Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

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Rodrigo Vallejo Mora, aka Gerber"and Servando Gómez Martínez , La Tuta , maximum leader of the Knights Templar, met to discuss the situation of the  Michoacán Government brought on by the governors health crisis in a video that surfaced.

In the 18 minute video, the eldest son of recently retired Michoacán governor, Fausto Vallejo , told the leader of Caballeros Templarios,that his father would have five organ  replacements.

La Tuta boasts that a PRI federal deputy, Alfredo Anaya Gudiño, came to him seeking his support to name Anaya as interim governor during Fausto's absence. 

La Tuta also names several Michoacán politicos who have been giving him a hard time recently, such as the Senator Luisa Maria Calderón Hinojosa, of the PAN party, and the current President of the political coordination board in San Lazaro,  and Silvano Aureoles Conejo, of the PRD.

Calderon is the former president sister,  was very vocal in naming names of political persons working in collusion and to the benefit of La Tuta. He is referring to that. Calderon suddenly became silenced before Election Day.

But Tuta says Zambrano (probably referring to national PRD party chief) “is the biggest mother fucker” of all exclaimed Tuta. Throughout the video, Tuta always sits to the left of Vallejo Rodrigo Mora, who, in turn, looks relaxed, makes jokes, laughs and drinks a Tecate beer, he refers to the others at the meeting by their first names, and gives them orders.  He is very familiar and relaxed in the meeting.

El Gerber says to La Tuta that while his father Fausto took his leave of absence, Michoacán had "three governors";  his father,  Jesús Reyna and Fausto's Chief of Staff, Guillermo Guzmán.  

Reyna was arrested  and in prison with charges of collusion with organized crime.  A video also surfaced of him at a meeting.

El Gerber says that while Fausto was in treatment, the unelected and largely unknown Guzmán was, in fact, running the state government.

Governor Vallejo moved up his travel date to the US for a medical checkup, after it was announced his son was being investigated for ties to the Templarios.  The governor left the following day.  I had predicted he would resign upon his return and cite the reasons were “medical”.  That is exactly what happened. 

However he did give an interview in which he denounced the reports that said his son was in collusion with organized crime.

Later, and no doubt due to the investigation and possible evidence that would surface, Vallejo claimed his son was kidnapped by organized crime.  He said he never reported the kidnapping because it would be pointless.  (Can't make this stuff up. )

It has long been alleged that Tuta was behind the Fuasto Vallejo campaign and election and that most of his cabinet, if not all, were tied with, and directed by Tuta.

There is no doubt who truly runs the state of Michoacán.

Update:  Gerber is at the PGR (Federal) giving his testimony, Jesús Murillo Karam attorney general of the republic  said  after the statement they will decided what to do.  I would be surprised if they do not arrest him.  
 

THOSE INDICATED DETAINED WERE ARRESTED AFTER A VIDEO SURFACED

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Updates from Tijuana

There has been no violent, cinematic aftermath in the wake of the arrest of El Inge, the fallen heir to the Arellano Felix name.  Fernando Sanchez Arellano went quietly into the night, headed for Mexico City, confirming to authorities it was Chino Antrax who killed his uncle, Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, and refusing to cooperate further.  

The plaza of Tijuana has no true owner, loose groups and cells continue to push north, control, and spill blood for  the retail drug sale zones in the city, from Zona Norte, to Rosarito.  Names float through the pages of Zeta, corridos  played on both sides of the border, and in posters hanging in the border crossings.  Sinaloa this, CAF that, Los Cabelleros Templarios, CJNG, those

who operate independently, no one knows anymore.

The bodies pile up, in the streets of Eastern Tijuana, back alleys of Rosarito, Zona Norte, Zone Centro. Duct taped hands, wrapped in twine, sheets, blankets, blindfolds, signs of torture, bullets to the head, narco messages quickly scrawled on paper cheaper then the lives of the bodies they are pinned too. Variants on a theme of death, vengeance, business, and power.  People are taken from nightclubs, shot up in restaurants, and it call continues.  The stories make the paper, or the chismes whispered in Tijuana, and shouted in San Diego.  

Plaza bosses get executed for not leaving the city in a timely fashion, Inge goes down, La Rana comes back, no one knows anything.  Three men are found executed in a van, left running.  No one knows, but everybody does.

 The brothers of El Mono, Roberto Toscano Carlos Rodriguez, and Antonio Rodriguez, El Shrek and El Twi are arrested with guns and drugs.  El Mono is Luis Manuel Toscano, CAF's longtime strong hand in the Zona Norte, who has survived assassination attempts, and multiple arrests.  The drugs are sold as usual in bars like Hong Kong, where the sex trade thrives, and in nameless, faceless tienditas lining the streets, vendors old and young sell their wares, tiendero's sell theirs.

An alleged high ranking Caballeros Templarios leader is arrested in Playas de Tijuana, amidst reports of  masked gunmen checking cars as they entered the area.  Juan Carlos Alamaza Mendoza 'El Pillo', on the run from Michoacan, was hiding as a contractor, since late last year.  Allegedly he was planning to organize a cell in the city, his time in the city was financed by CT upper management.   Two months or so back, a man was found murdered with a note mocking the Michocanos who don't pay their piso.  

El Wacho and El Tavo are arrested in a Taxi Libre, carrying 10 wraps of heroin and a revolver, allegedly en route to kill El Danny, on the orders of La Rana.  The names are almost irrelevant, the drug addled pistoleros do not know why they kill, or whom they kill for, only who to kill.

  A large picture is not usually realized by those who kill and die in the war for Tijuana's retailed rug trade.  It is barely realized by us.  We can compile the names of the killed, or the killers, the make and model of the car, carefully count the amount of drugs and the way they are packaged, the markings on the kilos, the wraps on the bales, it's only tenuously real to us.  Only real to the ones whose husbands don't come home, or whose children are killed, brothers and sisters separated, high caliber weapon shells and toast of blood and whiskey, welcome to Tijuana. 

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, AFN Tijuana

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by Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Servando Gomez Martinez, "La Tuta", is once again reaching out to the public to share his woes.  His beef this time is with the  former Buenavista autodefensa group.

The former group known as "H3" is the most controversial autodefensa group, as many in  the group were made up of so called "former" Templarios. Many are now "Rurales" working for the government.

Luis Antonio Torres, aka El Americano, was the Leader/Coordinator of Buenavista (H3) including all the communities in Buenavista.

Originally, autodefensas labeled each group who raise arms with a "H" and a sequential number.  H1 was La Ruana, headed by Hipolito Mora.

In the video Tuta asserts that members of the Buenavista "community police", owe "The Company" (Caballeros Templarios) a large amount of money

In the 51 second recording, Tuta says that, among others,  'comunitarios' (community police) such as, Luis Antonio Torres, aka "El Americano", H3, now has a leadership role in the government controlled "Rurales" group, and Adalberto Fructuoso Comparan, aka "Fruto" former mayor and founder of the Aguililla self defense forces, owe the cartel money for drugs or cash loans.

Americano  has always maintained a close personal and business relationship with the seven Sierra Santana brothers, the founders of "Los Viagras", the first splinter group of  Templarios.  After they splintered, Viagras and Tuta came to a working agreement.

Last fall a video surfaced in which Tuta is giving an ultimatum to Carlos Sierra Santana for not abiding with the conditions of the agreement encroaching on territory of Templarios.  In the video El Americano appears.

What Tuta apparently did not know at the time, is that Viagras broke their agreement with Templarios and had allied with CJNG and Mencho.  Carlos and his brother Mariano are the premier leaders of Viagras.

Viagras had discovered that Mencho had both the federal police and some former community police on the payroll allowing him to conduct business at will, that was enough to compel the brothers to jump ship.

Based out of the Huetamo area, but when they joined CJNG they began operating in  the Coastal Sur area of Guerrero.  They conduct most of the kidnapping and killing in the area and is said to take care of Mencho's "dirty work".

Dr Mireles says the Viagras are a very dangerous group, they have no loyalty and are even more brutal than Templarios.

El  Gavilan, jefe de plaza of Petacalco (CJNG), Guerrero, was recommended for the position by the Sierra Santana brothers.  Gavilan was blamed,  via a Guerrero banner, as the perpetrator of the Harry Devert kidnapping.  He and/or his lieutenant El Tigre.   Galivan hung banners disclaiming the crime.  However, the brutal crime was done, no doubt, at the direction of Mencho by either Viagras or Gavilan, or in coordination of both.

The Sierra Brothers are Godsons of El Chango Méndez, leader of La Familia Michoacana.  Some of the LFM cells are now with Los Viagras.

Self defense groups were split into two groups, one is the coastal group led by Dr Mireles.  The other group was led by Americano, Cinco and Smurf.

It was the Americano group that "allowed" reformed narcos to serve in  self defense groups.  

The coastal group of municipalities have the reputation of being clean.  It was in one of those commuities, La Mira, where  Dr Mireles, coordinator for the coastal groups, was arrested.

Purportedly, Americano now has control and operation of many of  the drug labs in Michoacan.  

When he is not fighting crime with the  Rurales, of course.

Tuta mentions yet another video,  with "Denisse Demerck", (I am sure he mean Televisa's Denise Maerker) .  In the  video, he says he speaks a little about "Fruto", " I was asked about him, and I answered I was not the person to ask, because they will say I am speaking bad about him, or to have attention drawn to him. to make him look bad for several situations that have occurred. 

He continues, "But I am going to tell you something, "La Mami", who was police in La Ruana, who owes a lot of money to the company. "

"And, he owes drugs to almost all of the boys."

"El Americano from Buenavista owes us a lot of money. "Fruto" was loaned cash. I don't know if that was the reason or whether that was the real difference with "Tena". I know that he has said he has a lot of respect for us", La Tuta points out. 

He asserts that Maerker does not dare broadcast the video because  because "She's  Televisa, one of the government networks and they don't want to expose the situation."

Several months ago, the Federal Commissioner for Safety for Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo, said that "La Tuta's" arrest would be the icing on the cake for the Federal operation that was undertaken in Michoacan.

The government official insisted Tuta's capture "would take place"..

That is yet to happen

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Federal and State Authorities identified the murderer of singer Thomas Eduardo Tovar Rasco, singer of Narcocorrido, better known as "Tito Torbellino," as Carlos Montes Pacheo, 26-year-old perpetrator of the crime, who is now himself  killed, gunned down in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora.

At a press conference,Carlos Alberto Navarro Sugich , prosecutor of the Attorney General of Sonora (PGJE), explained that the murderer of the recording artist,  was killed by an agent of the State Police Investigator (PEI).

"On July 18 in at a party in Bella Vista de Obregón, a woman was killed by Carlos Montes Pacheco, who arrived at the party in search of the woman, and subsequently gunned her down and wounded a PEI agent who arrived at the scene.  The agent shot  and killed  26-year-old Montes Pacheco, "he said.

"Having made a comparison of the person who assaulted the singer 'Tito Torbellino', against the person who assassinated  the woman,   the PGJE reports that this is the same person. To reach this conclusion we relied on evidence gathered  at both scenes by the State Attorney and the Attorney General, "said Attorney General in Sonora.

It was May 30 , when the singer was killed by  several bullets fired at close range while eating at a restaurant in Ciudad Obregon, head of the municipality of Cajeme.

When Tito was dining where several subjects arrived blocking the doors  and trapping diners to perpetrate the killing.

 
source Excelsior and Face Book

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by Chivís Martínez for Borderland Beat

Note:  I may write a follow up article, I am allowing Ann Devert to orchestrate if ,  how much ,or what is shared, with respect to further information.  I know readers will understand, it is the least that I can do for my friend.  If you are moved to send a message to Ann and her mother, please do so via comments or email, I will be sure she receives them. chivis.martinez@hushmail.com

Earlier DNA results were positive, but not as conclusive to the protocol standard required.  The forensics results that Ann was given last night was of a comprehensive 24 match DNA testing which resulted in a 99.9963% match.

Ann Devert's search ends in Mexico City where Harry's remains were transferred from Guerrero.

Her words today:
"There is no doubt this is Harry, my beloved son, Harry whose life was filled with delight, Harry whose boundless joy grew from the good times he shared with you, his friends, his companions, his allies, his heart. Harry carried each of us in his vast heart. And because there is a place for Harry in each of our own hearts, because that place is Harry's still, Harry is alive because YOU are alive. "ALIVE!, Ma!!!" he would say to me. "How great is that?!!"

"I ache from missing my son who was Life's great gift to me......"

Harry disappeared on January 25th of this year after leaving the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary  in Morelia, while traveling to Zihuatanejo,  on the Costa Grande of Guerrero.  

Zihuatanejo was a planned stop for Harry on his excursion to Brasil for the 2014 World Cup.

His visit to Zihuatanejo was prompted by the movie "Shawshank Redemption". In the movie  the  character Red, played by Morgan Freeman,  endsup  in Zihuatanejo to live out his days.  Many tourist flock to the beach because of the movie and Shawshank Beach has become the beach's second name.  The final scene of the movie is supposed to be Zihuatanejo but in reality was the Caribbean.

Harry's mother Ann traveled to Mexico in search for her son.  Staying an extended period of time, pounding the pavements, meeting with the US, and French embassy's (Harry had dual citizenship), agencies of Mexico and US, interviews with Mexican press, handed out flyers and erected a large billboard in the place where people reported "sightings".

Shortly after her return to  New York, she was notified that remains were found, in La Union Guerrero,  along with a green Yamaha motor bike which they thought to belong to Harry.  She returned to Mexico where she has been since, first in Guerrero, then to DF where the case was transferred.

It is my belief that it is because of Ann's tenacity in her search,  is what resulted in her knowing for certainty that her son was dead, and gave her the ability to take his remains back to New York.

I have not known of a case that culminated with these results.  It is a fact that when Ann arrived in Guerrero, it was not easy to forget there was a mother searching for her son Harry who disappeared riding his Yamaha. 

An anonymous caller directed authorities to the remains which were exhumed elsewhere and redeposited.  Among the belongings with Harry's remains, were fabric bracelets which he was wearing.  

Ann now is wearing Harry's bracelets.

James Stacy with his sister Ann's twins

James Stacy

There is another Ann waiting for answers in the disappearance of  her brother, James Stacy, who also disappeared on January 25th , 2014.  He was driving his truck back to the states, after visiting his long time girlfriend in San Luis Potosi.  

After a late start he was between Victoria and Matamoros when a SLP friend named Carlos,  says James  called him  saying he was fearful as men in two white trucks were following him, the friend heard gunshots before the call dropped.  Carlos supposedly tried calling James cell with no answer until 11:00PM when a man answered identifying himself as a Mexican Navy element.  The"sailor" said not to worry his friend is ok and would be released.    Carlos asked to speak to James, the speaker was activated on the cell so he could speak to James.  Carlos said he asked James if he was alright, he said he was but Carlos reports James sounded frighten.

James' bank accounts were drained and he was never heard from again.  His GMA Black Sierra was never found.  

Ann reports that her mother's health has dramatically declined over James' disappearance.   James mother wanted to travel to Tamaulipas in search of her son.  I discouraged the trip at this time due to the spike in violence outbreaks occurring at this time.

His truck license plates are Kentucky plate Number: 398KMR

The James Stacy case triggered the memories of my brother's murder, no doubt because I was communicating with a sister who has lost a brother, I could relate personally.

If you have any information regarding James Stacy disappearance please notify authorities below, or an American Embassy, alternatively, forward to me at the email address aforementioned.  Your information sent to me will remain completely anonymous.

SLP Police Report (click on any image to enlarge)

There has not been evidence found to support the story in the report or any other theory,. so I ask that  readers in SLP,  or connected with family or friends there, please spread the word and if they spot the truck to notify authorities. Nothing is ruled out, in my opinion the "facts" are suspect and if I were investigating the case I would began taking a hard look at those closest to James, beginning with Carlos. 

 If  you want to be sure to remain anonymous, send information to my email address and I will forward to the family. This is the police report translated into English:

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Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

It is unfortunate that the private life of Dr Mireles has become public fodder, it should be the business of no one.  But in this instance, it may become an important part of his legal case.  

This post began as an update of information on Dr Mireles, legal case and health. However, information became confusing as it seemed there was a power struggle that commenced between Ana Valencia Chavez, the former wife of Dr. Mireles, against everyone else in the doctors support group.

After the arrest she appeared at marches, gave speeches, gave interviews, in essence attempting to reclaim her role as Dr Mireles wife. In her speeches she said "My husband is a hero, he is not a criminal, he is Mexico's hero, he cleaned Michoacán of criminals and established peace".

She then hired an attorney for Dr Mireles, who already has a massive legal team, who are working pro-bono. When asked about Talìa Vázquez, the known spokesperson and lead attorney for Dr Mireles, Valencia dismisses her as "only a friend".

I have personal knowledge from Dr Mireles, that Talìa Vázquez is his attorney and the attorney that has always tended to any legal issues on behalf of Dr. Mireles. She is his attorney and his trusted friend. They serve on the National Autodefensa group together, "Yo Soy Autodefensa".

This was all very confusing to everyone following the case and history of the doctor. But now it is very clear what is transpiring. Ms. Valencia is using the imprisonment for personal gain. Both financial and status.  

She has created a fund "For Dr Mireles Legal Costs". Dr Mireles has made it very clear, he is not asking for, nor does he want money and has no campaign for funds. His legal team is in it for justice.

This was immediately after he was arrested that Valencia initiated her fund. 

Priscila the editor of Grillonautas News, a close friend of Dr Mireles, along with Talìa Vázquez, without  divulging Ms Valencia's name, quickly spread the news that the fund for the Doctor was not authorized nor wanted.

It was only when Ms Valencia continued her charade that they decided to precise and blunt who was behind the money request and expose that person for what she is. An informant had forwarded a secretly recorded telephone conversation with Ms Valencia that will expose her feelings about Dr. Mireles, and her lack of concern about criminal activities being conducted. She wants him dead, she says he is poor but what he has she wants.

Below is one of two videos.  I am working on the long phone coversation of Ms Valencia, this one is an interview with Talìa Vázquez, the post begins with an update on Dr Mireles legal and health status.

Hospitalized for five days

 Mireles was hospitalized for the second time, this hospitalization for  five days.  He is struggling with issues manifested from his diabetes.  He requires a specialized diet with meals at regular intervals to accommodate his three times per day injected insulin.  His attorney and wife have visited him and he is now doing well and is in his spirits.

Meanwhile, in his legal case, the hands of justice move at a snail pace if at all..  Despite the massive worldwide support for Dr Mireles, from the public at large, journalists, and social activists, the feds are not going to make simple for the autodefensa leader.  His legal team spokesman and lead  attorney,  Talia Vázquez, estimates a minimum six month ordeal for the legal process.

Legal issues

As I have previously stated, several legal preparation were created prior to his arrest, as his arrest was inevitable eventuality, that or death, the government wanted him gone one way or the other.  After his arrests complaints immediately were filed, and after formal charges,  an appeal against the detention  was initiated  by multiple attorneys from his large legal defense team. 

If that move fails, there will be an injunction to release filed  to determine if legal missteps transpired from the government with respect both to the detention and actual arrests.  This is why it was critical to involve the Human Rights Commission from the onset, to stand as a third party to document any potential  breach of  Dr Mireles legal/constitutional rights. 

Including the handling of his arrest, transfer, and incarceration.  Issues such blindfolding, cuffing and placing a hood on Dr Mireles when arrested.  A treatment I have never seen prior, including the arrests of many dangerous figures of Organized crime.  Also, transferring him 1000 miles away from his support group including his legal team, and not allowing his attorney to see him for 24 hrs, and not allowing him his medication for several days. 

I believe the injunction will be a direct Amparo, which means a direct filing to the Supreme Court.  This type of Amparo is done to prevent any interference of non judicial government agents e.g. prosecutors, police, public administrators.  

Direct Amparo applies to an act of authority that violates the constitutional guarantee of a citizen.  This may be attacked on one or both of two grounds; the unconstitutionality of the act, or the unconstitutionality of the law itself.  The supreme court has evolved into a third rule, that is confusing but is regarding judicial acts of application or administrative acts of enforcement which amounts to Amparo against laws.

Stepping forth to join the legal team is a large force of attorneys and scholars that were attendees at the first National Yo Soy Autodefensa conference held at UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico).  Dr Mireles was the keynote speaker at the event.  

Read more »

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Borderland Beat republished this article from My San Antonio 

The signs abound that the war on drugs has been reeling in more than the usual suspects, and that the battle requires some rethinking.

In Hidalgo County, nine former lawmen were recently sentenced on federal drug charges, much of this involving a police drug unit ripping off drugs and escorting cars carrying drugs. The former Hidalgo County Sheriff was just sentenced to five years for taking money from a drug trafficker.

In Balcones Heights, investigators have been trying to piece together the facts in the slaying of police officer Julian Pesina. Among the angles they are pursuing is the possibility he was affiliated with the Texas Mexican Mafia. The Balcones Heights police chief was recently removed, partly for failing to heed warnings that Pesina had this involvement. Investigators also are looking into the possibility that such recruitment isn't an isolated event, according to a recent Express-News article recently by Guillermo Contreras and Drew Joseph.

Reporting in 2013 revealed that the FBI believed the Mexican drug cartel, Los Zetas, had a deal with the Texas gang to collect debts, execute hits and traffic drugs in and through Laredo.

The possibility of even a single corrupt cop is troubling — broad recruitment by a gang affiliated with any of the powerful and rich Mexican cartels is doubly so.

Most Texas police officers are honest. But the amount of money involved in the drug trade provides an explosive variable, something Border Patrol watchdogs have long known.

A Government Accountability Office report last year revealed that 144 officers and agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had been arrested or indicted on corruption charges in the previous seven years on charges of smuggling undocumented immigrants and drugs and bribery.

The vast amount of money available to corrupt law enforcement is directly attributable to Americans' insatiable appetite for the product.

Local, state and federal authorities should be vigilant against such infiltration.

But we wonder, given the boodles of cash available, whether this also won't be a variation of the well-known exercise in this drug war of whack-a-mole.

This influx of children from Central America is fueled, in part, by drug cartel-influenced violence in their countries. One way to curtail the amount of money available is to take away the gangs' profit motive; treating drug abuse more as a public health issue, with the treatment resources to match.

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By Chivís Martínez for Borderland Beat

Canadian Drug Kingpin , Jimmy Cournoyer, with Ties to the Rizutto and Bonanno Crime Families, the Hells Angels and the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel Plead Guilty in 2013 to Narcotics Trafficking Crimes Carrying Sentence of 20 Years to Life and $1 Billion in Forfeiture.

He will discover his fate on August 20th when his sentence will be handed down. 

However, U.S. feds are now seeking a 30 year sentence, arguing that a lighter sentence would amount to little incarceration time for Cournoyer, due to the fact he has elected to spend his sentence in Canada. Canada has a very liberal probation system that would drastically cut actual time spent behind bars.  

Pointing out that Cournoyer "had a cadre of high-priced lawyers in Canada and the United States working to intimidate and threaten underlings into not cooperating with authorities. Various lawyers helped monitor several criminal cases related to Jimmy Cournoyer's massive cross-border drug trafficking network, probing for tips about investigations, warning co-conspirators against testifying and even offering 'bribes,' pay-offs and implied threats of harm to themselves or members of their families," say prosecutors.

Cournoyer feared his 1.2 million dollar Bugatli would draw attention from law enforcement

French Canadian Jimmy “Cosmo” Cournoyer was living the life Chino Antrax thinks he had.

A Canadian “narco newbie”  at the age of 21, and until his arrest at age 33, he developed a billion dollar marijuana business operating a business with associates such as the Hells Angeles, Sinaloa Cartel,  and New York’s Bonnano Crime Family while being back by Montreal’s Rizzuto mob (Vito Rizzuto below left). 

Cournoyer was part of an operation with the mafia on both sides the US/Canadian border that involved in a vast cross border trafficking that channeled Canadian ecstasy and weed to New York, then using  the profits in purchasing  Mexican cocaine, which was shipped back to Canada.

U.S. Federal prosecutor Steven Tiscione stated “the illegal narcotics distributed worldwide by members of the criminal enterprise have a retail value of more than $1 billion… conservatively.”

U.S. charges the Cournoyer network specialized in growing and distributing potent hydroponic marijuana harvested in British Columbia.. The marijuana was then transported by Hells Angeles, in motor homes and trucks, across Canada.

  

By 2009, he sent at least 1,000 pounds of hydroponic cannabis a week to New York, most of it to a Bonnano associate.

The biker gang and the Montreal mob then smuggled the marijuana from Quebec into upstate New York, where trucks delivered it to a warehouse in Brooklyn, authorities and sources said.

Cournoyer acquired his $1-billion drug empire by “gaining control over ports and customs checkpoints through a combination of covert operations and outright political corruption” and abusing “sovereign tribal lands” on First Nations’ reserves “that are almost impossible to police,” prosecutors said.

Additionally, he maintained a 2 million dollar execution fund, used to eliminate known or potential informers. 

Cournoyer was apprehended by Mexican police on Feb. 16, 2012 when he landed in Cancun for a planned vacation.

Cournoyer’s  Brazilian-Canadian model girlfriend,  Amelia Racine’s (at left) jailed brother, Mario Racine, was reported to be acting as the kingpin’s trusted lieutenant.

U.S. is seeking 800 million dollars in forfeiture

Jimmy Cournoyer indictment by ServingDope

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Proceso: Javier Sicilia*

Translated by Jorge A. Borrel-Guzman

In The Communicating Vessels of Tradition and the Return of the Sinister (Los vasos comunicantes de la tradición y el retorno de lo siniestro, Sin embargo magazine, July 9th, 2014), Tomás Calvillo makes an important and accurate determination regarding the presence and conduct in Michoacán of federal commissioner Alfredo Castillo:

“More than a figure of the republic, the commissioner resembles a royal visitor [agent] of the colonial period,” specifically “José Gálvez.

Similarly to visitor Gálvez, who was sent in 1767 by King Carlos III to Michoacán to re-establish his authority, commissioner Alfredo Castillo was instructed by Enrique Peña Nieto, in January 2014, to fulfill the same purpose. Just like Gálvez, Castillo also intends to control the rebellions that erupted in that state. 

While Gálvez tried to control the rebellions derived from the expulsion of Jesuits, Castillo tries to control those derived from the atrocities of organized crime. Just like the royal visitor, Castillo uses jail and summary judgment. Unlike Gálvez–because today it is politically incorrect–, he doesn’t apply the gallows, lashes, or exile. Instead, he applies pressure, intimidation, falsification of evidence, and authoritarianism as a mark of government.

But although Gálvez’ conduct was comprehensible –he lived in the 18th Century, the epoch of absolutist States and the absence of human rights–, Castillo’s conduct is not. His conduct, apart from being anachronistic and contrary to all republicanism, is, consequently, atrocious. 

During his nearly seven months on duty, he has not been able to re-establish the authority of the republic. On the contrary, he has made an unlawful and perverse use of it. His appointment has resulted in an authoritarian and criminal use of power, or as defined by Tomás Calvillo, sinister.

This word is accurate. It expresses the obscure, the dark, and the atrocious. The most recent evidence of this repeated behavior is the incarceration of José Manuel Mireles. Dr. Mireles, just like Hipólito Mora, was incarcerated, not because of the crimes attributed to him, which, based on the proofs provided by Mireles’ defense, are fabricated, but because of his unwillingness to align himself with such an obscure abstraction that asserts that the legitimate use of force is exclusively exercised by and under the control of the State. 

For commissioner Castillo, that’s what is important–as he appears to reduce the existence of the State to such an idea–and not the crime per se.

That is the only way to explain such things as Hipólito Mora’s liberation, the lack of investigation against former governor [Fausto] Vallejo despite the serious suspicions of his links with The Knights Templars, and against other public figures. That is the only way to explain that, despite all the military intelligence resources available to Castillo, La Tuta [head of The Knights Templar cartel] remains at large and Mireles is in jail.

Mireles’ crime is his refusal to agree with a corrupted State that has failed to re-establish the true rule of law, a failure that he has put in the public spotlight.

We don’t know if the weapons carried by Mireles’ self-defense groups–the only real crime for which he’s being charged–were provided by some drug cartel. Nobody has proved it so far. However, we know that his fight, considering the conditions of violence and corruption of the government of Michoacán, thus far is legitimate and with deep ethical grounds. There is a fine congruence between his words and his actions.

On the contrary, the commissioner, under the cover of the impunity of the State, keeps betraying his word, fabricating crimes against Mireles–weeks before his arrest, Castillo accused him of showing off with the head of a human being–, of imposing, just like a royal visitor in colonial times, an authoritarian order, of violating Michoacán’s sovereignty, and of making policy under the rule of submission or the club. His conduct, as a representative of a government that intends to restore its authority, is disgraceful.

There is no possibility of reaching agreements when political confidence and the ethics on which they should rely are built on defamation, a wrong interpretation of the purpose of the State, and the incarceration and humiliation of the moral leader of the self-defense groups. Because of this, we should ask ourselves if Peña Nieto is, in reality, an authoritarian ruler who, just like Carlos III, sent his agent to serve interests different from security, peace and justice, or if he is a president who, deceived by his government machinery, is being used against the republic.

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