was able to ignore me, and others working the same stories, but it was hard to ignore the U.S. Attorney filing a major hate crimes case.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
TONY V., THE MAYOR OF CHINATOWN.
In a brilliantly researched piece for the LA Times, David Zahniser directed another blowtorch at Mayor Tony V's ethically challenged administration. This time the scandal involves a wind farm and a former aide to the mayor. Here's the link.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wind15-2009sep15,0,839175.story
The usual suspects were named, the usual machinations were uncovered and the usual dissembling was articulated by the people who behave like French royalty while soaking up taxpayer billions.
It seems amazing that every time there's a questionable deal afoot, the same players seem to pop up - CIM, the DWP, mayoral aides, CALPERS, CRA-LA and various union operators.
Tony V. apparently doesn't talk to his friends who stand to make millions of dollars from city deals.
The mayor's spokesman said, "It's not part of the mayor's agenda to worry about people's private business dealings." It is apparently part of his agenda to benefit politically and otherwise when those friends make windfall profits from policies that he wants rammed down the taxpayer's throats.
Do yourself a favor and read Zahniser's piece in the Times. Then start doing Google searches for the operators involved and make up your own mind. Rational people will come to the conclusion that Tony V. is sitting on a ticking time bomb. When it goes off, enough political shrapnel will be unleashed to bury every member of the City Council, the heads of municipal employee pension funds and all the creeps that have attached themselves to schemes calculated to enrich the well-connected at the expense of tax payers.
Let's hear it for Zahniser and the LA Times. The Times doesn't always get it right. But when it does, it lives up to the very best of what newspapers are supposed to do.
Next step? Let's have Carmen Trutanich launch an investigation and muck out the stables at City Hall.
In a brilliantly researched piece for the LA Times, David Zahniser directed another blowtorch at Mayor Tony V's ethically challenged administration. This time the scandal involves a wind farm and a former aide to the mayor. Here's the link.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wind15-2009sep15,0,839175.story
The usual suspects were named, the usual machinations were uncovered and the usual dissembling was articulated by the people who behave like French royalty while soaking up taxpayer billions.
It seems amazing that every time there's a questionable deal afoot, the same players seem to pop up - CIM, the DWP, mayoral aides, CALPERS, CRA-LA and various union operators.
Tony V. apparently doesn't talk to his friends who stand to make millions of dollars from city deals.
The mayor's spokesman said, "It's not part of the mayor's agenda to worry about people's private business dealings." It is apparently part of his agenda to benefit politically and otherwise when those friends make windfall profits from policies that he wants rammed down the taxpayer's throats.
Do yourself a favor and read Zahniser's piece in the Times. Then start doing Google searches for the operators involved and make up your own mind. Rational people will come to the conclusion that Tony V. is sitting on a ticking time bomb. When it goes off, enough political shrapnel will be unleashed to bury every member of the City Council, the heads of municipal employee pension funds and all the creeps that have attached themselves to schemes calculated to enrich the well-connected at the expense of tax payers.
Let's hear it for Zahniser and the LA Times. The Times doesn't always get it right. But when it does, it lives up to the very best of what newspapers are supposed to do.
Next step? Let's have Carmen Trutanich launch an investigation and muck out the stables at City Hall.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
PROFILING WORKS.
Based on past experience, you'd think that the administration and teaching staff at UC Berkeley would be blowing a gasket right about now. Two of their campus cops, both females, profiled the hell out of Philip Garrido and his two daughters when Garrido walked in to organize a lecture he wanted to inflict on the campus.
The two cops said that the girls appeared "robotic" and Garrido "didn't settle right with me." The two cops have obviously never taken a sensitivity class or been taught that being "judgmental" is anathema in a Progressive society. They were being cops. And they should be applauded for using gut instincts to ferret out a sick pervert.
Across academia, professors teach their captive audiences that profiling, especially when it comes to Middle Eastern terrorists, "doesn't work." They know this as an article of faith, the same way that Medeival "scholars" knew that witches float when you put them in water.
You'll notice that cops don't rush out to find the nearest Race, Class and Gender professor when they need to debrief a Sammy Gravano. The reason is that tenured professors live in the surreal world where no one can ever know anything with certitude. Their world is so complex and nuanced that they can back themselves into an epistemological corner, paralyzed to the point of moral and physical atrophy.
Based on past experience, you'd think that the administration and teaching staff at UC Berkeley would be blowing a gasket right about now. Two of their campus cops, both females, profiled the hell out of Philip Garrido and his two daughters when Garrido walked in to organize a lecture he wanted to inflict on the campus.
The two cops said that the girls appeared "robotic" and Garrido "didn't settle right with me." The two cops have obviously never taken a sensitivity class or been taught that being "judgmental" is anathema in a Progressive society. They were being cops. And they should be applauded for using gut instincts to ferret out a sick pervert.
Across academia, professors teach their captive audiences that profiling, especially when it comes to Middle Eastern terrorists, "doesn't work." They know this as an article of faith, the same way that Medeival "scholars" knew that witches float when you put them in water.
You'll notice that cops don't rush out to find the nearest Race, Class and Gender professor when they need to debrief a Sammy Gravano. The reason is that tenured professors live in the surreal world where no one can ever know anything with certitude. Their world is so complex and nuanced that they can back themselves into an epistemological corner, paralyzed to the point of moral and physical atrophy.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
THIS TIME WE'LL GET IT RIGHT. SERIOUSLY. WE MEAN IT.
Once again politicians are reinforcing defeat. According to today's L.A. Daily News, Tony Cardenas and Maxine Waters announced a new bill (H.R. 3526) to "professionalize" gang intervention work and make an effort to make sure that taxpayer money isn't being skimmed, stolen or wasted.
You can set your watch by these periodic announcements that "this time, we'll get it right." The new bill comes on the heels of news that some intervention workers have been rolled up in criminal investigations. In the past few years we've had Hector "Big Weasel" Marroquin and his children, Mario Corona, Marlon "Bow Wow" Jones and Alex Sanchez as poster boys for what can go wrong with gang workers.
If we go back into deep history, that list of violators gets very long indeed.
We haven't heard exactly how this new bill will be any better than the dozens of bills previously passed. The most curious sentence in the Daily News story is, "The congresswoman (Waters) said her bill will use Rodriguez's Valley-based Communities in Schools program as a model for other cities." If you recall, Mario "Big Spyder" Corona was a Communities in Schools intervention worker when he was caught with a pound of meth in 2007. The question is, how bad are the other programs if this is the one they picked as a model?
No doubt, this blog will be accused, (yet again) of throwing all gangsters in the "no hope" category and left to survive on their own. For the record, I absolutely believe in redemption. I have to believe it because I've seen it too many times for it not to be a reality. My main objection is the spending of taxpayer money on these programs. As with most government programs, once they're up and running, and they develop a constituency, and there's a bureaucracy in place whose purpose will dissolve if the programs go away, it's almost impossible to pull the plug. If a program is de-funded, the losers are the most protected and coddled sector of the population - government workers.
My objection would be pointless if these programs were hugely successful. But they're not. The Advancement Project studied these programs for a year and couldn't find a single gang member who walked away from the life. This new bill is nothing less than an admission that the programs don't work. So the answer, according to Waters and Cardenas, is to continue to spend money on them.
Let's do something radical. Let's get some private funding from Tom Hayden, Bill Gates, Ed Asner, The Ford Foundation, The Annenberg Trust, The Pacifica Foundation and other activist groups. Let them create the model, fund it and run it. If they can make it work, I'd have no objection to matching private money with taxpayer money.
Once again politicians are reinforcing defeat. According to today's L.A. Daily News, Tony Cardenas and Maxine Waters announced a new bill (H.R. 3526) to "professionalize" gang intervention work and make an effort to make sure that taxpayer money isn't being skimmed, stolen or wasted.
You can set your watch by these periodic announcements that "this time, we'll get it right." The new bill comes on the heels of news that some intervention workers have been rolled up in criminal investigations. In the past few years we've had Hector "Big Weasel" Marroquin and his children, Mario Corona, Marlon "Bow Wow" Jones and Alex Sanchez as poster boys for what can go wrong with gang workers.
If we go back into deep history, that list of violators gets very long indeed.
We haven't heard exactly how this new bill will be any better than the dozens of bills previously passed. The most curious sentence in the Daily News story is, "The congresswoman (Waters) said her bill will use Rodriguez's Valley-based Communities in Schools program as a model for other cities." If you recall, Mario "Big Spyder" Corona was a Communities in Schools intervention worker when he was caught with a pound of meth in 2007. The question is, how bad are the other programs if this is the one they picked as a model?
No doubt, this blog will be accused, (yet again) of throwing all gangsters in the "no hope" category and left to survive on their own. For the record, I absolutely believe in redemption. I have to believe it because I've seen it too many times for it not to be a reality. My main objection is the spending of taxpayer money on these programs. As with most government programs, once they're up and running, and they develop a constituency, and there's a bureaucracy in place whose purpose will dissolve if the programs go away, it's almost impossible to pull the plug. If a program is de-funded, the losers are the most protected and coddled sector of the population - government workers.
My objection would be pointless if these programs were hugely successful. But they're not. The Advancement Project studied these programs for a year and couldn't find a single gang member who walked away from the life. This new bill is nothing less than an admission that the programs don't work. So the answer, according to Waters and Cardenas, is to continue to spend money on them.
Let's do something radical. Let's get some private funding from Tom Hayden, Bill Gates, Ed Asner, The Ford Foundation, The Annenberg Trust, The Pacifica Foundation and other activist groups. Let them create the model, fund it and run it. If they can make it work, I'd have no objection to matching private money with taxpayer money.
Monday, September 29, 2008
MENDOZA BOOK.
Clearly there's interest out there for more information. I've gotten numerous emails inquiring on the availability of Mundo Mendoza's CD autobiography, "From Altar Boy to Hit Man." The only place I know for sure that has it is the following.
Ken Whitley & Associates
P.O. Box 2623
Corona, CA 92878-2623
There's no phone number available but the cost is $22 per CD. That includes shipping. Make the check payable to Ken Whitley & Associates. I'm told it takes two to three weeks for delivery. Like Blatchford's book, this one is a must have for the library.
Clearly there's interest out there for more information. I've gotten numerous emails inquiring on the availability of Mundo Mendoza's CD autobiography, "From Altar Boy to Hit Man." The only place I know for sure that has it is the following.
Ken Whitley & Associates
P.O. Box 2623
Corona, CA 92878-2623
There's no phone number available but the cost is $22 per CD. That includes shipping. Make the check payable to Ken Whitley & Associates. I'm told it takes two to three weeks for delivery. Like Blatchford's book, this one is a must have for the library.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
ENRIQUEZ BOOK A GREAT ADDITION.
TV journalist Chris Blatchford's long awaited book on Rene Enriquez is finally out and it's an awesome read. Second only to Raymond Mendoza's CD autobiography, The Black Hand is the best look we've had so far into the workings of the mob, the vertical integration of the mob with street gangs, Eme and CDC politics and some insight on how the mob can play prison reformers and politicians into actually advancing the mob's agenda.
If you've ever heard Enriquez speak (he was on the Glenn Beck show last week with Blatchford, albeit on the phone) you'll get a dose of cognitive dissonance. He sounds thoughtful, he's clearly bright and presents an image totally out of character to what his life's been about for the past few decades. This is not a knuckle dragging thug. Blatchford keeps himself totally out of the narrative and allows Enriquez' conflicted and sometimes tortured personality to come through.
For the serious student of this subject, it's all there - who stabbed who in what yard and what was behind it, who's the stone killer, the paranoid schemer, dirtbag manipulator - names are named and events chronicled. While there's the inevitable morbid fascination with all this, the violence in the book isn't gratiutous. It's not there for shock value or to sell more books. Violence and murder are, after all, the mob's mechanisms of control and influence. To leave that stuff out - - as earlier books about the Panthers and other criminal groups have done -- is to miss the central point.
In contrast to a book like "Monster," Enriquez doesn't weasel around like Cody Scott who blames his actions on some imaginary "Amerika" that "made" him a criminal. Enriquez, and for that matter most emeros who have expressed opinions on the subject, cops to the fact that he was a criminal, proud of if when he was active, and doesn't try to lay off the blame on anyone or anything. In fact, he credits his parents for trying from the very beginning of his criminal career to get him pointed in the right direction. And they never abandoned him even when he was buried in the SHU.
When it first became common knowledge that Rene had dropped out and was actually willing to testify against his former brothers in court, close observers marked his departure as a milestone event in the mob's history. In the mob world, Rene's defection and redemption is on the same Richter magnitude as Aldrich Ames, Kim Philby or Robert Hanssen in the spy biz. Now we have the book that documents his steps from high ranking shot caller to drop out/informant. For the student of the subject, this book is a no brainer for acquisition. You just gotta have it in the library if you're going to speak with authority on the subject. For cops, correctional officers and prosecutors, the book is invaluable for doing the job. The people who should be forced to read this book, or have it read to them while jetting around the country or riding in the back of chaufered limos are the politicians and policy makers. Policy decisions and laws cannot and should not be made based on information filtered through staff panels, social scientists, mis-informed or biased "advocates, " or groups who have a financial interest in the outcome of policies.
Speaking from personal experience, you don't make a lot of money writing this type of book. Blatchford and Enriquez collaborated on this book for reasons that have nothing to do with making a few bucks. There are lessons in this book that need to be drilled into heads -- young and old ones, shaved, grey or what have you. There are of readers of this site that are either smack in the middle of the life, dabbling at the fringe of it, know people who are heading there or are trying to come back from it. Buy a copy for yourself and one for somebody you care about. Then talk about it. And never stop talking about it until the subject of your concern gets the message.
Despite his clearly genuine change of heart and thorough redemption, Rene Enriquez will spend the rest of his life in prison. That's just the way the world works. As he states in the book, he "wasted" his life pursuing false gods and corrupt ideals. In or out of prison, society will never have anything to fear from him. The saddest and most tragic idea to ponder is "what if." Talented, bright and energetic, what if he'd gone another direction? That's a question that will never be answered for him. But for tens of thousands of young blue-wearing soldiers, there's still a chance to exercise the "what if" option.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
MEXICO OUT OF CONTROL.
As if we needed any reminder that Mexico is about to achieve critical mass, here comes another story of multiple beheadings. Click on the link for the details.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4636533.ece
The Zs carved into the victims is the mark of the Zetas. Look it up if you're not familiar with that group. It's becoming clear that Mexico is a far more dangerous place than Iraq or Afghanistan if you're cop, citizen or a tourist. While the war it the Middle East seems to get the bulk of attention from politicians and the media, the homicide rates, kidnappings and general lawlessness in certain parts of Mexico make our troop presence in the Stans appear like a minor police action.
Unfortunately, the dope wars, violence and all the collateral problems that come with it are not longer confined to south of the border. Hospitals in Texas border towns are compelled to accept the all too frequent gunshot victims driven at high speed from Mexico. When that happens, local Texas cops have to drop what they're doing and create a cordon sanitaire around the hospital to prevent follow-up homicides. As reported in Mexican media, cartel operators will often follow an ambulance bearing their victims to the hospital and finish the job with high velocity lead right there in the operating or recovery rooms. And recently, there was the not well reported incident where rogue Mexican Army soldiers invaded a rival drug house in Phoenix, Arizona. The soldiers, armed with full auto weapons, were preparing an ambush for responding Phoenix coppers but luckily for the cops, the army dudes didn't bring enough ammo. They ran dry shooting up the house.
There have also been two cases of corrupt Mexican Army officers arrested here in the U.S. where they were living in safe houses. I was recently sent some unpublished photos of the aftermath of the big Tijuana shootout between Mexican Federal Police and some cartel shooters. At least two of the cartel guys appeared to have been shot in their vehicles while trying to blast their way out of the perimeter. It's interesting to note that both vehicles wore California license plates. That's a fairly clear indication that the cartels are operating freely on both sides of the fence and probably have allies they can count on to run whatever business needs to be run.
All the indicators are pointing to some troubling times ahead for local and Federal U.S. law enforcement.
As if we needed any reminder that Mexico is about to achieve critical mass, here comes another story of multiple beheadings. Click on the link for the details.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4636533.ece
The Zs carved into the victims is the mark of the Zetas. Look it up if you're not familiar with that group. It's becoming clear that Mexico is a far more dangerous place than Iraq or Afghanistan if you're cop, citizen or a tourist. While the war it the Middle East seems to get the bulk of attention from politicians and the media, the homicide rates, kidnappings and general lawlessness in certain parts of Mexico make our troop presence in the Stans appear like a minor police action.
Unfortunately, the dope wars, violence and all the collateral problems that come with it are not longer confined to south of the border. Hospitals in Texas border towns are compelled to accept the all too frequent gunshot victims driven at high speed from Mexico. When that happens, local Texas cops have to drop what they're doing and create a cordon sanitaire around the hospital to prevent follow-up homicides. As reported in Mexican media, cartel operators will often follow an ambulance bearing their victims to the hospital and finish the job with high velocity lead right there in the operating or recovery rooms. And recently, there was the not well reported incident where rogue Mexican Army soldiers invaded a rival drug house in Phoenix, Arizona. The soldiers, armed with full auto weapons, were preparing an ambush for responding Phoenix coppers but luckily for the cops, the army dudes didn't bring enough ammo. They ran dry shooting up the house.
There have also been two cases of corrupt Mexican Army officers arrested here in the U.S. where they were living in safe houses. I was recently sent some unpublished photos of the aftermath of the big Tijuana shootout between Mexican Federal Police and some cartel shooters. At least two of the cartel guys appeared to have been shot in their vehicles while trying to blast their way out of the perimeter. It's interesting to note that both vehicles wore California license plates. That's a fairly clear indication that the cartels are operating freely on both sides of the fence and probably have allies they can count on to run whatever business needs to be run.
All the indicators are pointing to some troubling times ahead for local and Federal U.S. law enforcement.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
KNOCK IT OFF, WHOEVER YOU ARE.
I've been alerted that some assbite is trolling the web, leaving idiotic comments and linking back to this site in an effort to discredit me. Be advised it's not working. This person is laboring under the illusion that the rest of the world is as stupid and gullible as he or she is. I urge you to come out of that dark place where you reside, step into the light of day and grow a spine. If you have problems whose only resolution is posting lunacy, you need to cowboy up and face life square on. You'll be amazed at how liberating it can be to stand on your own feet instead of kicking others in the shins and pointing to some other guy and saying, "he did it." Your vessel is empty. You'll never feel good about yourself by sucking others into your void.
I've been alerted that some assbite is trolling the web, leaving idiotic comments and linking back to this site in an effort to discredit me. Be advised it's not working. This person is laboring under the illusion that the rest of the world is as stupid and gullible as he or she is. I urge you to come out of that dark place where you reside, step into the light of day and grow a spine. If you have problems whose only resolution is posting lunacy, you need to cowboy up and face life square on. You'll be amazed at how liberating it can be to stand on your own feet instead of kicking others in the shins and pointing to some other guy and saying, "he did it." Your vessel is empty. You'll never feel good about yourself by sucking others into your void.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
ON THE RADIO
In case you missed it, yours truly was on the local air this afternoon on KPCC. The host was Patt Morrison and I was on with USA Tom O'Brien, head of the Central District of California. The ubiquitous Connie Rice joined in by phone for a short comment. The topic was the increasingly better lubricated cooperation between the DOJ and local coppers.
It should be fairly obvious to even a casual observer that the US Attorney's Office is at full throttle with regard to bringing Federal cases against local gangsters, shooters, dealers and shot callers. O'Brien, a former LAC ADA and former member of the Hard Core Gang Unit, is clearly at the front of the charge. He's a fully functioning example of what happens when you're armed with the street smarts of a local prosecutor and then granted access to the huge resources of the Federal government. For the individuals in his reticle, this is a double whammy.
Morrison touched on the history of bad cooperation between local cops and the Feds. That history, in my view at least, died with the first of the three RICO cases brought forward in 1995. Those three cases, filed in fairly rapid succession, clearly engineered the template for the subsequent task forces we've seen in the years since.
I expressed some fears in my book that government entities have a disturbing habit of periodically re-inventing the wheel. In the past, there seemed to be no baton passing from one regime to the next. There was no corporate memory and every time they opened the gate on a new task force, it was like they never did it before. That dynamic is apparently no longer in effect. Since those first RICO cases, we've got a new FBI head, new USA, new LAPD and LASD chiefs and most of the foot soldiers and street cops have retired or moved on to other assignments. Despite this new cast of characters, the old cast must have left a sufficiently robust legacy of cooperation because the recent TFs are operating with remarkable speed and efficiency.
One interesting development is that the current Federal net is more capacious. In the past, the various task forces targeted the high level shot callers, picking only the choicest fruit for prosecution. Under the new regime, as evidenced by the 70 or so individuals named in the Drew Street indictment, the USA is drilling deeper. Apparently, the DOJ is no longer satisfied picking off the shot callers. They're going after everybody in a particular organization -- shot callers, associates, tax collectors, third part information passers and low level dealers. Basically, anybody who knowingly participates in any capacity in the chain has become a legitimate target for RICO prosecution. They're not just going in to cut the head off the snake. The current MO seems to be to grab the whole animal.
What this means is that even if you're marginally involved in the decision-making process or even if you're not at all involved and just slanging, driving, looking out or passing intel, in the eyes of the RICO statutes, you're liable for major time. So instead of a few years in Corcoran or Q, you're likely to land in Colorado, Florida or Illinois for decades.
I remember writing some time back that the eye of Sauron was gazing hard in all directions. I'll make another film analogy. Think Soylent Green. Remember the front loaders scooping up people on the street? Think front loader.
In case you missed it, yours truly was on the local air this afternoon on KPCC. The host was Patt Morrison and I was on with USA Tom O'Brien, head of the Central District of California. The ubiquitous Connie Rice joined in by phone for a short comment. The topic was the increasingly better lubricated cooperation between the DOJ and local coppers.
It should be fairly obvious to even a casual observer that the US Attorney's Office is at full throttle with regard to bringing Federal cases against local gangsters, shooters, dealers and shot callers. O'Brien, a former LAC ADA and former member of the Hard Core Gang Unit, is clearly at the front of the charge. He's a fully functioning example of what happens when you're armed with the street smarts of a local prosecutor and then granted access to the huge resources of the Federal government. For the individuals in his reticle, this is a double whammy.
Morrison touched on the history of bad cooperation between local cops and the Feds. That history, in my view at least, died with the first of the three RICO cases brought forward in 1995. Those three cases, filed in fairly rapid succession, clearly engineered the template for the subsequent task forces we've seen in the years since.
I expressed some fears in my book that government entities have a disturbing habit of periodically re-inventing the wheel. In the past, there seemed to be no baton passing from one regime to the next. There was no corporate memory and every time they opened the gate on a new task force, it was like they never did it before. That dynamic is apparently no longer in effect. Since those first RICO cases, we've got a new FBI head, new USA, new LAPD and LASD chiefs and most of the foot soldiers and street cops have retired or moved on to other assignments. Despite this new cast of characters, the old cast must have left a sufficiently robust legacy of cooperation because the recent TFs are operating with remarkable speed and efficiency.
One interesting development is that the current Federal net is more capacious. In the past, the various task forces targeted the high level shot callers, picking only the choicest fruit for prosecution. Under the new regime, as evidenced by the 70 or so individuals named in the Drew Street indictment, the USA is drilling deeper. Apparently, the DOJ is no longer satisfied picking off the shot callers. They're going after everybody in a particular organization -- shot callers, associates, tax collectors, third part information passers and low level dealers. Basically, anybody who knowingly participates in any capacity in the chain has become a legitimate target for RICO prosecution. They're not just going in to cut the head off the snake. The current MO seems to be to grab the whole animal.
What this means is that even if you're marginally involved in the decision-making process or even if you're not at all involved and just slanging, driving, looking out or passing intel, in the eyes of the RICO statutes, you're liable for major time. So instead of a few years in Corcoran or Q, you're likely to land in Colorado, Florida or Illinois for decades.
I remember writing some time back that the eye of Sauron was gazing hard in all directions. I'll make another film analogy. Think Soylent Green. Remember the front loaders scooping up people on the street? Think front loader.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
NORTENO DROPOUT KILLED IN TC.
Robert "Huero" Gratton, the Norteno dropout at the center of a massive Federal RICO case against the NF was killed in a traffic collision on July 18, 2008. Diligent students of the subject will remember that the 44-year-old Gratton, a long time NF member, dropped out, flipped and testified against a legion of NF members and associates in what came to be known as Operation Black Widow.
Although he claimed to be a high ranking member, a number of law enforcement officials close to the subject believe that he pumped up his status and hadn't climb all that high up the corporate ladder. Nevertheless, he did provide sufficient valid information to send a lot of his former associates to Federal prison.
According to the scant information, Gratton was living in Palmdale. At 1:15 AM he was apparently backing up on the 14 Freeway near Aqua Dulce Canyon when he was struck from the rear by Rafael Hernandez. Hernandez only received minor injuries but Gratton was killed instantly. The CHP suspects that both drivers might have been under the influence. If we find out more, we'll let you know.
Robert "Huero" Gratton, the Norteno dropout at the center of a massive Federal RICO case against the NF was killed in a traffic collision on July 18, 2008. Diligent students of the subject will remember that the 44-year-old Gratton, a long time NF member, dropped out, flipped and testified against a legion of NF members and associates in what came to be known as Operation Black Widow.
Although he claimed to be a high ranking member, a number of law enforcement officials close to the subject believe that he pumped up his status and hadn't climb all that high up the corporate ladder. Nevertheless, he did provide sufficient valid information to send a lot of his former associates to Federal prison.
According to the scant information, Gratton was living in Palmdale. At 1:15 AM he was apparently backing up on the 14 Freeway near Aqua Dulce Canyon when he was struck from the rear by Rafael Hernandez. Hernandez only received minor injuries but Gratton was killed instantly. The CHP suspects that both drivers might have been under the influence. If we find out more, we'll let you know.
Friday, January 18, 2008
I NOW OFFICIALLY HAVE A STALKER.
It appears someone using my names Wally Fay (screen) and Tony Rafael (print) is posting comments on the Mayor Sam website (possibly other places) and trying to make me look like a racist goon. I was just made aware of this and the person who runs that site has promised to delete all comments coming from anyone using those names. I guess you don't need to be as visible as Brad Pitt or Madonna to attract stalkers. And, just like those two, I'll go to the legal mat if required. Will it be necessary to file suit? To paraphrase Claude Rains in Casablanca, "I'm afraid Colonel Strasser will insist." In this case, it's my publisher that will insist.
And just so you know, I'll be kept from posting until at least Feb. 4. Other projects cooking.
It appears someone using my names Wally Fay (screen) and Tony Rafael (print) is posting comments on the Mayor Sam website (possibly other places) and trying to make me look like a racist goon. I was just made aware of this and the person who runs that site has promised to delete all comments coming from anyone using those names. I guess you don't need to be as visible as Brad Pitt or Madonna to attract stalkers. And, just like those two, I'll go to the legal mat if required. Will it be necessary to file suit? To paraphrase Claude Rains in Casablanca, "I'm afraid Colonel Strasser will insist." In this case, it's my publisher that will insist.
And just so you know, I'll be kept from posting until at least Feb. 4. Other projects cooking.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
YEAH, THIS IS TERRORISM.
I've always been cautious about using the T word. And I'll still refrain from applying it to U.S. based street gangs and their associates in organized criminal enterprises. But what's happening south of the border absolutely qualifies as terrorism.
The difference between us and them isn't subtle. Criminal gangs and organized groups in the U.S. generally speaking are not trying to change institutions like LE agencies, the media and the authorized civilian authorities. There are exceptions like Cudahy that still need to be addressed.
The latest proof of the criminal cartels' intent of literally destroying civilian authority is the machine gunning of Tecate's recently appointed deputy chief of police, Jose Juan Soriano Pereira. He was shot fifty times while asleep in bed next to his wife. This is just one more step in Mexico's suicide spiral into total anarchy. When a dope dealer kills another dealer, it's just business. When they start killing cops, newspaper editors and writers, priests and entire families it's not just business anymore. It's an attempt to destabilize the entire edifice of civil order.
There are parts of Mexico where the local government is the drug cartel and no cop or politician who wants to remain breathing will do anything to stop it. The few that do end up like Soriano.
With our sieve-like border, it's only a matter of time before border towns on the U.S. side fall under the unchecked influence of the cartel terrorists. Twenty years ago, nobody would have imagined that the cartels would have their own highly-trained, well-funded and extremely well-armed military wing. By poking at the problem with a stick for twenty years, we now have the Zetas who are nothing less than the security and assassination arm of the cartels.
While we're sweating the small stuff like whether shooting a smuggler in the ass is out of LE policy, the cartels see it as weakness. They can't believe their good luck that this is what grabs headlines in the U.S. and what politicians spend their days worrying about. Severed heads rolled out onto a crowded dance floor? No outrage here. A Texas TV station ordering its reporters not to do any more stories on the cartels for fear of having their station bombed? No outrage from fellow journalists in less dangerous parts of the country.
When Tijuana Police Chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez was assassinated in 2000, Senator Dianne Feinstein issued a press release deploring the murder and that "We must bring these criminals to justice." This time around, the latest press release from her office deals with the pressing problem of global warming. We're taking our eye off the ball.
If we keep poking the problem with a stick, twenty years from now, we'll be looking back at 2007 as the time when things weren't so bad and fondly recall the days when all we had to worry about were streets and prison gangs.
I've always been cautious about using the T word. And I'll still refrain from applying it to U.S. based street gangs and their associates in organized criminal enterprises. But what's happening south of the border absolutely qualifies as terrorism.
The difference between us and them isn't subtle. Criminal gangs and organized groups in the U.S. generally speaking are not trying to change institutions like LE agencies, the media and the authorized civilian authorities. There are exceptions like Cudahy that still need to be addressed.
The latest proof of the criminal cartels' intent of literally destroying civilian authority is the machine gunning of Tecate's recently appointed deputy chief of police, Jose Juan Soriano Pereira. He was shot fifty times while asleep in bed next to his wife. This is just one more step in Mexico's suicide spiral into total anarchy. When a dope dealer kills another dealer, it's just business. When they start killing cops, newspaper editors and writers, priests and entire families it's not just business anymore. It's an attempt to destabilize the entire edifice of civil order.
There are parts of Mexico where the local government is the drug cartel and no cop or politician who wants to remain breathing will do anything to stop it. The few that do end up like Soriano.
With our sieve-like border, it's only a matter of time before border towns on the U.S. side fall under the unchecked influence of the cartel terrorists. Twenty years ago, nobody would have imagined that the cartels would have their own highly-trained, well-funded and extremely well-armed military wing. By poking at the problem with a stick for twenty years, we now have the Zetas who are nothing less than the security and assassination arm of the cartels.
While we're sweating the small stuff like whether shooting a smuggler in the ass is out of LE policy, the cartels see it as weakness. They can't believe their good luck that this is what grabs headlines in the U.S. and what politicians spend their days worrying about. Severed heads rolled out onto a crowded dance floor? No outrage here. A Texas TV station ordering its reporters not to do any more stories on the cartels for fear of having their station bombed? No outrage from fellow journalists in less dangerous parts of the country.
When Tijuana Police Chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez was assassinated in 2000, Senator Dianne Feinstein issued a press release deploring the murder and that "We must bring these criminals to justice." This time around, the latest press release from her office deals with the pressing problem of global warming. We're taking our eye off the ball.
If we keep poking the problem with a stick, twenty years from now, we'll be looking back at 2007 as the time when things weren't so bad and fondly recall the days when all we had to worry about were streets and prison gangs.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
YAGMAN GETS THREE YEARS.
Stephen Yagman, the attorney who claimed he didn't know it was illegal to not pay taxes, got three years in a Federal prison and two years of supervised release once he serves the time. As his case proved, Yagman put his money and house in his girlfriend's name, claimed he was broke and then filed for bankruptcy. During the penalty phase, this paragon of morality and cop-baiting ambulance chaser claimed the government went after him because of his years of bringing cases against the LAPD's SIS and the US government over the Gitmo prisoners. Then, talking out of the other side of his mouth, his lawyer apparently told the judge that due to his "experience" in trying to defraud the government out of tax money, Yagman should be allowed to teach ethics in a law school. Who better to teach ethics than someone who tramples them? So on the one hand he's innocent but on the other, he's suffiently familiar with ethics violations that he should teach a class. Using that logic, Yagman would no doubt endorse sentencing Sheriff Carona to a tenured professorship at the Orange County Sheriff's Academy teaching - what else - how to be an honest cop.
Stephen Yagman, the attorney who claimed he didn't know it was illegal to not pay taxes, got three years in a Federal prison and two years of supervised release once he serves the time. As his case proved, Yagman put his money and house in his girlfriend's name, claimed he was broke and then filed for bankruptcy. During the penalty phase, this paragon of morality and cop-baiting ambulance chaser claimed the government went after him because of his years of bringing cases against the LAPD's SIS and the US government over the Gitmo prisoners. Then, talking out of the other side of his mouth, his lawyer apparently told the judge that due to his "experience" in trying to defraud the government out of tax money, Yagman should be allowed to teach ethics in a law school. Who better to teach ethics than someone who tramples them? So on the one hand he's innocent but on the other, he's suffiently familiar with ethics violations that he should teach a class. Using that logic, Yagman would no doubt endorse sentencing Sheriff Carona to a tenured professorship at the Orange County Sheriff's Academy teaching - what else - how to be an honest cop.
Friday, November 16, 2007
THE YEAR OF THE RICO.
This year has to be some kind of record for Federal gang prosecutions. Following on the heels of the F13 and 18th Street indictments we now have a major MS-13 case dropping. The entity behind the MS-13 case is the Metropolitan Task on Violent Crime, a group we haven't seen officially credited with an investigation in a very long time. This was the same group, but clearly different people, that put together the three big Eme RICO cases in the mid and late 1990s. The guy behind all these indictments is US Attorney Tom O'Brien who without question qualifies for a cape and utility belt. For the completists, O'Brien was briefly in charge of prosecuting the four Avenues shooters who killed Chris Bowser, Tony Prudhomme and Kenny Wilson in Highland Park. He promoted up and the court phase of the case went to Alex Bustamante and Barbara Bernstein.
Putting together these Federal/local PD task forces is remarkably cheap in the overall picture of law enforcement spending. The way these things work is that local cops assigned to the task forces are paid their usual salary by their departments and the Federal authorities pay for overtime, cars, equipment etc. This task force also had the cooperation of Salvadoran cops working right here in LA. Accordng to Chief Bratton, the MS-13 task force worked flawlessly. In the US Attorney's press release, Bratton once again stated that gangs are the "number one problem facing our city."
Ironically, the cost of paying public defenders will probably dwarf the cost of the investigation and prosecution. In the F13 case alone, each of the 102 named defendants will no doubt have his own lawyer. String that out over the two years or so the case will last and you can see how the public cash register will start smoking.
After 9/11, there was apprenhension among local cops and pols that the Federales would divert all their resources to fighting the terrorists among us, especially here in LA. As these cases have demonstrated, when the political will is in place, the government can walk and chew gum at the same time.
This year has to be some kind of record for Federal gang prosecutions. Following on the heels of the F13 and 18th Street indictments we now have a major MS-13 case dropping. The entity behind the MS-13 case is the Metropolitan Task on Violent Crime, a group we haven't seen officially credited with an investigation in a very long time. This was the same group, but clearly different people, that put together the three big Eme RICO cases in the mid and late 1990s. The guy behind all these indictments is US Attorney Tom O'Brien who without question qualifies for a cape and utility belt. For the completists, O'Brien was briefly in charge of prosecuting the four Avenues shooters who killed Chris Bowser, Tony Prudhomme and Kenny Wilson in Highland Park. He promoted up and the court phase of the case went to Alex Bustamante and Barbara Bernstein.
Putting together these Federal/local PD task forces is remarkably cheap in the overall picture of law enforcement spending. The way these things work is that local cops assigned to the task forces are paid their usual salary by their departments and the Federal authorities pay for overtime, cars, equipment etc. This task force also had the cooperation of Salvadoran cops working right here in LA. Accordng to Chief Bratton, the MS-13 task force worked flawlessly. In the US Attorney's press release, Bratton once again stated that gangs are the "number one problem facing our city."
Ironically, the cost of paying public defenders will probably dwarf the cost of the investigation and prosecution. In the F13 case alone, each of the 102 named defendants will no doubt have his own lawyer. String that out over the two years or so the case will last and you can see how the public cash register will start smoking.
After 9/11, there was apprenhension among local cops and pols that the Federales would divert all their resources to fighting the terrorists among us, especially here in LA. As these cases have demonstrated, when the political will is in place, the government can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
FRANKIE B. - 1947 - 2007.
Legendary Emero Frankie "Chivo" Buelna, usually known simply as Frankie B has apparently died by the sword. It was all over Pomona from the minute it happened Tuesday night but we held off on posting it until it became official. He and another man, Enrique Sanchez were shot and killed in Characters Sports Bar on 1st Street in Pomona. Born on 9/29/1947, Buelna rose up through the ranks to hold the keys to El Monte, Pomona and Ontario. While on the street and from prison, Buelna was a key player in getting his part of the world assembled under the blue flag and fall in line with various policy innitiatives.
What's behind his killing? Too soon to say. It may be politics eating up the old-school shot callers or maybe it was a personal. We know that in the space of a week there's been a spike in shootings and assassinations in the area and those may be related. There's more to this, but we may not know for a long time. Or maybe never.
Legendary Emero Frankie "Chivo" Buelna, usually known simply as Frankie B has apparently died by the sword. It was all over Pomona from the minute it happened Tuesday night but we held off on posting it until it became official. He and another man, Enrique Sanchez were shot and killed in Characters Sports Bar on 1st Street in Pomona. Born on 9/29/1947, Buelna rose up through the ranks to hold the keys to El Monte, Pomona and Ontario. While on the street and from prison, Buelna was a key player in getting his part of the world assembled under the blue flag and fall in line with various policy innitiatives.
What's behind his killing? Too soon to say. It may be politics eating up the old-school shot callers or maybe it was a personal. We know that in the space of a week there's been a spike in shootings and assassinations in the area and those may be related. There's more to this, but we may not know for a long time. Or maybe never.
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