Drug War Issues
On opposite sides of the country, crooked cops are headed for long prison sentences, and another Atlanta narc is going to the big house. Meanwhile, a Customs and Border Protection agent in San Diego and a jail guard in the Florida panhandle get busted. Let's get to it:
In Los Angeles, a former LAPD officer was sentenced to 13 years in prison May 12 for leading a ring of corrupt cops who robbed homes while carrying out fake drug raids. Ruben Palomares, 38, admitted to leading more than 40 home invasion robberies disguised as police raids in working-class Los Angeles neighborhoods between 1999 and 2001. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deal drugs, violating the civil rights of his victims, and using a firearm during the commission of a felony. The former Ramparts Division cop is already serving six years for a San Diego conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Palomares is one of five former police officers to be convicted in the scheme. Another Palomares accomplice and former LAPD officer was sentenced Monday to 102 years in prison. William Ferguson got hammered so hard because he turned down a plea deal that involved testifying against his brother John, who was also convicted in the ring and is currently doing eight years.
[Ed: Ferguson's century-long sentence seems troubling for multiple reasons. Armed robbery is serious business, as are betraying the public trust and contributing to the public's distrust of police. But it's not like he killed someone. Not being willing to testify against another person, let one's your brother, shouldn't be reason for increasing a sentence by 89 years and a factor of eight. I wonder how much of the sentence was the drug conspiracy charges as opposed to the robberies. -DB]
In Atlanta, another Atlanta narc has been sentenced to prison in the killing of Kathryn Johnston. Atlanta Police Officer Arthur Tesler was sentenced Tuesday to four years and nine months for lying to investigators about the November 2006 drug raid that resulted in the death of the 92-year-old woman. The three officers involved in the case lied to a judge to obtain a search warrant, tried to persuade another informant to lie for them, and planted marijuana in Johnston's home after the fact. The other two have already pleaded guilty and are serving their sentences. Tesler was the only one of the three to go to trial.
In Boston, a former Boston police officer was sentenced to 26 years in prison May 16 for his leadership role in a scheme that enlisted two other Boston police officers to escort trucks filled with cocaine headed for the city. Roberto Pulido pleaded guilty in November in the middle of his trial after jurors heard tapes of more than two dozen conversations where a swaggering, swearing Pulido was recorded plotting the protection racket in a sting organized by the FBI. Pulido and fellow officers Carlos Pizarro and Nelson Carrasquillo were arrested in July 2006 after guiding a truck filled with 100 kilograms of cocaine from Western Massachusetts into the city. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and 1 kilogram of heroin and two counts of attempting to aid and abet the distribution of the cocaine. He pleaded no contest to a fourth charge of carrying a gun in a drug-trafficking crime. Pulido blamed his crimes on his steroids habit.
In San Diego, a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer was arrested last Friday on charges he conspired to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants across the border. CBP Officer Luis Francisco Alarid, 31, had worked at the Otay Mesa border crossing, across the frontier from Tijuana, Mexico. Federal investigators watched Alarid repeatedly fail to properly check vehicles coming through his inspection lane. Investigators found dozens of illegal immigrants and hundreds of pounds of marijuana that Alarid is suspected of allowing to be smuggled into the country.
In Panama City, Florida, a Washington County corrections officer was arrested May 10 while on duty for allegedly selling marijuana to inmates. Guard Ivan Duke Peters, 34, is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver, unlawful compensation, and smuggling contraband into a detention facility. Investigators had received information that Peters was smuggling in contraband in return for cash from prisoners.
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Comments
Do Crime Figures Exist On Cops?
It seems that cops have much higher than normal crime rates... and without doubt the highest recitivism rates among criminals.
I'm no psychologist but have been around nearly 5 decades and have learned alot & figured a few things out... no thanks to the purveyors of gods & gov'ts... who I strongly feel are 'more problem then solution'!
Back on subject... I've read that about 10% of society will be 'deviant in nature'. And with the plethora of perceived moral infractions that have been turned into crimes... it's no wonder there are so many 'deviants' among us.
It's also a fairly common belief that the closer a deviant comes to his prey... the more deviant the nature & frequency. Statistically, we know that homosexuals, congratulations on the recent Supreme Court ruling supporting your 'self-evident' right(s), often prey where there are impressionable young people accustomed to indoctrination... such as church & public school.
It would sound reasonable to assume than that criminals are drawn to law enforcement for similiar reasons?
Corri[t cops
What strikes me every time I read this section, is how amazingly congruent these stories are with the events attending the Volstead Act which however, was only in place for fourteen years whereas the present-day drug laws, in their various incarnations and permutations have bee nibbling away at the social fabric of almost every country on the planet for over seventy years now, give or take a year or two.
Orwell's seven drug war news stories
See the posts David Borden doesn't want you to see! Borden has censored several of the Shaffergate posts but they have been reposted at ubangi.baywords.com and discussed on suprbay.org (ubangi)
The post below will no doubt be censored by a man enamored of the first amendment.
Reflections On The Importance Of Shaffergate
Filed under: censorship
The implications of Shaffergate are immense in that they shed light on the creation of an entirely new class of drug war commissar, the anti-drug war bureaucrat. The drug war has gone on so long and there is so much money involved that this new class of goon is not above using the same devious tactics of their right wing counterpartsâ-censorship of ideas critical of their actions and infrastructureâ-to maintain their hegemony, in this case the flow of grant money.
The parallels between the two major political parties in the United States, Republican and Democrat, and drug warrior and ant-prohibition dove cannot be overstated. The illusion of a disparity in their behavior can be made i.e. non-profit drug reform groups in D.C. and elsewhere play lawn tennis with right wing zealots, meet them for drinks at the Marriott, hire sorority girls to work *for free* in the office, bringing them coffee, and at the end of the day conservatives get their prison industrial complex, non-profit drug reform groups get their grant money and minorities still get their prison cell. Quite a merry dance indeedâjust donât tell anyone the way things really work. Or you might get censored for it.
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