ANIMAL » DRUG WAR

‘El Velador’ Doc: Drug Lord Cemetery’s Night Watchman

Marina Galperina — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:10:46 +0000

Natalia Almada’s artful documentary film El Velador follows Martin as he looks after “the extravagant mausoleums of Mexico’s most notorious Drug Lords” and, when needed, picks up severed heads left as warnings.

Since December of 2007, more than 30,000 people (most under 30) were murdered in Mexico’s drug wars. Set in a narco-cemetery, this is a “film about violence without violence” and the victims, the guilty, the dead and their watchmen.

Check out the El Velador site for meditative clips. The film screens as part of the New Directors, New Films program Sunday, March 27 at 7pm at the MoMA and Tuesday, March 29 at 8:30pm at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (Walter Reade Theater).

Feds Capture Pot “Kingpin,” Make America Safe Again

Lauri Apple — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 23:48:57 +0000

Have you been feeling safer lately? It’s possibly because U.S. Marshals have finally arrested Mark Steven Philips, a former member of Miami’s Black Tuna Gang who had disappeared in the middle of his federal trial for racketeering, possession and distribution back in 1979.

Now 62, Philips has been living in a senior retirement community in Florida with his bicycle, a bag of personal belongings, and some social security money. “Kingpin,” indeed!

Apparently Phillips’s family owned the yacht company that, during the 1970s, the Tuna gang bought their boats from for smuggling purposes. He also served as the gang’s treasurer, which apparently earned him the “kingpin” label. The Miami Herald says the Tunas’ smuggling activities were the first to be jointly investigated by the DEA and the FBI:

A joint DEA/FBI task force in Miami that took down the Black Tuna Gang estimated the ring smuggled 500 tons of marijuana into the United States over a 16-month period …

… The Tunas invested in yachts, particularly Fort Lauderdale-based Striker Aluminum Yachts. Its treasurer, Phillips, whose family owned the company, retrofitted yachts for maximum carrying capacity, painting water lines on the hulls to give the illusion they weren’t riding low even when they were laden with tons of marijuana.

The grass was transported in these modified boats and unloaded at a series of waterfront “stash houses” in posh neighborhoods.

Phillips’ role sounds pretty harmless, though–mostly illegal boat-shopping:

In the racketeering indictment, Phillips was accused of showing two vessels in 1977 to a co-conspirator that had been used in the smuggling of 20 tons of marijuana into the United States. He also was accused of going to a Miami address to pick up a suitcase filled with cash, and paying $223,000 to buy a yacht for future marijuana smuggling trips.

In a comment left on CBS News’ website, a person claiming to be former Black Tuna leader Robert Platshorn describes Phillips as “barely a bit player, let alone a King Pin. We bought a few boats from his family boatyard. He fished with our fishing team a few times. He never sold so much as a seed of pot and was no inside…r in the Black Tunas. He is a nice guy and may now spend the rest of his life in federal prison. What a waste! My 30 yrs in prison was more than enough for all of us.”

Phillips needs a public defender, which will cost taxpayer money. So will any time he spends in prison. Meanwhile, nobody will become safer, and no drugs will disappear from the streets (unless he’s hooked up with a new gang, but it doesn’t seem likely). And as he gets older, he’ll need medical care, which will only cost taxpayers even more money. The money we spend locking this guy up could help kids pay for college. But no.

Stories like this about older people getting captured for nonviolent crimes they committed decades ago lead me to make a suggestion: put an expiration date on these cases. Or give the defendants community service, so they can actually do something for society.

Kick Heroin With Hallucinogen

Marina Galperina — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:30:59 +0000

Want to stop doing dope and “reset your tolerance levels to zero, like you’ve never done drugs?” Try ibogaine, the root bark from the tabernanthe iboga plant. Get cured and ”paralyzed by hallucinations” of vicious monsters, “washed in love,” or turn into bark, as per artist Levi Van Veluw’s illustrations. Illegal in the US, the extreme PCP-LSD-hybrid-like “psycho-spiritual cure” is available in Tijuana rehabs, where you just might get massacred in the drug war. It’s been used by shamans from West Africa to Amsterdam, mentioned by Hunter S. Thompson and plugged by ’60s Yippies. Now there’s a legalization movement afoot.

Cocaine Sub Seized, Shows Drug Dealers’ Commitment To Drug War

Bucky Turco — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:10:13 +0000

Of course South America’s cocaine kingpins are winning the War on Drugs, they’ve got really nifty submarines, like this one recently seized by Ecuadorian police near the Colombian border. Meanwhile, the U.S. is forced to make due with its meager inventory of drones, battleships, tanks, helicopters, jets, and satellites. |NYT|

Pharmaceuticals Win War on Drugs, Capture Most Users

Bucky Turco — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:24:50 +0000

As the global demand for cocaine and heroin declined in developed countries—the third world is still happily getting high on these substances—there’s been a steady rise in the abuse of synthetic and prescription drugs says the UN. Well, that’s certainly good news for meth dealers and pharmaceutical companies alike. |AP|

Missy Giove: Excellent Cyclist, Terrible Smuggler

Bucky Turco — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:13:47 +0000

Former mountain bike champion and newly self-confessed drug trafficker, Missy Giove, could face 40 years and a $2 million fine for her role in coordinating shipments of weed from Cali to the East Coast. She was busted in upstate New York earlier this year with approximately 400 lbs. of weed and on Monday, in federal court, admitted her full involvement. There’s a lesson to be learned here kids: stick to what you’re good at. |Times Union|

Weed Smuggling Horses Busted By the Man

Bucky Turco — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:42:38 +0000

U.S. border patrol agents in Arizona looking for illegal immigrants found horses carrying bales of Mexican dirt weed instead. The human smugglers reportedly left their four-legged conspirators behind to avoid arrest. Almost 1000 pounds of low quality herb was discovered and according to authorities, the “horses and marijuana were held for further processing.”

Photo by Customs and Border Protection

Russians Want A Cut of Afghan Drug Intel

Bucky Turco — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:30:34 +0000

The Russian version of the DEA announced that it will share its information on Afghan drugs with U.S. authorities if they agree to respond in kind reports RIA Novosti. The head of the agency, Viktor Ivanov, apparently brokered a drugs for drug lords arrangement: “We will transfer to the Americans 175 brands of drugs made in Afghanistan. In exchange, we expect to receive from our U.S. partners data on 50 Afghan drug lords.” |RIA Novosti|

Authorities Weed Out Wild Herb

Bucky Turco — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:51:42 +0000

Approximately two tons of weed growing in the wild was collected and then burned in a massive bonfire by authorities in Iowa. While officials don’t think it was intentionally planted, people were taking advantage of the feral growth and picking buds. |kaaltv|

The Feds Show Off Their Expensive New Yacht

Bucky Turco — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:00:41 +0000

With the country still hemorrhaging and Detroit even poorer than it was before the economic crisis, it’s nice to know that at least one federal agency has a new pleasure craft to enjoy. Customs and Border Protection has been tooling around the Detroit River on their new tricked-out patrol boat. The 43-foot vessel sports four 350hp motors, a thermal camera, and mounted machine guns. So what’s the price tag for this kind of maritime fun? A lot: “The prototype costs about $550,000 and contains another $350,000 worth of electronics.” |DetroitNews|