Posted on 01/30/2013 11:47:13 AM PST by rellimpank
. A store calling itself Fearless Distributing opened early last year on an out-of-the-way street in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood, offering designer clothes, athletic shoes, jewelry and drug paraphernalia.
Those working behind the counter, however, weren't interested in selling anything.
They were undercover agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives running a storefront sting aimed at busting criminal operations in the city by purchasing drugs and guns from felons.
But the effort to date has not snared any major dealers or taken down a gang. Instead, it resulted in a string of mistakes and failures, including an ATF military-style machine gun landing on the streets of Milwaukee and the agency having $35,000 in merchandise stolen from its store, a Journal Sentinel investigation has found.
When the 10-month operation was shut down after the burglary, agents and Milwaukee police officers who participated in the sting cleared out the store but left behind a sensitive document that listed names, vehicles and phone numbers of undercover agents.
And the agency remains locked in a battle with the building's owner, who says he is owed about $15,000 because of utility bills, holes in the walls, broken doors and damage from an overflowing toilet.
The sting resulted in charges being filed against about 30 people, most for low-level drug sales and gun possession counts. But agents had the wrong person in at least three cases. In one, they charged a man who was in prison - as a result of an earlier ATF case - at the time agents said he was selling drugs to them.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
F Troop.
Dare I say it “Bush’s Fault”.
—ping—
“F Troop.”
Exactly.
Disband the BATF(E)
Usually when the BATF screws up they just murder all the witnesses, their wives and children by shooting them or burning them to death.
F Troop didn’t go around killing innocent people or selling guns to the Indians.
and the dog.
Paging Henry Bowman
I thought this was satire.
LOL!!!!
What utter stupidity.
More like Goof Troop
BATF should be shut down and all it’s employees barred from further government employment.
I think it’s a great script for a movie....maybe with Pauly Shore as the ATF guy in charge of the store.
Can’t even operate a flush terlet?——yup-—that’s our boys!
This boondoggle was almost as bad as the fiasco at Waco, but at least in Milwaukee no one died, especially innocent women and children. Appears that perhaps the ATF should have burned down the storefront to cover their incompetence instead of setting fire to the Branch Davidians to eliminate witnesses.
Maybe on their next sting operation the ATF should employ tanks and black helicopters again just as they did at Waco. These tactics usually always work on unarmed women and children.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms—did you ever wonder how that combination ever came about. It must have originated as a tax collection enforcement agency instead of one concerned with safety of any kind. Since the feds have a Drug Enforcement Agency, why is ATF involved in drug related activities when the word drug appears nowhere in their moniker.
Bingo! ATF was created by Congress in 1934 with the National Firearms Act. The NFA did not ban "gangster weapons" like sub-machine guns and sawed off shotguns. It regulated their ownership and placed a $200.00 excise tax on them so that if "gangsters" failed to register their favorite weapons they would be subjected to Federal tax evasion charges, Federal prison time and hefty fines. Alcohol and tobacco were also subject to Federal taxes and so A&T were added to the newly created agency's oversight responsibility (dammed Yankee revenuers). ATF, (now BATFE) originally reported through the Treasury and has recently been moved to DOJ.
Since the feds have a Drug Enforcement Agency, why is ATF involved in drug related activities when the word drug appears nowhere in their moniker.
Mission Creep? Maybe they are poaching on DEA territory so they can justify pumping up their budget requests? Just another sign that the government is Way too big!
Regards,
GtG
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