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  1. #121
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    Matamoros slaying still fuels parents' anti-drug effort

    Dallas Morning News/April 11, 1999

    Brownsville -- Former Cameron County Sheriff's Lt. George Gavito remembers thinking that unearthing Mark Kilroy's body from a ranch outside Matamoros, Mexico, would neatly wrap up the UT student's kidnapping and murder.
    "Before we knew it, we were digging up another one and another one and another one," Mr. Gavito said of his recollections of April 11, 1989.

    By the end of the day, Mexican federal police had recovered 12 bodies on Rancho Santa Elena, later known as Devil Ranch. Some, like Mr. Kilroy, had been killed by a cult of drug traffickers who believed that ritual sacrifices conducted in a smelly, blood-splattered shack would shield them from police.

    "It was drugs that had killed our son," Jim Kilroy said recently. "Even though he wasn't using, it touches everyone."

    Ten years later, Jim and Helen Kilroy have turned that belief into an anti-drug battle that they wage through the Mark Kilroy Foundation. With the help of volunteers and other organizations, the foundation is involved with drug awareness projects in schools as well as rehabilitation programs.

    "We had gotten so many letters and calls from people, families that were telling us about how they were affected by their child's drug use or their friend's drug use," Mrs. Kilroy said from the couple's home in Santa Fe in southeast Texas. "People were asking, 'What can I do to help my friend or my son?' We didn't have the answers, and I guess that's what really pushed us into exploring, trying to find help for different people."

    Jim Kilroy also collaborated on a candid 1990 book about his son's death, titled Sacrifice.

    Devout Catholics, the Kilroys said they quickly came to terms with their son's murder.

    "That's probably something that we can't even explain," Mrs. Kilroy said. "It was really when the investigators in Brownsville told us what happened to Mark. We were immediately at peace that we had found him."

    "I think the Lord just put a blessing in our hearts," said Jim Kilroy, who in Sacrifice describes his relief at learning that his son was held 12 hours before being killed because he had time to make peace with God.

    "We knew he was safe, and it was really God speaking to us about it."

    Mark Kilroy was a 21-year-old junior pre-med student at the University of Texas who went to South Padre Island with three buddies for spring break. On March 14, 1989, Mr. Kilroy was bar-hopping with his friends on Matamoros' main drag when he vanished.

    His disappearance soon became a priority for U.S. law enforcement officers because his uncle was a U.S. customs agent.

    Although it was not part of their jurisdiction, Mr. Gavito and Brownsville's U.S. Customs Agent-in-Charge Oran Neck joined forces with the Mexican Federal Judicial Police.

    But luck actually broke open the case.

    Serafin Hernandez Garcia, a suspect in a marijuana-trafficking case, was trying to elude police officers when he led them to Santa Elena. Police arrested him and the ranch caretaker.

    The caretaker later recognized Mark Kilroy from a picture and remembered making him breakfast. Mr. Hernandez eventually confessed to kidnapping Mr. Kilroy and later burying his body.

    He returned to the ranch to show police the burial sites - some belonging to enemies of the drug cult later dubbed the narcosatanicos.

    In a tarpaper shack, police found a bloody altar and items used in ritual worship, including cauldrons filled with human and animal body parts.

    As the case unfolded, Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo was identified as the group's leader. Known as the padrino, or godfather, Mr. Constanzo was a Cuban-American from Miami who practiced a mixture of Afro-Caribbean rituals, some of which called for human sacrifice.

    According to Sacrifice, Mr. Kilroy was snatched after Mr. Constanzo told his followers to bring him a young, Anglo university student. They later used his brain as part of a ceremony.

    Ultimately, 15 bodies were found at the ranch. After an extensive search, police closed in on Mr. Constanzo and other narcosatanicos in Mexico City. Mr. Constanzo was not taken alive; he reportedly ordered another cult member to kill him.

    Six narcosatanicos are in Mexican prisons convicted of 13 of the killings.

    Mr. Gavito, who now is a private investigator and restaurant owner, said the pressure placed on authorities to find Mr. Kilroy put the narcosatanicos out of business.

    "If it wasn't for Mark, these killings would probably be still going on because I don't think anybody would ever have found out that it happened there," he said.

    Today, there is little evidence on Rancho Santa Elena of what happened 10 years ago. Police destroyed the ceremonial shack shortly after the bodies were found.

  2. #122
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    South Padre Island's hottest place to party:

    DPS urges Spring Breakers to avoid Mexico border cities

    As colleges and universities nationwide prepare for spring break, the Texas Department of Public Safety is warning students to avoid traveling to Mexican border cities.

    For years students have flocked to the region, seeking a good time at Texas beaches and at Mexican bars, where the legal drinking age is 18; however, recent gun battles between drug cartels prompted state law enforcement officials to issue the warning.

    “There is an increase in Mexican drug cartel-related violence in the northern Mexican border cities,â€

  3. #123
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    Where is the best place to launder drug money?

    1. Tourist destinations: lots of changing faces;

    2. Lots of cash, cash, cash sales--3 T-shirts for $10;

    And the gangster bonus is tourists also like to buy drugs to party while at the beach--at least at our beach.

  4. #124
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    Cross-Border Marijuana Shipments are Large and Frequent, Prohibition Agents Find
    Printer Friendly Version Email this Article
    from the Drug Policy News Writing Demonstration Project
    The following adaptation is based on an article by R. Stickney, (Agents Unlock Pot Shipment, 11-29-2009, NBC San Diego), and is part of a demonstration project on drug policy conducted by the publication Drug War Chronicle.

    Cross-border marijuana bootlegging is a massive enterprise, despite extensive efforts by prohibition agents to block the traffic. NBC San Diego recently reported on a large seizure of the prohibited substance by authorities, and this morning they reported on yet another. This time, agents found more than 6,000 pounds of marijuana at the Calexico East port cargo facility, according to NBC.

    The contraband was wrapped into 458 packages, which were concealed amongst 67 boxes of door locks in a 1998 tractor trailer, according to prohibition agents. A 30-year-old Mexicali man was arrested after a canine team alerted on the cargo. The bootlegger was arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, according to NBC.

    Because drugs are illegal, their price on the street market is artificially inflated in what economists call a "risk premium." Hence, while three tons of wheat might fetch $500 on the current California market, prohibition agents valued the marijuana at approximately $5.9 million.

    Area marijuana users have not reported shortages lately, suggesting that bootleggers adjust the amount they traffic to compensate for anticipated losses such as occurred this morning and that many other shipments have probably gotten through.

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  5. #125
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    The best places to score drugs on Sourh Padre Island, according to "the locals" are as follows:

    1. I was offered marijuana for $100 a pound in the first taxi I took after moving there;
    2. The "head shops" are rumored to have much to offer beyond "pharaphenalia;"
    3. Make friends with one of the "t-shirt shop" employees;
    4. Make friends with a bartender on the island;
    5. Make friends with the right Town of South Padre Island Police Officer. . .


    . . .it's no secret to the locals who has the real power to make or break the laws--and it ain't the cops, theys jus' mercenaries in the opinions of many.

  6. #126
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    Appendix C
    PENALTIES UNDER TEXAS LAW​APPENDIX C
    Â*
    ​CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE OFFENSES
    Â*
    Â*
    Offense
    Â*
    Quantity
    Â*
    Penalties
    Â*
    Manufacture or delivery
    Substance in Penalty Group 1
    Â*
    Â*
    200 gms or more, but less than 400 gms
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for a term of life or for a term not more than 99 years or less than 10 years and a fine not to exceed $100,000.
    Â*
    Manufacture or Delivery Substance in Penalty Group 1
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term not more than 99 years
    or less than 15 years and a fine not to exceed $250,000
    Â*
    Manufacture or Delivery Substance in Penalty Group 2
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term not more than 99 years or less than 10 years and a fine not to exceed $100,000
    Â*
    Manufacture or Delivery Substance in Penalty Group 3 or 4
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term not more than 99 years or less than 10 years and a fine not to exceed $100,000
    Â*
    Possession
    Substance in Penalty Group 1
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term not more than 99 years or less than 10 years and a fine not to exceed $100,000
    Â*
    Possession
    Substance in Penalty Group 2
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of not more than 99 years or less than five years and a fine not to exceed $50,000
    Â*
    Possession
    Substance in Penalty Group 3
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of not more than 99 years or less than five years and a fine not to exceed $50,000
    Â*
    Delivery of Marihuana
    Â*
    Â*
    2,000 pounds or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of not more than 99 years or less than 10 years and a fine not to exceed $50,000
    Â*
    Â*
    Possession of Marihuana
    Â*
    Â*
    2,000 pounds or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of not more than 99 years or less than five years and a fine not to exceed $50,000
    Â*
    Â*
    Delivery or manufacture
    Controlled Substance Analogue
    Â*
    Â*
    200 gms or more, but less than 400 gms
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of not more than 99 years or less than 10 years and a fine not to exceed $100,000
    Â*
    Possession
    Controlled Substance Analogue
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of not more than 99 years or less than 10 years and a fine not to exceed $100,000
    Â*
    Manufacture or Delivery
    Controlled Substance Analogue
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of not more than 99 years or less than 10 years and a fine not to exceed $100,000
    Â*
    Possession
    Controlled Substance Analogue
    Â*
    Â*
    400 gms or more
    Â*
    Punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of not more than 99 years or less than five years and a fine not to exceed $50,000
    Â*
    Possession or Delivery
    Drug Paraphernalia
    Â*
    Previous conviction for delivery, possess with intent to deliver, or manufacture with intent to deliver, or the person is 18 or older and person receiving is younger than 18.
    Â*
    Â*
    Punishable by confinement in jail for not more than a year or less than 90 days
    Â*
    Penalty Group 1 includes, codeine, heroin, morphine, opium among others.
    Penalty Group 2 includes amphetamines, mescaline, hallucinogenic substances other than marijuana, among others
    Penalty Group 3 includes Â*Phenobarbital, stimulants affecting central nervous system, depressants affecting central nervous system.
    Penalty Group 4 includes anabolic steroids among others
    Â*
    ​ALCOHOL-RELATED OFFENSES
    Â*
    Â*
    Offenses involving a Minor
    Â*
    Level of Offense
    Â*
    Penalties
    Â*
    Â*
    Driving while intoxicated
    Class C misdemeanor
    Â*
    First Offense
    Â*
    Â*
    • Â*Fine up to $500.
    • Â*Attendance at an alcohol awareness class.
    • Â*20 to 40 hours of mandatory community service.
    • Â*60 days driver’s license suspension.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Second Offense
    Â*
    • Â*Fine up to $500.
    • Â*Attendance at an alcohol awareness class at the judge’s discretion.
    • Â*40 to 60 hours of mandatory community service.
    • Â*120 days driver’s license suspension.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Third Offense
    Â*
    • Â*Fine from $500 to $2,000 or confinement in jail up to 180 days, or both.
    • Â*Not eligible for deferred adjudication.
    • Â*180 days driver’s license suspension.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Third Offense, and if 17 years or older
    Â*
    • Â*Fine increases to $500 to $2,000 or confinement in jail for up to 180 days, or both.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Purchase, attempt to purchase,
    possess, or consume alcoholic beverages, publicly intoxicated, misrepresenting age to obtain alcoholic beverages.
    Class C misdemeanor
    Â*
    Â*
    First and Second Offense
    Â*
    • Â*Fine up to $500.
    • Â*Attendance at an alcohol awareness class.
    • Â*8 to 40 hours of community service.
    • Â*30 to 180 days loss or denial of driver’s license.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Third Offense, and if 17 years or older
    Â*
    • Â*Fine from $250 to $2,000 or confinement in jail for up to 180 days, or both.
    • Â*Automatic driver’s license suspension.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Giving alcohol or buying alcohol for a minor
    Class B misdemeanor
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    • Â*Confinement in jail for up to 180 days.
    • Â*Fine up to $2,000, or both
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Selling alcohol to a minor
    Class A misdemeanor
    Â*
    Â*
    • Â*Confinement in jail up to one year,
    • Â*Fine up to $4,000, or both
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Offenses by Adults
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Public intoxication
    Â*
    Â*
    A person commits an offense if the person appears in a public place while intoxicated to the degree that the person may endanger the person or another.
    Â*
    Â*
    • Â*Fine not to exceed $500
    Â*
    Â*
    Consumption or possession of alcoholic beverage in motor vehicle
    Â*
    Â*
    A person commits an offense if the person consumes an alcoholic beverage while operating a motor vehicle in a public place and is observed doing so by a peace officer.
    Â*
    Â*
    • Â*Fine not to exceed $500
    Â*
    Â*
    Driving while intoxicated.
    Â*
    Â*
    A person commits an offense if the person is intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place.
    Â*
    If at time of trial, the person operating the vehicle had an open container in the person’s immediate possession.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    • Â*Confinement in jail for up to 180 days (minimum confinement of 72 hours),
    • Â*Fine up to $2,000, or both.
    Â*
    • Â*Confinement in jail for up to 180 days (minimum confinement of six days),
    • Â*Fine up to $2,000, or both.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Second Offense
    Â*
    • Â*Confinement in jail for up to 1 year (minimum confinement of 30 days),
    • Â*Fine up to $4,000, or both.
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*
    Third Offense
    Â*
    • Â*Confinement in prison for not more than 20 years or less than two years,
    • Â*Fine up to $10,000, or both
    Â*
    Â*
    Â*

  7. #127
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    What do drugs and immigrants have as a common denominator?

    Why are they relevant in the same conversation?

    Same people. . .

    Know what a mob rush is?

    Millions of illegal immigrants rushing across our borders with billions of dollars in drug contraband bringing our country down on it's knees with an expensive civil war on drugs dividing our people and making foreign gangsters rich. . .

  8. #128
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    The U.S. press is shocked, shocked to discover the cartels are bribing policemen.Â* Er… yeah… but the headlines in the U.S. are all talking about “like this:

    Mexican officials held for selling intel to drug cartels

    … overlooking a few other country’s agents:

    Interpol agent passed information to

    Beltrán-Leyva cartel in Mexico

    One of the most dangerous drug cartels in the world has infiltrated the US Embassy in Mexico and America’s top anti-trafficking agency, it emerged last night.

    A captured informant codenamed Felipe admitted to Mexican prosecutors that he used his job as an Interpol agent working at the US Embassy in Mexico City and at the international airport in the city to feed classified information about anti-drug operations to the feared Beltrán-Leyva cartel.
    …
    “This doesn’t say much for US security — it’s as embarrassing as hell for this to come out and I suspect heads will roll within the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration],â€

  9. #129
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    [mobile edition]

    Protected witness in Mexico killed in Starbuck's shooting
    December 2, 2009 - 6:25 AM
    The Associated Press


    MEXICO CITY (AP) — Gunmen burst in to a Starbucks coffee shop Tuesday and killed a former policeman who was a protected witness in a drug corruption case, the second death of a high-profile witness in Mexico in less than two weeks.

    Edgar Bayardo was gunned down in the upper middle-class Del Valle neighborhood of the capital, and a man with him was severely wounded, city prosecutor Jaime Slomianski Aguilar said. Another customer who apparently had nothing to do with Bayardo also was wounded.

    Shell casings — numbered by police at up to 23 — lay on the shop floor between the door and the counter. The killing bore all the hallmarks of an organized crime execution.

    Two assailants entered the shop and, without saying a word, opened fire on Bayardo with an automatic weapon, authorities said. They fled with a third accomplice in a waiting vehicle that the attackers abandoned a few blocks away.

    "By the methods used ... this falls outside the realm of common crime," said Slomianski Aguilar.

    Bayardo was detained in 2008 on suspicion of collaborating with the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, as part of a large-scale cleanup of drug corruption that reached high into Mexican federal police and prosecutor's office.

    Soon after, Bayardo — a former federal police investigator — was released from house arrest and declared a protected witness, said federal and local prosecutors, who spoke on condition of anonymithy.

    On Nov. 20, another protected witness against the Sinaloa cartel, Jesus Zambada Reyes, identified as the nephew of drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, was found dead of asphyxiation at a house in Mexico City.

    The federal attorney general's office said Zambada was hanged with a shoelace and described the death as an apparent suicide. But many questioned whether the cartel could have pressured Zambada into killing himself or faked the death as a suicide.

    Observers and former law enforcement officials said the Bayardo slaying raised questions about Mexico's protected witness program and illustrated the powerful reach of the cartels.

    "Obviously, they (prosecutors) should have been providing significant protection because of the kind of accusations he (Bayardo) made," former top anti-drug prosecutor Samuel Gonzalez said, referring to the fact that Bayardo reportedly implicated other top police officials in corruption. "So this is a very serious failure for the agency charged with protecting him."

    Gonzalez said there was little doubt Bayardo's slaying was a killing by gang members, noting the victim's links to organized crime were known or suspected since the 1990s.

    "The story of Edgar Bayardo is the story of the tragedy of police forces in Mexico," he said.

    Javier Oliva, a political scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the country's protected witness program is relatively new and poorly administered.

    "These incidents ... show that it is far too easy for criminal organizations to penetrate security arrangements," Oliva said. "The situation is getting worse all the time, and instead of seeing improvement in security, we're seeing more problems."

    Elsewhere, Tijuana police reported that a pre-dawn gasoline bomb attack had struck 28 new patrol cars at a Mazda dealership. Ernesto Alvarez, the city's public security spokesman, said six cars were destroyed and the rest sustained damaged but might be reparable.

    Tijuana is just across the border from San Diego. Like other Mexican border communities, it has faced an upsurge in violence in recent years associated with drug cartels.

    View this page in desktop browser mode.
    » Click here for more stories [mobileÂ*edition] »

  10. #130
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    Corruption is a Part of RGV
    The Rio Grande Valley does not have a monopoly on corruption of public officials. This sort of thing happens everywhere. We do, however, seem to have it happen more often than other places. Our most recent instance is with former Sherrif Conrado Cantu. This is probably attributable to the proximity of the border and the inherent problems of having it poorly protected. Drug trafficking is a part of our local economy. The first big hurdle is crossing the drugs over the border. There are often instances of people storing tons of pot or cocaine in their homes as staging areas before the next leg of transportation. A lot of money goes through the RGV. A lot of money goes into "greasing the wheels" too.

    This is not to say that all of our officials are corrupt. We do have some great public servants and many mediocre ones. There are a few corrupt officials out there, which tarnishes the rest of our local government, afer all, the corrupt don't operate in a vacuum.

    One thing that is rampant in our local government is Compadre Politics. If you have a connection with somebody, by friendship of family, you can often get things done that most people can't. I've had the occasional offer to have a ticket taken care of by so and so's dad, or Judge this or other. Of course, I don't accept the offer. You never know when somebody will want a favor back, one that I can't refuse.

    Despite the occasional corruption ring that springs up, the Rio Grande Valley is still a great place to live. For the most part, our local goverment works well. During emergencies, our people are on the ball. During hurricanes, our commissioners and other officials put in long hours to ensure that we are all prepared. After hurricanes, they put in a lot of overtime to get things back to normal. For sure, our local governments do a good job. It just happens that corruption does crop up often.
    Posted by Shaine Mata at 5:12 PM 1 comments Links to this post

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