Free Republic

A leader of a Guatemalan drug trafficking organization was sentenced today to 23 years in prison for his participation in an international drug trafficking conspiracy, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Wendy Woolcock of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Operations Division. Waldemar Lorenzana-Lima was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in the District of Columbia following an Aug. 18, 2014, guilty plea to his participation in an international drug trafficking conspiracy.  The court also ordered Lorenzana-Lima to forfeit $50,949,000.As Lorenzana-Lima admitted in connection with his...

An attorney with the Internal Revenue Service’s professional standards office in Washington has been charged with conspiring to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, U.S. prosecutors said. Jack Vitayanon, 41, an IRS attorney since 2012 allegedly participated in a meth ring with others in Arizona and on Long Island between about September 2014 and January, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday. Public records show Vitayanon living in the U Street corridor. In the criminal complaint, prosecutors noted that during one alleged transaction, Vitayanon directed a buyer to make a cash deposit of $1,650 to...

June 12, 2013 State Department Whistleblower, a Career Foreign Service Officer, Seeks Congressional Protection After State Threatens Her Kids Bryan Preston The State Department whistleblower is Aurelia Fedenisn. She worked in the department’s inspector general’s office until her retirement in December 2012. According to USA Today, she has sought protection as an official whistleblower after the State Department directly threatened her, once at her home. It threatened her with criminal charges when she turned over documents to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) showing evidence that the department had watered down her report, in which she alleged that the department at the...

A seemingly small-time drug ring busted this week in Los Angeles was actually targeted for funding the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, the Daily News has learned. Prosecutors left out the terror tie when they announced Tuesday that federal agents and local cops had arrested a dozen people for allegedly peddling cocaine and counterfeit clothing in Bell, Calif. But several sources familiar with the investigation said the predominantly Arab-American gang was believed to have smuggled its crime cash to the Iranian-backed terror group. "This was a classic case of terrorism financing, and it was pretty sophisticated how they did it," a...

(AGI) - Novara, Italy, Oct 29 - With the emission of 42 remand orders in jail, the Novara financial police have broken a criminal Albanian organisation involved in trafficking drugs and seized over 58 kilos of cocaine, two guns, 18,000 euro and 19 cars. Another 11 people have been caught in the act and arrested around various Italian towns. The enquiry began in 2003 and has involved 14 Italian provinces as well as Belgium, Holland, Germany and Albania. It started when the Novara financial police became suspicious of the behaviour of a 34-year-old Albanian, who was immediately identified as the...

Fugitive captured in drug-ring case By Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writer Saturday, June 18, 2005 - State and federal agents arrested a fugitive in Van Nuys believed to be a high-ranking member of a transcontinental drug ring, and then seized millions of dollars' worth of drugs, guns and cash from a Woodland Hills home, officials said Friday. Tremayne Graham, 31, the former son-in-law of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, had been sought as a fugitive since November and was arrested outside a Van Nuys Subway shop at 12:45 p.m. Thursday, officials said. About six hours later, agents from several agencies served a...

Special Agent Greg Drews of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration clenched his fist in satisfaction yesterday as he walked from a Downtown hotel where Attorney General John Ashcroft had just announced the largest heroin and cocaine bust in Western Pennsylvania history. "I've worked a lot of big drug cases in my career, but this is the biggest," he said. "I really feel that this time I've made an impact." It was an attitude shared by other federal agents and local police who participated in "Operation Family Store," an investigation that broke the back of a sophisticated network that shipped more...