Thread: White Supremacists, Mexican Drug Cartel Suspected in Texas Prosecutors' Murders

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White Supremacists, Mexican Drug Cartel Suspected in Texas Prosecutors' Murders

By Mark Whittington | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 1 hr 19 mins ago

The murders of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia, coming on the heels of the brazen murder of that county's Assistant DA, Mark Hasse, has law enforcement in Texas on edge, according to CNN.
Kaufman County prosecutors murdered
McLelland, the District Attorney for Kaufman County, near Dallas, and his wife were murdered over the weekend by unknown intruders who shot the two to death in their home in the suburban Dallas neighborhood of Forney. The shell casings of a .223 caliber rifle were found at the scene. The double murder took place two months after Heese was gunned down in the parking lot across from the Kaufman County courthouse, as reported by CBS News at the time. Texas law enforcement officers are investigating whether the two killings are linked as well as any relation they might have with the murder of a Colorado prison chief by a white supremacist. The FBI and the ATF are aiding in the investigation. Theories that the killings may be part of a terrorist campaign against prosecutors have caused the Texas law enforcement community to take precautions to protect other court officials.
The Aryan Brotherhood theory
One early theory is that a prison based gang called the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas may be involved in the killings. McLelland was involved in the indictment of a number of Aryan Brotherhood of Texas members, including four of its senior leadership, on racketeering charges. A profile of the gang by CNN reports that the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, which is not affiliated with the national Aryan Brotherhood, has been blamed for at least 100 murders and 10 kidnappings. Beatings, fire bombings, and drug trafficking are also standard operating procedure for the ABT, which seems to be as much a criminal enterprise as it is a white supremacist gang. There is no direct proof that the ABT was involved in the murders of McLelland and his wife and Hasse, however.
The Mexican drug cartel -- or someone else
Another theory, according to CNN, is that a Mexican drug cartel may be involved in the killings. This theory has been popularized by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Quoting a story by the Associated Press, Limbaugh suggested that the drug cartels may be targeting American prosecutors for assassination just as they have judges and law enforcement officers in Mexico. Law enforcement officers quoted by CNN suggest that the Mexican drug cartel is a possible suspect, as well as local meth lab operators or even someone with a personal grudge.
Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.
http://news.yahoo.com/white-supremacists-mexican-drug-cartel-suspected-texas-prosecutors-194500296.html

Kaufman County investigators have plenty of places to start looking for suspects in DA's killing

David Woo/Staff Photographer

Cri

By ED TIMMS
Staff Writer
Published: 01 April 2013 11:28 PM

“Fog of war” typically describes the unpredictable and confusing nature of armed conflict. But it just as easily could be applied to the mystery surrounding the shooting deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife.

Investigators are trying to track down the killers. Speculation is rampant. Kaufman County residents are in shock. And they want answers.

Several theories have emerged. Each has strengths and weaknesses. And if history is any guide, there’s always room for surprises. But here are some of the more likely culprits:

Aryan Brotherhood of Texas

Investigators are trying to find out if this prison-based white supremacist gang is responsible for the fatal shootings of McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, over the weekend. They’ve also speculated that the same group may be responsible for gunning down Mark Hasse, an assistant district attorney who worked for McLelland, near the Kaufman County Courthouse on Jan. 31.

The arguments for:

The gang has been involved in methamphetamine dealing in Kaufman County. That prompted an aggressive response by law enforcement authorities there.

Kaufman County prosecutors persuaded a jury to send a 36-year-old Aryan Brotherhood of Texas gang member to prison for life last summer. James Patrick Crawford was convicted of several offenses, including aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, a drug charge and “directing gang activities.”

The Kaufman County district attorney’s office was part of a multi-agency task force that targeted the Aryan Brotherhood’s operations in Texas. That operation led to federal racketeering indictments in Houston naming more than 30 alleged gang members, including four of its top leaders.

The Texas Department of Public safety issued a warning in December that the Aryan Brotherhood could be “planning retaliation against law enforcement officials” involved in the investigation that led to the Houston indictment.

A U.S. Marshals Service email stated that the Aryan Brotherhood was the focus of its investigation into Hasse’s death.
In 2005, federal officials issued an anti-terrorism bulletin cautioning that the Aryan Brotherhood may be planning to injure or kill law officers. In 2007, the FBI issued a warning for Dallas-area officers, saying that the gang was trying to collect the names of federal agents, state troopers and police officers.

Few clues were left behind after Hasse was slain. Some law enforcement officials have privately said that the gang would have the resources to execute Hasse and McLelland, and avoid detection.

A Colorado white supremacist prison gang member recently gunned down the state’s top prison official at his home. No direct link has been made between that case and the Kaufman County killings, but it could indicate that white supremacist gangs are employing a new and deadly strategy that targets law enforcement officials.

The arguments against:

Law enforcement officials have not publicly reported any direct evidence linking the Kaufman County shootings to the Aryan Brotherhood.

The Aryan Brotherhood reportedly is involved in lucrative drug operations and other criminal activity and might be reluctant to risk the blowback from such blatant attacks on top law enforcement officials.

The Kaufman County DA’s office was just one of many law enforcement agencies in the task force that helped get the racketeering indictments, and it is unclear why they might be singled out.

Mexican drug cartels

Drug cartels are known for their violence. Law enforcement officials have said little publicly about the possibility that a drug cartel is responsible for the Kaufman County shootings, but it’s likely that theory — among many — is being explored.

The arguments for:

North Texas is a popular drug-smuggling hub used by Mexican cartels.

The Aryan Brotherhood, despite its racist history, has been known to do business with the cartels.

The anti-drug efforts by the Kaufman County district attorney’s office may have affected cartel drug operations.

An attorney for one of the Aryan Brotherhood defendants indicted in Houston said the McLellands’ deaths were more typical of a cartel hit. Houston defense attorney Richard O. Ely II said the white supremacist gang usually doesn’t target family members, while attacks by cartels are often more indiscriminate.

The arguments against:

While drug cartels have a long history of targeting law enforcement officials, that’s typically happened in Mexico.

Law enforcement officials have not publicly reported evidence directly linking the Kaufman County shootings to a drug cartel.
Like the Aryan Brotherhood, a drug cartel would know that attacks on U.S. law enforcement officials would trigger a reaction that could disrupt their drug operations and their cash flow.

Wild cards

Sometimes, the most likely suspects don’t make the final cut. Prosecutors inevitably make enemies. A mentally ill defendant convicted in a relatively low-profile case may plot harm, or actually lash out. It may be a defendant in a domestic violence case — or almost any other crime, especially if the defendants single out the prosecutor as the primary source of their woes. It’s not impossible that the two shootings are unrelated — or the work of a copycat killer.

The arguments for:

Whoever killed Hasse and the McLellands was able to escape unhindered. That may suggest that they had a familiarity with Kaufman County.

Someone with roots in the community may be less likely to stand out than white supremacist gang members or cartel members

Someone who harbors a grudge because he or she was convicted on a low-profile charge is less likely to attract the attention of investigators trying to solve the killings.

Hasse was killed with a revolver, in daylight, near the courthouse. The McLellands were killed by bullets fired from an assault rifle at their home. That may suggest that the killings were carried out by different assailants.

Whoever killed Hasse and the McLellands apparently was able to get close before they started shooting. That may suggest that the victims knew their assailants.

Several of the U.S. prosecutors who’ve been gunned down over the years were killed by individuals with grudges.

The arguments against:

A local resident with a known history of violence or weapons training would be likely to immediately attract the attention of law enforcement in Kaufman County.

Someone without such a history or training might be unlikely to carry out two successful assassinations, especially against two veteran prosecutors who routinely were armed.

The successful escape by the gunmen who shot Hasse and the McLellands also could have been the result of careful planning by experienced killers affiliated with a gang or a cartel.

Someone local might have been more likely to complain about McLelland or Hasse to friends or family in advance, or after the shootings. And friends and family members often are the source of tips about criminal wrongdoing.
Jumping to conclusions

Early speculation and false accusations have led investigators and the media down many false trails over the years in high-profile cases. Here are a few examples:

Richard Jewell was working as a security guard at the Atlanta Summer Olympics in 1996. He spotted the backpack containing a pipe bomb and helped evacuate people from the area. At first he was seen as a hero but very quickly became a suspect. Jewell ultimately was exonerated. White supremacist Eric Robert Rudolph later was identified as the bomber.

Many media organizations initially speculated that Islamic terrorists were responsible for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma. It later turned out that Timothy McVeigh, a white supremacist, was responsible.

After Trans World Airlines Flight 800 exploded in 1996, killing 230 people, there was widespread speculation that a terrorist bomb or even a missile was responsible. Federal officials later concluded that there was no evidence of a criminal act and that the probable cause was a short circuit that caused a fuel tank to explode.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime...-s-killing.ece

From 2010. It seems they are in bed together for drugs and mney.. JMO

Mexican Drug Cartels Tied to U.S. White Supremacists

Story tools


La Opinión, News Report, Claudia Núñez, Translated by Elena Shore, Posted: Nov 17, 2010

LOS ANGELES – The activities of white supremacist groups in the United States could be financed by Mexican drug cartels as a result of ties between the two groups, experts say. Members of the supremacist gang Aryan Brotherhood are collaborating with organized crime groups the Mexican Mafia and the Tijuana Cartel to smuggle illegal drugs both in state and federal prisons, and on the California-Mexico market.

"The cartels are looking for partners, bridges, to connect their activities inside the United States, and the supremacists have become an important force on the streets and inside prisons," according to Larry Gaines, gang expert and president of the criminal justice department at San Bernardino State University.

Members of the Aryan Brotherhood, the notoriously violent organization founded in the California penitentiary system in 1967, are serving as hitmen for Mexican cartels and offering added protection and intimidation against rival groups, according to a report by the National Gang Intelligence Center.

"Some members of the Aryan Brotherhood (AB) have business relationships with Mexican cartels that bring illegal drugs into California for the AB to distribute. The Aryan Brotherhood is notoriously violent and is often involved in murder for hire," the report says.

Likewise, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirms that its own research indicates that white supremacist gangs are currently collaborating with Mexican cartels in car theft operations and arms trafficking to Mexico, primarily in Texas, California and Chicago.

Although the first investigation into the collaboration between the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Mafia was conducted by the Los Angeles bureau of the FBI, that office told La Opinión that it does not currently have any intelligence supporting their collaboration. This, despite the fact that the National Gang Intelligence Center (which the FBI is a part of) confirms the ties between the two groups.

In 1984, the FBI’s Los Angeles bureau issued a report stating that Aryan Brotherhood gang members were facing longer prison terms than Latino gang members and had become the major force of organized crime inside prisons.

Several prison guards were allegedly killed by AB gang members as a sign of intimidation.

The report also states that both groups came to a "peace" agreement that they would not kill a member of a rival racial group. If the Aryan Brotherhood had a problem with a Mexican, for example, they would pass the case onto the Mexican Mafia who would order his execution; and the AB would be responsible for punishing its own members.

The FBI agents that conducted the six-month investigation warned that many of the AB gang members would be released from prison in a few years, and the alliance between the two gangs would continue on the streets. The theory, according to new reports, has become a reality.

Soldiers in the Service of Criminals

According to a white supremacist doctrine, the Aryan Brotherhood, whose symbol is "666," has shifted from an organization whose mission was to protect itself from other racial groups to a group that seeks power and control over sectors of the drug market.

But the Aryan Brotherhood is also secondarily financing other extremist political groups like the gangs Peckerwoods, Public Enemy Number One and Nazi Low Riders that it has formed alliances with to distribute drugs. "The drug trafficking money is indirectly serving the purposes of supremacists," said Wes McBride, executive director of the California Gang Investigators Association.

The Aryan Brotherhood formed a coalition with the group Nazi Low Riders (NLR) to serve as street soldiers in drug and arms trafficking. But a series of mass arrests of NLR members changed the structure of their business.

In March 2006, Ty Fowles, a resident of Garden Grove and alleged leader of the NLR, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. Fowles was charged with extortion, conspiracy to
distribute drugs, witness tampering, robbery, murder and attempted murder. The same year, Richard Klein, 35, and his wife Kylie, 25, were convicted of selling methamphetamines on the streets of Orange County to fund the NLR and the families of its incarcerated members.

With members of NLR divided, Donald Reed "Popeye" Mazza, the leader of Public Enemy Number One, joined the Aryan Brotherhood in 2005. Public Enemy Number One, also known as Death Squad, has grown immensely. Although it has a racist ideology, the group is primarily dedicated to making money, particularly in the meth trade.

Authorities suspect that there could be hundreds of these members operating throughout Southern California. Meanwhile, federal reports state that Aryan Brotherhood squads were or are still part of the U.S. Armed Forces and have employed their military tactics in their own operations.

On the streets of Lancaster and Palmdale, east of Los Angeles, anti-drug agents have discovered alliances between gangs of different races working for the cartels, according to Lt. Erik Ruble of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

"In prison, divisions and racial problems are still strong, but on the street, the structure is different. Now it’s based on a union of power and economics where racial divisions are unnecessary," says Ruble.

In the past, meth and Ecstasy production in California was controlled by white gangs. Now the market is completely dominated by Mexican cartels, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The spokesperson said he is not aware of agreements between white supremacist gangs and Latino gangs, but he confirmed cases of white and Asian gangs working together on large-scale synthetic drug operations.

"The amount of money these gangs handle is massive. We had a case of the wife of a member of [the Mexican Mafia] who had half a million dollars in cash at home, and expensive properties in several cities,” said Mrozek. “The reality is that today if you want cocaine, the Mexican cartels have the big market, same with methamphetamines, and there are enough drugs for the cartels to have to find new customers and systems of distribution."

http://newamericamedia.org/2010/11/m....php#gsc.tab=0

More from 2010 from USA Today.
Drug cartels unite rival gangs to work for common bad
3/16/2010
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

Rival prison gang members, including warring white supremacist and Hispanic groups, are brokering unusual criminal alliances outside prison to assist Mexican drug cartel operations in the U.S. andMexico, federal law enforcement officials say. The groups, including the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, remain bitter enemies in prison, divided along racial and ethnic lines. Yet outside, the desire for profits is overcoming rivalries. Kevin O'Keefe, chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives criminal intelligence division, says investigators have linked the rival gangs to stolen vehicles, some loaded with currency and weapons, moving toward Mexico from Texas, Colorado, California and even Georgia. "They realize that the financial gain is so lucrative that they have been willing to work together," O'Keefe says. "It's all about business." Herb Brown, section chief of the FBI's gang division, says the groups use tactics of intimidation and violence. "What has concerned us — and, frankly, surprised us — is the increasing nexus between these gangs and the cartels," he says. Most are involved with drugs, but officials say members also are moving into human smuggling. Sigifredo Gonzalez, chairman of the Southwestern Border Sheriff's Coalition, says rival gangs have joined forces for shares of lucrative smuggling fees. Some illegal immigrants have paid up to $20,000 per person to cross the U.S. border. "These groups are working together for a common cause, and the common denominator is money," he says. A South Texas federal judge last month sentenced the last of five Aryan Circle members convicted of weapons charges and car theft for trying to smuggle vehicles to Mexican drug organizations. They were in a group headed by the Hispanic gang Raza Unida, court documents and investigators say. "It was pretty odd to see people like that in Brownsville," police Lt. James Paschall says of the largely Hispanic border town. "They had the shaved heads, the tattoos, the whole bit. They stuck out like a sore thumb." GANGS WITH CARTEL TIES Among major prison gangs with ties to Mexican drug cartels: Aryan Brotherhood: Most members are white males; primarily active in Southwest and Pacific regions Barrio Azteca: One of the most violent prison gangs in the U.S. Most members are Mexican nationals or Mexican-American males; most active in the Southwest. Black Guerrilla Family: African-American males operating primarily in California and Maryland. Mexican Mafia: Mostly Mexican-American males who previously belonged to Southern California street gangs. Some have direct links to Mexican drug organizations. Source: 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/...rug-wars_N.htm

From November 2012.

White Supremacist Group Works with Gulf Cartel to Traffic Meth into Texas

Published November 29, 2012
Fox News Latino

• 
  (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Mexico’s Gulf drug cartel has allegedly joined up with an unlikely ally to bring illegal drugs, including methamphetamine, over the border and into Texas.

The link between the cartel and the white supremacist prison gang and organized crime group, the Aryan Brotherhood, reveals that Mexican drug trafficking organizations have expanded their business networks into the U.S. prison and street gangs…and that the Aryan Brotherhood is putting business before ideology when it comes to their dealings with the Mexican groups.

“It may seem puzzling that a white supremacist gang would work with a Mexican criminal organization,” wrote Claire O'Neill McCleskey of Insight Crime. “But the collaboration is not unusual for the Aryan Brotherhood. In the California prison system, the Aryan Brotherhood has a longstanding if fluid alliance with the Mexican mafia against black gangs.”

The cartels are looking for partners, bridges, to connect their activities inside the United States, and the supremacists have become an important force on the streets and inside prisons.

- Larry Gaines, gang expert and president of the criminal justice department at San Bernardino State University

According to the Mexican newswire Notimex, an agent working for the U.S. Bureau Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms stated that an Aryan Brotherhood member, James Sharron, alias "Flounder," admitted after his arrest that he worked as a go-between for the group and the Gulf Cartel as well helping bring hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine into Texas from Mexico for distribution.

"The defendant stated that he had some important connections with Mexican drug cartels, specifically the Gulf Cartel and moving hundreds and hundreds of kilos of methamphetamine in the Houston area and was distributed in East Texas," said Boehning, according to Notimex.

Sharron purportedly began his ties with the cartel after being released from jail in Texas and moving to Mexico about ten years ago.

Earlier this month, 34 members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas were picked up in raids in several cities and charged with conspiracy in an organized crime group.

The Aryan Brotherhood was founded in the 1960s in San Quentin prison in California. It is believed today to have 200,000 members both in and out of prison and, while it makes up only 1 percent of the prison population in the U.S., is allegedly responsible for up to 20 percent of murders in federal prisons.

Despite their racist ideology, the group is known to have ties to the Mexican Mafia prison gang along with Asian gangs that import heroin from Thailand.

The Gulf Cartel, which is in battle with its former paramilitary group the Zetas, has lost much of its power over the last few years and might be looking to shore up its drug transit routes in the U.S. by creating ties with the white supremacist group.

"The cartels are looking for partners, bridges, to connect their activities inside the United States, and the supremacists have become an important force on the streets and inside prisons," according to Larry Gaines, gang expert and president of the criminal justice department at San Bernardino State University, according to New American Media.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/new...#ixzz2PLaBFh7i

http://www.alipac.us/f12/mexican-dru...ide-us-275178/


http://www.alipac.us/f9/fears-raised...inated-275145/

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A former North Texas justice of the peace was in jail Saturday after his home was searched in connection with the shooting death investigations of two local prosecutors.
Eric Williams, 46 . . .

http://www.alipac.us/f9/man-arrested...-probe-276116/

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