Thread: FBI: Seattle speakeasy ring leader smuggled guns to Mexican

FBI: Seattle speakeasy ring leader smuggled guns to Mexican rebels
Monday, March 28, 2011

By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

When King County prosecutors charged seven men accused of running a string of underground cardrooms and speakeasies, there was one name notable in its absence.

Described by investigators as the "CEO" of the not-so-secret Seattle gambling ring, Richard Wayne Wilson was not charged alongside his alleged confederates.

As it turns out, Wilson, 40, already had his day in court, where he admitted selling a small amount of cocaine to an undercover Seattle police detective who'd won his trust.

Well, that and smuggling guns to rebels in southern Mexico.

Documents filed in the federal case brought against Wilson in June 2009 offer additional insight into the investigation that saw a Seattle detective posing as a "trust fund baby" insert himself into Wilson's life, set up a $250,000 drug deal and apparently recover a pistol stamped "Seattle Police Department."

On the day Wilson was sentenced to 3 ½ years in federal prison, his defense attorney contended the detective helped set up one of several unlicensed clubs -- Belltown's Cafe Corsair -- as part of the undercover investigation.

Prosecutors now contend illegal liquor sales and gambling took place at clubs and residences Capitol Hill, Ballard and Belltown, as well as above a Ballard bar. According to the allegations, organizers of the ring -- who are now facing relatively minor drug and gambling charges -- used a shuttered University District hot tub spa as a headquarters.

In charging documents filed March 16, prosecutors claimed investigation ultimately led police to six speakeasies, including Cafe Corsair. Seattle police said the detective became a "silent partner" in the Belltown club and was present when Wilson and two men now charged -- William "Bill" Donnell III and DK Pan, a 38-year-old Seattle artist -- created a front organization.

"In recorded conversations, monikers such as 'Don't Arrest Us, Incorporated' and 'Legal Front' were jokingly considered as potential names to be used for the front organization, which was an art gallery that ultimately bore the name of 'Free Sheep Foundation,'" Seattle Vice Unit Sgt. Ryan Long said in court documents. "Pan organized 'fundraiser' art and music events under the name of this organization, which was admittedly created only to generate plausible deniability to law enforcement, should suspicion arise."

Describing Pan as the organization's Chief Operating Officer, Long told the court Pan, co-defendant William "Bill" Donnell III and Wilson were essentially running the ring.

According to documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Seattle, Seattle police launched the investigation in 2006 following reports of several illegal gambling clubs owned or operated by Wilson.

A Seattle detective got close to Wilson, FBI Special Agent Cory Cote told the court, by posing as "an affluent 'trust fund baby' who was only interested in partying and turning a quick buck."

The detective bought cocaine from Wilson seven times, then used Wilson's drug connection to buy larger quantities of drugs. The investigation ultimately led to the supplier of Wilson's dealer and a $250,000 drug deal that would have seen 15 ½ pounds of cocaine and 3 pounds of methamphetamine delivered.

Wilson provided "security" during two deals, and went so far as to show the undercover officer his weapons during a visit to his Capitol Hill apartment.

While there, Wilson showed off a snub nose .38 cal. revolver and a .357 cal. revolver stamped with "Seattle Police Department" on the handle, Cote said in court documents. He also produced a shotgun, several bandoleers with live shotgun shells, two sets of body armor and a camouflage jacket.

Speaking during Wilson's June 11 sentencing, defense attorney Peter Offenbecher described his client as a man trying to help someone he considered a friend.

"The local government spent two years insinuating a false friend to Mr. Wilson to the point where by the time he was arrested, Mr. Wilson actually thought this was his best friend, or one of his best friends," Offenbecher said, according to a transcript of the hearing. "He was an undercover agent who was videotaping and audio recording all the transactions with the goal of, you know, getting record of criminal activity."

While the investigation was ongoing, uniformed police also attempted to make their way into the clubs following reports of late-night partying.

According to reports filed at the time, [olice checking out one after-hours club -- Cafe (un)American -- in September 2007 were greeted by a mustachioed man dressed in 1930s-style formal wear claiming to be the Capitol Hill speakeasy's maitre d'.

Police had received several tips that a club was being run out of an unused car garage at 1412 14th Ave. Officers had seen the club in operation past 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights; in a report, police noted none in the well-dressed crowd had been seen carrying liquor bottles, and that the trash bin behind the garage was filled with them.

Investigators claim a poker room was being operated at the now-defunct Bit Saloon in Ballard. Other gaming operations are alleged to have been run out of Cafe Corsair and Cafe (un)American, as well as several homes.

While court documents detailing the drug deals remain readily accessible, specifics of Wilson's gun smuggling scheme are lacking. Much of the documentation has been sealed and hearing transcripts have been redacted.

Wilson admitted to buying 23 firearms at Washington gun shows that he then helped smuggle to Zapatista rebels in Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico where an indigenous uprising has long been underway. Wilson, who'd volunteered in the region, apparently told federal investigators that he sent the guns south at his own expense and did not profit from the smuggling.

Sentencing Wilson, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones noted that, in another context, sending weapons to a revolutionary group would have seen Wilson labeled a "terrorist." The judge also told Wilson the drug bust and subsequent conviction had given him a chance to reform himself and kick a 13-year methamphetamine addiction.

"But for this conviction, what labels were associated with you and your lifestyle -- rebellious, drug dealer, facilitator of a gambling house and firearms distributor," Jones said, according to a transcript of the hearing. "However you wish to gloss and make them give a better appearance for you, that is what your life looked like before you were charged and before you were arrested."

Wilson is currently serving his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in Littleton, Colo. According to the Bureau of Prisons, he is slated for release in June 2013.

Pan has been charged with two counts of first-degree professional gambling. Donnell, 41, was charged with a single count of the same offense. The five others were charged with the same offense or, on two occasions, cocaine dealing.

None of the seven current defendants have been jailed. They are expected to be arraigned Wednesday in King County Superior Court at Seattle.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/437844_speakeasy28.html

I had never heard of 'Zapatista Rebels' so I Googled it and top of the list was this:

Zapatista Army of National Liberation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico.

Since 1994, the group has been in a declared war "against the Mexican state," though this war has been primarily nonviolent and defensive against military, paramilitary, and corporate incursions on their territory. Their social base is mostly rural indigenous people but they have some supporters in urban areas as well as an international web of support. Their main spokesperson is Subcomandante Marcos (currently a.k.a. Delegate Zero in relation to "the Other Campaign"). Unlike other Zapatista spokespeople, Marcos is not an indigenous Mayan.

The group takes its name from Emiliano Zapata, the agrarian reformer[1] and commander of the Liberation Army of the South during the Mexican Revolution, and sees itself as his ideological heir. In reference to inspirational figures, in nearly all EZLN villages exist murals accompanying images of Zapata, Che Guevara, and Subcomandante Marcos.[2]

Although the ideology of the EZLN is reflective of libertarian socialist politics, paralleling both Anarchist and Libertarian Marxist thought in many respects, the EZLN has rejected[3] and defied[4] political classification; retaining its distinctiveness due in part to the importance of indigenous Mayan beliefs in Zapatismo thought. The EZLN aligns itself with the wider anti-globalization, anti-neoliberal social movement, seeking indigenous control over their local resources, especially land. Since their 1994 uprising was countered by the superior military might of the Mexican army, the EZLN has abstained from offensively using their weapons and adopted a new strategy that attempts to garner both Mexican and international support.

Through an Internet campaign, the EZLN has begun to disseminate an understanding of their plight and intentions. With this change in tactics, the EZLN has received greater support from a variety of NGOs and organizations as well as increased attention in Leftist and Mainstream media outlets. The EZLN has also entered popular culture thanks in part to the support it has received from bands such as Rage Against the Machine, 47 Ronin, Garotos Podres, Leftöver Crack, Brujeria, Anti-Flag, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Manu Chao,Sun Rise Above and Active Member.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapatista_ ... Liberation
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Hmm, so much for BS about Latinos/Hispanics insisting they were here first. Instead of coming here they should have gone south and joined the Zapatista Army.

at least ATF didnt watch them get smuggled into mexico

Originally Posted by jamesw62

at least ATF didnt watch them get smuggled into mexico

That could have been in the redacted part.