City Councilman John "Duke" Franklin was arrested entered a guilty plea on Friday morning.Michael Kelley had been set to go to trial on Monday before Judge Leon Jordan of Knoxville.Instead, he entered guilty pleas to one charge of conspiracy to distribute five kilos or more of cocaine and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.Prosecutor Scott Winnie said Kelley faces 10 years to life on the first charge and up to 20 years on the second count.
Sentencing before Judge Jordan is July 6.Prosecutor Winnie said Kelley was a go-between on the delivery of money to Atlanta and shipment of large amounts of cocaine back to Chattanooga.He said Kelley would get cash from Marcus Lewis and take it to Atlanta, where he would exchange it for cocaine from Demarcus Akins. Both Lewis and Akins have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.Prosecutor Winnie said Kelley also was making some drug sales to several individuals. The prosecutor earlier said one of those who obtained cocaine from Kelley for over two years was Franklin.Franklin faced charges that he helped Kelley falsify a document relating to $69,500 of alleged drug money seized from him.
Agents stopped him on his way to Atlanta to get more drugs, they said.They said Kelley then began to work on a scheme to say that the large amount of cash was actually a loan.
Showing posts with label Atlanta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atlanta. Show all posts
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Dead body in the living room and a dead body in the den. The floor was covered with kilo wrappers [for drugs] and there was a money-counting machine
" Atlanta is like 'Miami Vice' in the 1980s," said Patrick Crosby, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Georgia. "We ship more cocaine to Florida than we get from Florida."Mexican drug cartels began setting up shop in well-established communities, in the midst of unsuspecting neighbors.
The Obama administration announced plans last week to shore up efforts along the Southwest U.S. border and send agents to Mexico to try to dismantle drug cartels responsible for thousands of murders, beheadings and kidnappings there. Meanwhile, law-enforcement officials in the U.S. are waging their own battles to crack down on drug-related crimes that have spread to cities and small towns across America.The Mexican drug cartels have set up networks in at least 230 cities, including Chicago, according to the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center.Atlanta, with its prime location for easy distribution, has become a major hub for drug trafficking by the cartels and a principal distribution center for wholesale-level cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana to the eastern United States, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said. In 2008, Atlanta led the nation with $70 million in confiscated cash, according to the DEA. That is more than double the $32 million seized in Chicago in 2008.
Mexican cartels have replaced Colombian ones as the primary distributors of cocaine, transporting drugs into the Atlanta region from California, Texas and Mexico, the DEA said. They have set up stash houses for cash and drugs in suburban and rural communities, operated by mid-level leaders who oversee multimillion-dollar operations, officials said."We are a great distribution center because you can get anywhere east of the Rockies in a day's drive," said David Nahmias, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.The cartels often set up shop in places such as Gwinnett County, where the Hispanic population has grown from 64,137 in 2000 to 132,123 in 2007, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Here, the young men who have come to America to distribute drugs blend in with the law-abiding citizens, day laborers and workers who migrated here for jobs in construction, the poultry plants and the farming industry."Money goes to the stash house normally [located] in a middle-class suburban neighborhood. It's very non-descript and you never thought it would be there in a million years," said Rodney Benson, head of the DEA's Atlanta office. "That's where the money is counted and the balance sheets are reconciled. Then it's methodically placed in heat-sealed plastic to prevent tampering, labeled and given back over to the transportation specialists whose job is to take that money across the Southwestern border to Mexico and the cartel leadership."Porter said he isn't sure how the president's incentives will help counties such as Gwinnett, where prosecutors are increasingly handling drug-related cases while being mandated to take one-day-a-month furloughs because of state budget cuts.Unlike the Colombian drug dealers known for their flashy cars and Miami Beach mansions, the Mexican traffickers prefer to conduct business quietly—until violence erupts. Local officials said they want to make sure that the vicious crimes occurring in Mexico do not make their way to their towns.Last May, authorities arrested the suspected leader of one of the most dangerous Mexican organizations, the Gulf Cartel, after authorities responded to reports of a kidnapping in his Lawrenceville neighborhood. Authorities found $7.6 million in cash and 12 kilograms of cocaine in the modest two-story home 20-year-old Edgar Rodriguez-Alejandro rented in Gwinnett County.Last week, three men pleaded guilty to holding drug dealer Oscar Reynoso hostage in the basement of a house in a middle-class neighborhood in Lilburn. Reynoso, 31, had been lured to Atlanta from Rhode Island, chained to a wall and tortured for a week because he owed the cartel $300,000, the DEA said. Reynoso also has pleaded guilty to drug charges."What we always hear from neighbors is, 'We never saw them or talked to them,' " Porter said. "They maintain the yard and keep to themselves."
"We found a dead body in the living room and a dead body in the den. The floor was covered with kilo wrappers [for drugs] and there was a money-counting machine set to count hundred-dollar bills," said Gwinnett County District Atty. Danny Porter, who spends much of his limited resources on drug-trafficking cases. "There were mattresses on the bedroom floor, a pickup in the garage and big buckets of charcoal placed throughout the house to absorb the odor of cocaine."
The Obama administration announced plans last week to shore up efforts along the Southwest U.S. border and send agents to Mexico to try to dismantle drug cartels responsible for thousands of murders, beheadings and kidnappings there. Meanwhile, law-enforcement officials in the U.S. are waging their own battles to crack down on drug-related crimes that have spread to cities and small towns across America.The Mexican drug cartels have set up networks in at least 230 cities, including Chicago, according to the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center.Atlanta, with its prime location for easy distribution, has become a major hub for drug trafficking by the cartels and a principal distribution center for wholesale-level cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana to the eastern United States, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said. In 2008, Atlanta led the nation with $70 million in confiscated cash, according to the DEA. That is more than double the $32 million seized in Chicago in 2008.
Mexican cartels have replaced Colombian ones as the primary distributors of cocaine, transporting drugs into the Atlanta region from California, Texas and Mexico, the DEA said. They have set up stash houses for cash and drugs in suburban and rural communities, operated by mid-level leaders who oversee multimillion-dollar operations, officials said."We are a great distribution center because you can get anywhere east of the Rockies in a day's drive," said David Nahmias, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.The cartels often set up shop in places such as Gwinnett County, where the Hispanic population has grown from 64,137 in 2000 to 132,123 in 2007, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Here, the young men who have come to America to distribute drugs blend in with the law-abiding citizens, day laborers and workers who migrated here for jobs in construction, the poultry plants and the farming industry."Money goes to the stash house normally [located] in a middle-class suburban neighborhood. It's very non-descript and you never thought it would be there in a million years," said Rodney Benson, head of the DEA's Atlanta office. "That's where the money is counted and the balance sheets are reconciled. Then it's methodically placed in heat-sealed plastic to prevent tampering, labeled and given back over to the transportation specialists whose job is to take that money across the Southwestern border to Mexico and the cartel leadership."Porter said he isn't sure how the president's incentives will help counties such as Gwinnett, where prosecutors are increasingly handling drug-related cases while being mandated to take one-day-a-month furloughs because of state budget cuts.Unlike the Colombian drug dealers known for their flashy cars and Miami Beach mansions, the Mexican traffickers prefer to conduct business quietly—until violence erupts. Local officials said they want to make sure that the vicious crimes occurring in Mexico do not make their way to their towns.Last May, authorities arrested the suspected leader of one of the most dangerous Mexican organizations, the Gulf Cartel, after authorities responded to reports of a kidnapping in his Lawrenceville neighborhood. Authorities found $7.6 million in cash and 12 kilograms of cocaine in the modest two-story home 20-year-old Edgar Rodriguez-Alejandro rented in Gwinnett County.Last week, three men pleaded guilty to holding drug dealer Oscar Reynoso hostage in the basement of a house in a middle-class neighborhood in Lilburn. Reynoso, 31, had been lured to Atlanta from Rhode Island, chained to a wall and tortured for a week because he owed the cartel $300,000, the DEA said. Reynoso also has pleaded guilty to drug charges."What we always hear from neighbors is, 'We never saw them or talked to them,' " Porter said. "They maintain the yard and keep to themselves."
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Former Falcons RB Jamal Anderson Arrested on Cocaine Charges
Former Falcons RB Jamal Anderson Arrested on Cocaine Charges.United States of Americal Anderson was arrested early Sunday for possession of both marijuana and cocaine. Anderson, who was booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, was arrested at the Peachtree Tavern in Buckhead, a suburb of Atlanta.The Fulton Country sheriff's office says that Jamal Anderson's first hearing is scheduled for Monday. He is being charged with a misdemeanor for marijuana possession and a felony for possession of cocaine.
Friday, 26 September 2008
Jose Carlos "Charlie" Hinojosa, 31, of Roma - who now faces multiple counts of conspiracy, drug smuggling and money laundering in the ongoing case.
Sheriff Reymundo "Rey" Guerra has not been named in the 17-count indictment against more than 10 men and women accused of working with the Gulf Cartel.But a case file partially unsealed last week lists the warrant used to search his office among others described as "related" to the smuggling investigation.Federal authorities would not confirm Thursday whether the sheriff is expected to face any criminal charges in connection with the case or whether he is suspected of any wrongdoing at all.Guerra declined to comment when reached by phone Thursday afternoon.Agents executed a sealed search warrant on Guerra's Rio Grande City office on Sept. 4, taking boxes filled with documents, electronic equipment and photos.Investigators also seized a "gold-colored badge" from a safe under the sheriff's desk and an evidence bag filled with "a green leafy substance" from a drawer in the office, according to the federal receipt drawn up after the seizure.Two days earlier, authorities targeted a residence belonging to Jose Carlos "Charlie" Hinojosa, 31, of Roma - who now faces multiple counts of conspiracy, drug smuggling and money laundering in the ongoing case.Federal prosecutors allege Hinojosa and more than nine associates smuggled more than 2 tons of marijuana and 1,200 pounds of cocaine into the United States. Then, they reportedly helped move nearly half a million dollars in proceeds from narcotics sales back south across the border.Agents took several documents, stacks of cash wrapped in cellophane and magazines of ammunition during their search of Hinojosa's home, court documents state.He was arrested the same day as part of a nationwide sweep of men and women suspected of working with the Gulf Cartel, a Mexican drug trafficking organization that controls smuggling routes from Nuevo Laredo in the west to Matamoros in the east.
U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said during a news conference last week that 175 cartel members and associates - including Hinojosa and his alleged accomplices - had supplied drug markets in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, New York and even Italy.The 15-month investigation - dubbed "Project Reckoning" - involves several separate cases in federal courts across the country.
But nearly all feature links to the Rio Grande Valley because of its status as the Gulf Cartel's primary smuggling corridor, federal investigators said Thursday.
In all, more than 23 Valley residents have been indicted nationwide and several more people are expected to come under prosecutorial scrutiny as the names of several yet unnamed defendants are released.But it remains unclear whether Sheriff Guerra will be one of them.As Starr County's top law enforcement official, he polices a region with one of the highest rates of drug trafficking in the country.He succeeded Eugenio "Gene" Falcon as sheriff in 1998, after Falcon was charged with accepting bribes from a bail bondsman.
U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said during a news conference last week that 175 cartel members and associates - including Hinojosa and his alleged accomplices - had supplied drug markets in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, New York and even Italy.The 15-month investigation - dubbed "Project Reckoning" - involves several separate cases in federal courts across the country.
But nearly all feature links to the Rio Grande Valley because of its status as the Gulf Cartel's primary smuggling corridor, federal investigators said Thursday.
In all, more than 23 Valley residents have been indicted nationwide and several more people are expected to come under prosecutorial scrutiny as the names of several yet unnamed defendants are released.But it remains unclear whether Sheriff Guerra will be one of them.As Starr County's top law enforcement official, he polices a region with one of the highest rates of drug trafficking in the country.He succeeded Eugenio "Gene" Falcon as sheriff in 1998, after Falcon was charged with accepting bribes from a bail bondsman.
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
x-Slave Fashions used to distributed cocaine
The investigation, which included a court authorized wire tape of a telephone utilized by the defendants centered around the transport of substantial amounts of cocaine from Atlanta, Georgia, to the Wilmington, North Carolina, area. Thereafter, members of the conspiracy distributed the cocaine in various ways including through a local clothing store known as x-Slave Fashions. Investigators estimated that more than 550 kilograms were distributed in this way. The following defendants were sentenced on February 11, 2008:
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS GAUSE, JR. , was sentenced to 240 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $200.00 special assessment. GAUSE, a leader in the organization, was also ordered to forfeit his interest in five tracts of real property and personal property. On September 12, 2007, GAUSE pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute more than five ( 5 ) kilograms of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846, and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924( c )( 1 ).
HOWARD LEE DELTS, JR. , was sentenced to 176 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment. On September 12, 2007, DELTS pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute more than five ( 5 ) kilograms of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846.
JAMES ADOLPH BROWN was sentenced to 151 months’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment. On September 12, 2007, BROWN pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than five ( 5 ) grams of cocaine base, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841( a )( 1 ).
JOE NATHANIEL MCCRAY was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment, four years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment. On October 22, 2007, MCCRAY pleaded guilty to Count Two of a superseding indictment that charged MCCRAY with distribution of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841( a )( 1 ).
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS GAUSE, JR. , was sentenced to 240 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $200.00 special assessment. GAUSE, a leader in the organization, was also ordered to forfeit his interest in five tracts of real property and personal property. On September 12, 2007, GAUSE pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute more than five ( 5 ) kilograms of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846, and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924( c )( 1 ).
HOWARD LEE DELTS, JR. , was sentenced to 176 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment. On September 12, 2007, DELTS pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute more than five ( 5 ) kilograms of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846.
JAMES ADOLPH BROWN was sentenced to 151 months’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment. On September 12, 2007, BROWN pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than five ( 5 ) grams of cocaine base, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841( a )( 1 ).
JOE NATHANIEL MCCRAY was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment, four years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment. On October 22, 2007, MCCRAY pleaded guilty to Count Two of a superseding indictment that charged MCCRAY with distribution of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841( a )( 1 ).
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