Cartel Clothing

Hollywood Graffiti

2012-01-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

some cool art i saw driving in Hollywood, i had to take a alley i don't remember why, but i saw this.

Cool Men's Gadget

2012-01-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

LOL I found this gadget concept its pretty awsome, thinking of installing one! Its a urinal that gives you a urine exam, and it has a motherstuffing touchscreen!! :-D oh technology, where will you stop!

A Must Have.. For My Garage!

2012-01-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

I love this car, especially this, the Gucci Edition Fiat 500. I like this way more than the Smart Car, which i really wanted at one point in time LMFAO.

Gulf Cartel Boss Killed Near U.S. Border

2011-09-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

One of the leaders of Mexico's Gulf Cartel has been found dead.

The Mexican government said Samuel Flores Borrego was gunned down on a highway near the US border.

His body, along with that of a local police official, were discovered in a pickup truck on the highway between the cities of Reynosa and Monterrey.

The US State Department had offered a five-million dollar reward for information leading to flores' capture.

US officials say Flores headed the Gulf Cartel's operations in Reynosa, across their border from McAllen, Texas.

The cartel has been involved in a vicious battle in the area with the zetas over drug trafficking routes to the US.

Mexico arrests Ciudad Juarez cartel hitman

2011-07-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Police have arrested the head of a gang of hitmen working for the Ciudad Juarez drug cartel linked to the March 2010 murder of a US consulate worker and a car bombing in this border city, local media reported Saturday.

Chihuahua Governor Cesar Duarte told reporters that Antonio Acosta Hernandez, alias "El Diego," is one of the main hitmen of 'La Linea' (The Line) and has a $1.2 million bounty on his head.

Local and federal police arrested Acosta after an intense shoot-out in the state capital Chihuahua, Duarte said.

The governor described "El Diego" as "one of the most severely violent criminal leaders."

Local media report that he is linked to several crimes in Ciudad Juarez, such as the killng of 14 youth at a party in January 2010 and the murder of a US consular officer, her husband and another American, also in 2010.

He has also been blamed for organizing a car bomb attack in July 2010 that left two policemen dead.

"La Linea" is considered an armed wing of the Gulf cartel, and has links with gangs such as "Los Aztecas," who hire them as hitmen.

According to official figures, organized crime-related violence has killed more than 41,000 deaths in Mexico since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched an anti-drug operation involving more than 50,000 soldiers.

Ciudad Juarez, which borders the United States city of El Paso, Texas, is considered the most violent city in Mexico. In 2010 there were 3,1000 murders in the city linked to drug trafficking.

Narco Tanks

2011-07-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

For the drug cartel boss who has everything, the latest piece of military hardware is the “narco tank.”

Today’s competitive crime mafias in Mexico are no longer satisfied with bazookas, rocket-propelled grenades or land mines. The Mexican military has discovered that gangsters south of Texas are building armored assault vehicles, with gun turrets, inch-thick armor plates, firing ports and bulletproof glass.

More than 35,000 Mexicans have died in four years of drug violence, and the fighting between the rival Gulf and Zeta cartels, and with the military units that chase them, has been especially vicious in the border cities and farm towns of the northern state of Tamaulipas. Just two days ago, two mutilated bodies were left hanging from a pedestrian bridge in Monterrey.

“Organized crime has increased its firepower to move personnel and mount counterattacks against the army,” said Alberto Islas, a security adviser in Mexico. “This is the consolidation of an urban guerrilla war scenario.”

The Mexican media and military call the assault vehicles “monstruos,” monster trucks. In Mexico, their appearance on the Internet has gone viral. On the front page of Reforma, a national daily newspaper, a photograph Monday of a monster truck was accompanied by the headline: “And this doesn’t look like a war?”

The Mexican army announced Sunday night that a military convoy on routine patrol raided a warehouse in Camargo, Tamaulipas, across the border from Rio Grande City, Tex., and seized two dump trucks that had been rigged with steel plates to protect gunmen.

The monsters look like a cross between a handmade assault vehicle used by a Somali warlord and something out of a post-apocalyptic “Mad Max” movie. Complete with battering rams.

The assault vehicles have appeared in several confrontations with Mexican authorities. In the western state of Jalisco, soldiers confronted one of the beasts in May and disabled it by shooting out its tires. The trucks have not been seen in the cities and remain mostly a chilling curiosity.

The popular and lurid “narco blog” Web site said the armored truck could do 60 mph and dump — James Bond style — tire-popping nails or oil slicks to slow down its pursuers.

“These behemoths indicate the ingenuity of the cartels in configuring weapons that are extremely effective in urban warfare,” said George Grayson, a professor at the College of William and Mary and a specialist in Mexico’s drug war.

The cartels are locked in a kind of arms race involving technology and techniques to keep one step ahead of authorities — and one another.

Last year authorities found an elaborate tunnel stretching more than 2,200 feet, complete with train tracks and ventilation, that was used to move marijuana between a house in the Mexican city of Tijuana and a warehouse in Otay Mesa, Calif.

On the high seas, maritime forces have intercepted dozens of “narco-submarines” hauling multi-ton loads of cocaine north. The semi-submersibles travel very low in the water to avoid detection.

With growing frequency, U.S. guards have spotted ultralight aircraft barnstorming over the border fences to drop 200-pound loads of pot in fields for waiting pickup trucks that flash their high beams or create a makeshift drop zone out of light sticks. According to U.S. officials, there have been more than 300 ultralight incursions into the United States in the past 18 months.

U.S. and Mexican border agents have found ramps, tunnels, and even a catapult that was used to lob drugs over the border fence between Mexico and Arizona.

Narco tanks might look odd, but they are further proof of a serious and deadly arms race among cartels.

Mexican soldiers last week discovered a major arsenal of weapons and ammunition in an underground bunker, probably buried by the Zeta crime organization.

The cache of 150 rifles, pistols and shotguns, 92,000 rounds of ammunition, four mortar shells and two rocket-propelled grenades was discovered at a ranch in the northern state of Coahuila, which borders the United States.

Volcom by PPR

2011-05-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

With great sadness, I've set aside my glossary of skateboarding terms. Now that France's conglomerate PPR has made a $608 million bid for Volcom (Nasdaq: VLCM ) , I may never again have an excuse to include the term "riding fakie" in a business article.

There's plenty of precedent for big companies swallowing subculture brands. Vans, a favorite brand among skaters, is owned by VF (NYSE: VFC ) , which also quietly holds brands such as North Face, Lee, Lucy, and Wrangler in its portfolio. But considering Volcom's "youth against establishment" motto, how rebellious can this skate- and surf-centered brand remain when lumped in with well-known PPR brands such as Puma and Gucci?

I can't help remembering acquisitions that tarnished or diluted brands, rather than making businesses any better. Talbots' (NYSE: TLB ) acquisition of J. Jill never really worked out for either retail concept. Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX ) historical hookup with AOL (NYSE: AOL ) didn't modernize Time Warner, but rather left AOL falling behind the times, and resulted in a multibillion-dollar loss.

If any Volcom shareholders share my bittersweet feelings, perhaps they're soothed by the premium price PPR plans to pay. Volcom's directors have agreed to sell out at $24.50 per share. Whether Volcom can retain its authenticity among fickle youth will be PPR's problem now.

I always considered Volcom more authentic than, say, Hot Topic (Nasdaq: HOTT ) , a perpetually lost teen trend-chaser that has tried to make a buck off every fad from the Twilight craze to Charlie Sheen's crazed rants. (Surprise: Hot Topic has marked down Charlie Sheen merchandise already. Duh, winning!)

Still, longtime Motley Fool Hidden Gems pick Volcom had a hard time maintaining its indie ways, especially in the last couple of economically difficult years. Its sales have slowed considerably since the heady times when it was known to report 20% to 40% annual revenue gains, and earnings have declined considerably since its peak $1.37 earnings per share in 2007.

Acquisitions, even at premium prices, always make me wonder what the future could have been. For those who invested in Volcom at its lows, the stock's a winner right now. Just try not to think about what the company might have lost in the process.

Osama bin Laden dead

2011-05-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

A CI A-led team killed Osama Bin Laden at a compound inside Pakistan Sunday and recovered his body, bringing a close to the world's highest-profile manhunt after a decade-long search, President Obama announced to the world Sunday night.

"Justice has been done," the President said solemnly in a hastily-arranged late night TV address from the East Room of the White House. Bin Laden, he said, "murdered thousands of innocent men, women and children" and his death was "the most significant achievement to date" in the U.S. war against the al Qaeda, terrorist network that bin Laden founded, led and inspired.

As described by the President and top administration officials, the successful effort to track down bin Laden centered on a man whom the officials described as a trusted courier for al Qaeda, a protégé of Khalid Sheik Muhammed, the operational mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Obama said that after he entered the White House in 2009, he had ordered CIA director Leon Panetta to make the killing or capture of Bin Laden the "top priority of our war against al Qaeda." Then, in August, he was briefed on "a possible lead" to the elusive terrorist's hiding place. "It took many months to run this thread to ground," he said.

By Friday, a senior White House official said, the evidence had become sufficiently certain that Obama was able to give the go-ahead for the operation.

After years of rumors that the world's most-wanted man was hiding in the caves and rugged redoubts of the Pakistan- Afghanistan border region, the CIA ultimately found him hiding in what officials described as a comfortable mansion surrounded by a high wall in a small town near Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

On Sunday, a "small team" of Americans raided the compound. After a firefight, the president said, they killed Bin Laden. No Americans were injured in the raid.

Other officials said DNA tests had confirmed Bin Laden's identity.

Obama praised the joint efforts of U.S. and Pakistani intelligence, and appealed to Muslims around the globe to support the U.S. action.

"Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader," he said. "He was a mass murderer of Muslims."

Vice President Biden and CIA director Leon Panetta had called members of Congress and leaders around the world earlier Sunday night to break the long-awaited news.

As the first word of Bin Laden's death leaked out, a jubilant and fast-growing crowd gathered outside the White House. The throng waved flags, chanted "USA! USA!," and sang the "Star Spangled Banner."

The news came months before the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which were orchestrated by Al Qaeda. More than 3,000 people were killed

The horrifying attacks set off a chain of events that led the United States into wars in Afghanistan, and then Iraq. As the nation girded for more attacks, America's entire intelligence system was overhauled to counter the threat of terrorist bombs or other attacks at home.

Al Qaeda also was blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 231 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled. It has generated local organizations in hot spots from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Panetta, the CIA director, said as recently as last summer that the United States had not obtained reliable intelligence about bin Laden's location for almost a decade.

Bin Laden first drew attention in the 1980s, when he drew on his family's vast fortune to build hospitals, mosques and other facilities to help support Afghans then fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan. The CIA considered him a financier, not a terrorist leader.

In 1991, Bin Laden bitterly opposed the introduction of U.S. troops onto bases in Saudi Arabia during the run-up to the first Persian Gulf War, which ousted Saddam Hussein's Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

His fiery sermons demonized the Saudi rulers, and infidel Westerners, and soon attracted like-minded extremists to Al Qaeda.

The CIA has been on bin Laden's trail since the mid-1990s, when it set up a separate intelligence unit to penetrate his organization and track his whereabouts.

After the embassy bombings in 1998, the Clinton administration undertook several intelligence and military operations aimed at killing him, including one in which cruise missile attacks were ordered against al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. All failed.

Al Qaeda's ranks have been badly depleted in recent years and Bin Laden's death deprives the organization of its most charismatic and important leader. It leaves Ayman al Zawahri, an Egyptian physician and Islamist ideologue, as the putative leader.

Analysts said the result is likely to accelerate the fracturing of militant groups loosely associated with al Qaeda, especially in the Middle East, that have taken their inspiration from bin Laden's call for attacks on the U.S. and its allies for the more than a decade.

It was Bin Laden's fervent call for attacks on the U.S.--which he referred to as the "far enemy"--and al Qaeda's ability to recruit and train operatives from its sanctuary in Afghanistan that led to some of the world's deadliest terrorist attacks.

Though the U.S. had made plans to hold and interrogate bin Laden if he was captured, most U.S. officials assumed that he would never be taken alive.

"You're talking about a hypothetical that will never occur," said Attorney General Eric H. Holder when asked in early 2010 if bin Laden would enjoy constitutional protections. "The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom."

Obama's Birth Certificate..

2011-04-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- Confronting growing doubts that could undermine his re-election bid, President Barack Obama on Wednesday delivered a rebuttal to those questioning whether he was born in the U.S. and eligible to hold office, producing a detailed birth certificate and pleading for a long "sideshow" to end.

Obama's intervention came as the White House saw that doubts about his birth in Hawaii -- and therefore his legitimacy to be president -- were growing, consuming more of the political debate and the mainstream media's attention.

Until now, the White House had deflected demands for Obama to produce his long-form birth certificate, apparently content that voters would see the issue as frivolous, perhaps even to the president's benefit.

The White House calculation Wednesday was that it was necessary to step in and try to deflate the issue, even though doing so meant Obama ended up swamping the news with the very topic he said he wanted to quash.

Donald Trump, weighing a campaign against Obama, crowed that he had forced the president's hand.

On TV, Obama said the issue was distraction from the important matters of the day: budget deficits and soaring gasoline prices.

"We do not have time for this kind of silliness," Obama said in an appearance in the White House briefing room. "We've got better stuff to do."

He portrayed himself as the voice of reason in a loud, lingering debate, essentially saying that the nation was above all this. Obama also sought to push to the national fringe anyone who refused to accept the facts about his birth, taking an indirect swipe at Trump, who has been stirring up the matter.

"We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers," Obama said before TV cameras at the White House.

Trump, the real estate developer who was making campaign-like stops in New Hampshire, proudly took the credit for getting Obama to show further proof of his birth in Hawaii.

"I hope it's true so we can get on to much more important matters," Trump said.

Obama had released a standard short form of his birth certificate before he was elected in 2008 but requested copies of his original birth certificate from Hawaii officials in hopes of killing the controversy. Until Wednesday, the White House had insisted that the short form certificate was the appropriate legal document confirming Obama's birth and no further proof was needed. In addition, officials in Hawaii had said the longer version could not be released, and the White House had not tried to get past that.

In his remarks, Obama tried to make a broader point that the country needs adult leaders with serious agendas. It is part of his campaign appeal to voters, particularly independents who swung away from his party in last year's midterm elections, that he is the one focused on getting results.

Doubts about his birth in America, though widely debunked, have been growing. A recent New York Times-CBS News poll found that fully 45 percent of adult Republicans said they believed Obama was born in another country or weren't sure.

At the same time, many Republican leaders have been wary of the topic, not wanting to be linked to an extreme argument. Plenty of Republican Party leaders who vehemently oppose Obama's policies would still like to see the issue go away, as it can be an unwanted distraction for them, too.

The chairman of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, managed to agree with Obama that the birth issue was a distraction -- and yet accused Obama for playing politics by addressing it. Republicans escaped fault in his statement even though the falsehoods about Obama's birth have come from the far right.

The Republican leaders of the House and Senate put out no statements at all.

The Constitution says a president must be a "natural born citizen." Obama's skeptics assert he was born in Kenya, his father's home country.

When the issue surfaced during his presidential run, Obama's campaign posted his basic birth certificate online. For much of the past two years, the issue has been marginal. And then it flared again as critics clamored for the long-form certificate of birth.

In response, Obama secured special authority to secure two official copies of the more detailed certificate. He dispatched his personal attorney to fly to Hawaii, get the certificates and hand deliver them back to the White House.

The certificate says Barack Hussein Obama II was born at 7:24 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu.

It is signed by the delivery doctor, Obama's mother and the local registrar. His mother, then 18, signed her name (Stanley) Ann Dunham Obama.

There's no mention of religion. The certificate says his father, Barack Hussein Obama, age 25, was African and born in Kenya and his mother was Caucasian and born in Wichita, Kan. Obama's mother and the doctor signed the certificate on Aug. 7 and 8.

The family of the doctor, David Sinclair, said Wednesday they were honored that he had delivered Obama. Sinclair died in 2003 at 81, his son told The Associated Press.

The White House pays close attention when its message is getting drowned out by other issues. And Obama himself seemed to hit the tipping point when, in his view, media coverage was skewed toward coverage of his birth certificate even in the midst of big news about competing budget-cutting plans and the future of the country.

Thus, an apparently unprecedented moment in American politics: An elected president, after more than 800 days in office, still defending his legitimacy to serve and prodding people to drop "this thing that just keeps on going."

"I think that he had no choice at this point," said Diana Owen, an associate professor of political science and director of American studies at Georgetown University. "I think he was seeing his own agenda being derailed by some fringe candidate that was raising these kinds of issues about his personal life."

She added: "If you don't deal with something that you think is beneath your dignity, you may end up paying for it later."

Obama quickly left the stage after making his appeal for a national debate on the most serious issues of the day. He was off to Chicago for an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's television show and then to New York City to raise money for his re-election.

Hot Sauce Flavored Doritos Hit the Streets!

2011-04-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America division and the family behind the renown Tapatio hot sauce brand today announced a new partnership in which Frito-Lay will sell and distribute Tapatio hot sauce-flavored Doritos tortilla chips, Fritos corn chips and Ruffles potato chips. Aimed at consumers looking to add a zesty kick to their snacking, the new Tapatio-flavored products are rolling out in grocery and convenience stores in the western and central regions of the U.S. this month.

All three Tapatio-flavored Frito-Lay products include a unique combination of red chili peppers, spices and a hint of garlic – the same ingredients used to create the original Tapatio hot sauce recipe. That distinct Tapatio taste is added to top-selling Doritos Nacho Cheese flavored tortilla chips to make Doritos Tapatio. In Ruffles Tapatio Limon, a hint of lime juice is combined with the fiery hot sauce for a one-of-a-kind, tangy twist. All three Tapatio-flavored products offer an entirely new taste experience reminiscent of spicy Mexican cuisine.

“Since first entering the market four decades ago, Tapatio hot sauce has become a must-have for consumers looking to add authentic Mexican flavor to meals and snacks,” said Dorothy Jones, senior director, innovation, Frito-Lay North America. “We’re so excited to now bring that exceptional flavor – a perfect blend of heat and smokiness – to some of our most popular Frito-Lay brands, and satisfy consumers eager for hotter, spicier foods.”

Tapatio hot sauce was first introduced to consumers in the early 1970s. Founder Jose-Luis Saavedra, Sr. began by making batches of hot sauce from his family home and personally delivering bottles of the finished product to local Los Angeles markets. Though the first few years were difficult, and at times even uncertain, Tapatio hot sauce eventually caught on and is now a staple in homes and restaurants across the U.S., particularly in the western part of the country.

“Tapatio hot sauce and Frito-Lay share a common heritage, both beginning as small, family-owned businesses and growing thanks to loyal and passionate fans who love our products,” said Jose-Luis Saavedra, Sr., founder, Tapatio Hot Sauce. “We’re excited to work with Frito-Lay on the next phase of Tapatio’s growth, and can’t wait to bring our unique hot sauce flavor to many new consumers through Frito-Lay’s popular brands.”

Public XXX Video Shot Near Miami Beach Probed by Police

2011-02-26T22:52:00.000-08:00

(CBS/AP) Officials are reviewing whether laws were broken when pornography producer "Reality Kings" shot a XXX video without permission in a public area near Miami Beach in broad daylight.

The video was shot at Monument Island - the man-made island near Miami Beach that features a 110-foot obelisk honoring Florida pioneer Henry Flagler.

Assistant city manager Hilda Fernandez notes that it is not "an uninhabited island miles off the coast. It's in the middle of a very busy bay."

But an attorney for Reality Kings, which produced the video, says his clients didn't break any rules. Lawrence Walters says no one was around the island at the time of the filming, except the actors and crew.

Legal or not, local historian Seth Bramson says any sequels need to be filmed elsewhere: "It's hallowed ground."

Big Pimpin'

2011-02-09T22:12:00.000-08:00

lmao best video i seen this week! OG Pimp handlin' business, when the cheaters crew comes by fuckin shit up hahaha.

More than 120 members of organized crime families are arrested in massive sweep

2011-01-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

It was a mob hit like no other.

More than 120 alleged members and associates of seven organized crime families were arrested today in a series of simultaneous, early morning raids spanning from Brooklyn to New Jersey, on charges ranging from murder to loansharking — some involving crimes dating back 20 years or more.

The arrests marked the largest federal mob takedown in history.

Justice Department officials said those charged were connected to all five New York-based crime families: the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese families, along with the New Jersey-based Decavalcante family and New England’s Patriarca crime family.

"We have charged mob associates and mob bosses alike, including the former boss of La Cosa Nostra operations in New England; the street boss, acting underboss, and consigliere of the Colombo family; and the Gambino family consigliere and a member of that family’s ruling panel," said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Despite the high body count, the arrests were not part of a single, unified operation aimed at a vast conspiracy, and none of the names were well-known. Rather, there were 16 separate indictments involving many different cases which officials said all came together at about the same time, including the arrest of the entire leadership of the Colombo family.

Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, said the cases were put together to show the breadth and scope that organized crime still is able to muster.

"It’s a louder message because all of us are doing it at the same time," he said. "This is an organization that continues to regenerate itself like a snake. People get taken out and they find ways get reconstitute their leadership."

Those charged in New Jersey were part of an investigation into corruption on the waterfront, and included a number of individuals indicted late last year. Those defendants were charged with collecting "Christmas tribute" money from dockworkers after they received annual year-end bonuses. Prosecutors described the tribute money as mob kickbacks.

The takedowns and court proceedings that followed played out across the New York metropolitan region like something out of the film Goodfellas, replete with the kind of colorful, made-for-tabloid names that included guys known as Mush, Nooch, Big Mike, Baby Fat Larry, Junior Lollipops, The Claw and Fat Dennis.

At a press conference in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, some 25 television cameras and at least 50 newspeople crowded a conference room, where Holder and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced the arrests, flanked by the U.S. Attorneys from New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, representatives of the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies. A chart stood on a stand laying out the families busted in the operation.

The crimes cited included a 1981 double murder inside the Shamrock Bar in Woodhaven, Queens; the 1993 murder of Colombo family underboss Joseph Scopo, shot in the passenger seat of a car parked outside his home in Ozone Park, N.Y.; a Suffolk County, N.Y., police officer who tipped off suspects to an upcoming gambling raid; and the trafficking of cocaine and marijuana.

In New Jersey, the 15 individuals charged included Albert Cernadas Sr., who served as both executive vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association and president of ILA Local 1235 in Newark.

Cernadas, referred to on surveillance tapes as "The Bull," was accused last month of shaking down his members under threats of violence in what was described as a long-running racketeering operation tied to the Genovese crime family. In a 53-count superseding indictment, Cernadas, 75, of Union Township; Nunzio LaGrasso, 60, of Florham Park, the Vice President of ILA Local 1478; and Richard Dehmer, 75, of Springfield, were charged with conspiring to extort ILA members on the New Jersey piers, bookmaking, and loansharking.

Also named was Stephen Depiro, who prosecutors say is a soldier in the Genovese organized crime family. Depiro, 55, of Kenilworth, known as "Beach," was first indicted in New York last April on racketeering charges in connection with the "Christmas tribute" payments.

Authorities say transcripts of secretly recorded phone calls revealed that Edward Aulisi, the son of Vincent Aulisi — who became president of Local 1235 after Cernadas was forced to step down five years ago — assured a reputed mob boss that the tribute money would continue even after Cernadas left, and actually doubled.

Both Vincent, 78, of West Orange, known as "The Vet," and Edward Aulisi, 51, of Flemington, were charged today with extortion conspiracy.

Authorities also said Depiro controlled an overseas sports betting operation, while Dehmer allegedly ran an illegal poker club in Kenilworth. And in a court memorandum filed today, prosecutors said Dehmer was not above threatening physical violence, noting one intended victim who had failed to pay off a gambling debt.

"I guarantee you, he needs his hands to work. He ain’t working no more for a while," said Dehmer, according to a transcript of one wiretapped call.

Also charged in the case were Robert Ruiz, 52, of Watchung, Michael Trueba, 75, of Kearny, Ramiro Quintans, 52, of Basking Ridge, Salvatore LaGrosso, 60, of Edison, all on extortion counts. Anthony Alfano, 76, of Union, and Tonino Colantonio, 32, John Hartmann, 41, and Guiseppe Pugliese, 32, all of Kenilworth, were charged with conspiracy counts linked to illegal gambling.

Thomas Leonardis, the current president of ILA Local 1235, who was charged with extortion, had protested last September in legislative hearings in Trenton against a new program to fight organized crime in the New York harbor region which he claimed would raise the cost of doing business and threaten thousands of jobs. Brandishing an old cargo hook once carried by longshoremen in the days before containerization, Leonardis said the program "only further tars the industry as mob-influenced" — an image he said was as outdated as the cargo hook.

In addition to the mob’s continued infiltration of the waterfront, the indictments sketched out a myriad of fraudulent schemes. In one case, Colombo crime family members allegedly defrauded consumers with poor credit histories. Other charges alleged the shakedown of a concrete industry labor union in New York.

In Florida, 83-year-old Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio, who prosecutors say was a longtime Rhode Island mob boss, was arrested and charged with extorting protection payments from Providence strip clubs, including the Satin Doll and the Cadillac Lounge.

In bail hearings in Newark before U.S. Magistrate Judge Claire C. Cecchi, the defendants included the elderly and the young, some balding and white-haired, and others in hoodies and sweatshirts.

Edmund DeNoia, the attorney for Nunzio LaGrasso, said only, "We maintain our innocence and look forward to defending ourselves against the charges."

Thomas Cammarata, the attorney for Leonardis and the ILA local, said, "Obviously he’s pleading not guilty."

Meanwhile, some questioned whether the case was as dramatic as the numbers portrayed.

"It’s plain that law enforcement is drilling down into the lower and middle echelons of what remains of these criminal organizations," remarked Lee Seglem, assistant director of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. "The old mob remains a criminal enterprise, but isn’t what it once was. Most of the top leadership is now gone."

Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel denied parole

2011-01-20T22:33:00.000-08:00

Patricia Krenwinkel, who joined Charles Manson's clan in a string of grisly killings more than 40 years ago, was denied parole Thursday.

Krenwinkel, 63, was convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder for her role in the Tate-LaBianca murders that terrorized Los Angeles in 1969.

Among the victims was actress Sharon Tate, who was married to director Roman Polanski. Tate was stabbed 16 times and hanged. She was seven months pregnant.

The parole hearing was held at the women's state prison in Corona, where Krenwinkel is serving a life sentence. It was Krenwinkel's 13th appearance before the Board of Parole Hearings.

She will be up for her next parole review in seven years, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

El J.J. Interview ...(with video)

2011-01-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

El J.J. Interview

MÉXICO, D.F., (UNIV).- Entrevista completa del conductor de TV Azteca, Javier Alatorre, a José Jorge Balderas Garza, alias "El JJ", luego de su detención este martes 18 de enero de 2011
Javier Alatorre (JA): Tu verdadero nombre ¿cuál es?
José Jorge Balderas (JJ): No quiero dar entrevistas ya a la televisión.
JA: ¿Por qué?
JJ: Porque no.
JA:¿Quieres hablarnos de lo que pasó en enero de hace un año?
JJ: Pues no sin abogado.
JA: Lo que pasó en el Bar Bar me refiero.
JJ: Sí.
JA: ¿Cómo fue contigo? ¿Cómo decidiste dar ese paso de entrar a...?
JJ: Por la maldita miseria, como todo...
JA: ¿Por qué por la miseria? ¿Tu eras pobre?
JJ: Vengo de familia humilde, trabajadora, normal.
JA: ¿De dónde?
JJ: De Sinaloa
JA: ¿De qué parte?
JJ: Mazatlán.
JA: ¿Y por qué? ¿Por qué de una familia humilde con necesidades... de Mazatlán... Tu eres un hombre muy joven... y de pronto decides irte por esta ruta? ¿Por qué?
JJ: Pues quién sabe, nada más se dio.
JA: ¿Y qué pensabas cuando eras jovencito, cuando eras niño?
JJ: Les comentaba que cuando tenía 13 ó 14 años quería ser sacerdote ¡Imagínate! ¡Qué cambio tan brusco! ¿No?
Yo tenía una empresa bien, de transportes. ¿Por qué eso no lo dicen? No dicen que "El JJ" pagaba sus impuestos y el gobierno agarraba el dinerito. Lo hice por varios años, y eso no lo dicen.
JA: A ver, tu vivías en Estados Unidos, hiciste un dinero allá, regresas a México a poner una empresa de transportes, ¿que se llamaba?
JJ: Que se llamaba MPS.
JA: ¿Y dónde estaba la base?
JJ: No, de hecho no, había dos, tres camiones, no era empresa grande. Había un chavo que se encargaba de eso.
JA: ¿Estaba registrado?
JJ: Estaba registrado, dado de alta, se pagaban impuestos, todo. Cada cheque que se pagaba iba a la cuanta de esa. De trabajos bien.
JA: ¿Te alcanzaba con ese trabajo? ¿Salías adelante?
JJ: No, la verdad no.
JA: ¿Como cuánto ganabas?
JJ: No estoy seguro, yo pienso entre 40, 60 mil pesos mensuales.
JA: Pues es una cantidad...
JJ: Pues buena pero no a comparación como se hace acá ¿no?, millones.
JA: ¿Tu familia sigue en Sinaloa?
JJ: Sí.
JA: ¿Qué les decías?
JJ: Nada, yo de mi casa me fui a los 17, 18 años y... no volví. Visité a mi mamá yo creo una vez por año después de que me fui y ahorita, yo creo, por los pasados cuatro, cinco años no la he visto, nomás hablo con ella cada en cuando.
JA: ¿No sabían en qué...?
JJ: Ah no, sí. Hubo un tiempo en que yo tuve problemas y se dieron cuenta.
JA: ¿Y qué te decían?
JJ: Pues nada. No tenían nada que decir. No es como que vivan cerca, vivía solo.
JA: Pero bueno, de vez en cuando se piensa en los padres, en la familia...
JJ: Es que simple y sencillamente no me crié yo con la familia. Me fui y muchos años estuve solo, hasta la fecha.
JA: Te fuiste muy joven, a los 16, 17... ¿Qué cambiarías?
JJ: ¿De qué?
JA: De los 17 años al día de hoy.
JJ: Nada.
JA: Pero, hoy estás con esposas en las manos, ¿no has pensado en eso?
JJ: Pues no. Es un precio a pagar, ¿no?
JA: ¿Me puedes decir que sucedió hoy?
JJ: ¿En dónde?
JA: En la ciudad de México, cuando te detuvieron.
JJ: Ah, en la casa. Nada, estaba viendo la televisión y nomás llegaron.
JA: ¿A qué hora fue?
JJ: Como a la una de la madrugada.
JA: Estabas en tu casa ¿En dónde? ¿En Bosques? Una casa grande, ¿tuya?
JJ: No, rentada.
JA: ¿Y qué pasó? ¿Pusiste resistencia?
JJ: No, no hubo tiempo. Como había más gente ahí en la casa, oí ruidos pero pensé que eran ellos. Pensé que estaban tratando de cerrar una puerta
JA: ¿Con cuántas personas estabas ahí?
JJ: Estaba con dos chavos que trabajan conmigo y tres familiares.
JA: ¿Y qué pasó?
JJ: Nada, nomás llegaron los oficiales... y todos pa'l bote.
JA: ¿Y qué pensaste?
JJ: Pues nada, que se acabó.
JA: ¿No hiciste el intento de...?
JJ: Lo pensé, pero titubeé. Lo pensé porque mi intención era no irme a la cárcel, mejor morirme. Porque no sé cómo estén repartiendo los años pero, ya sean cinco o sean 60, está cabrón.
JA: Eso que estas diciendo es muy fuerte. ¿Hubieses preferido morir que ir a la cárcel?
JJ: Si hubiera tenido la oportunidad sí. Era mi intención pero pues en el último momento titubeé.
JA: ¿Y por qué? ¿Tu intención cuál era? ¿Disparar?
JJ: Sí, pues que me mataran. Yo sé que yo no iba a poder yo solo con 10, 20 policías.
JA: ¿Tenías armas contigo?
JJ: Sí, tenía armas.
JA: ¿Las tomaste?
JJ: De hecho tenía una a la mano, porque la estaba viendo. Tenía una a la mano y cuando oí el desmadre ahí me paré a ver porque oía que forcejeaban la puerta. Cuando salió uno de los chavos y me dijo "está la federal", reaccioné y agarré la pistola, pero no había por donde salir, ya estaba todo rodeado.
JA: ¿Cómo era tu vida? Antes de todo esto, antes de enero del año pasado, antes del incidente en el Bar Bar. ¿Cómo era un día cotidiano de "El JJ" en Tecamachalco?
JJ: Normal. Como muchos vecinos decían. Yo no me metía en problemas con nadie. Trataba de no hacer escándalos, de que no supiera la gente siquiera si estaba ahí o no.
JA: ¿Vivías en un edificio o en una casa?
JJ: En una casa, normal, como muchos. Me levantaba temprano, me gustaba hacer ejercicio. Me preparaba pa´l día para cualquier cosa que saliera. Se llegaba el fin de semana y me iba de vez en cuando de fiesta.
JA: ¿Tenías amigos que no necesariamente se dedicaran al narcotráfico?
JJ: Tenía muchos conocidos pero que eran amigos de borracheras, no necesariamente amigos con los que yo convivía.
JA: ¿En los antros, en los restaurantes?
JJ: Sí.
JA: Antes del incidente en el Bar Bar, ¿recibías algún tipo de protección de alguna autoridad?
JJ: Pues la escolta que traía, pertenecían a la AFI, pero fue un servicio que se contrató derecho, legalmente, por medio de la empresa que tenía.
JA: ¿Cómo un ciudadano que va y contrata?
JJ: Metí solicitud y no estaba exento a que me rechazaran pero me aceptaron, sin necesidad de andar dando mordidas ni nada por el estilo. Tuvieron ellos la opción de decir no, pero dijeron sí.
JA: Después del Bar Bar todo cambió.
JJ: Sí.
JA: ¿Ya no te recibían dinero?
JJ: Pues siguieron un rato algunos y después como los fueron moviendo ya no quisieron problemas o traían compromisos con alguien más.
JA: ¿Te quedaste en el Estado de México?
JJ: Sí, en el estado y el Distrito, nunca me fui como dijeron para ninguna parte, no salí del estado ni del distrito.
JA: ¿Cómo viviste durante un año? ¿Salías?
JJ: No salía. Ahí en la casa tenía todas las comodidades. No había necesidad de salir.
JA: Cuando te enteraste de que Salvador Cabañas sobrevivió, ¿Qué pensaste?
JJ: Nada, qué suerte ¿no? Cuántos hay que les den un balazo en la cabeza y viva. Suerte del pelado, no le tocaba.
JA: ¿No me quieres contar el incidente del baño del Bar Bar?
JJ: Eso lo puede contar Salvador Cabañas.
JA: ¿Sería la misma versión?
JJ: Pues... si no la dice, por algo ha de ser.
JA: ¿Se conocían?
JJ: Nomás de ahí del Bar Bar. Yo lo vi varias veces ahí.
JA: ¿Tienes amigos famosos ¿no? Futbolistas, artistas.
JJ: Pues no necesariamente amigos, era gente que uno miraba ahí, convivía con ellos pero no necesariamente amigos.
JA: ¿Es cierto que tenías novias artistas? Bueno, es que hay muchas historias alrededor del JJ: Pues hubo algunas.
JA: ¿Y qué tal?
JJ: Pues normal, una relación normal, nomás que eran famosas.
JA: Hace algún tiempo que ya no habías platicado con tu familia en Sinaloa. ¿Tus padres viven?
JJ: Mi madre sí, mi papá no sé.
JA: ¿Hermanos?
JJ: Hermanos sí.
JA: Si tuvieras oportunidad de decirle algo a tu mamá, ¿Lo harías?
JJ: Pues... no, pienso que ya lo hablamos muchas veces.
JA: ¿Con ella?... Ah, pero antes, mucho antes de esta situación.
JJ: No, yo he hablado con ella seguido, cada semana, cada dos semanas. Le marcaba para ver cómo estaba, qué necesitaba.
JA: ¿Incluso durante este año?
JJ: Sí.
JA: ¿Y qué te decía?
JJ: Nada, nomás que me cuidara.
JA: ¿Le quieres decir algo?
JJ: No, no tengo que decirle nada.
JA: ¿Ella ya lo sabe?
JJ: Ella ya sabe.
JA: Después de concluir esta conversación, ¿cómo te sientes en este momento?
JJ: Medio puteado.
JA: ¿Te trataron bien?
JJ: Sí, muy bien, me dieron de comer, me dieron agua y hasta me permitieron bañarme.
JA: ¿Qué sigue?
JJ: Nada, la cárcel, pienso.
JA: ¿Y cómo va a ser la cárcel?
JJ: Pues quién sabe.

The PGJE announces detention of “ J.J. ”

2011-01-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

Elements of the Federal Police stopped in Puerto Peñasco, to the northwest of Sonora, José Jorge Balderas Garza, " The JJ ",

The General Lawyer's office of Justice of the State (PGJE) confirmed the apprehension, but it highlighted that for his characteristics the diligence must manage with the biggest inscrutability, nevertheless, his transfer is prepared for this evening to the Mexico City.

The preliminary report establishes that federal police officers especially those of the capital of the country, they realized this morning the operative secret one in the hotel Mayan Palace of Puerto Peñasco.

Balderas Garza, who also makes to be called Jorge Díaz Treviño and nicknamed " The model " , was arrested while he had breakfast in the restaurant of the condominiums of the above-mentioned hotel.

At first it came out that Balderas Garza had been an arrested in Cancún, but the confusion was due to which the complex of condominiums where it was located is of the same tourist chain.

In the offices of the PGJE, they indicated that later they will provide the official information and a bulletin will be expressed on this matter.

Salvador Haro Tuesday Jan. 18, 2011

Boardwalk Empire star Paz de la Huerta Falling Down Drunk at Golden Globes

2011-01-17T21:59:00.000-08:00

There was a New York Magazine article last year profiling Paz de la Huerta, written by a one-time fling Jay Bulger, portraying her as an exhibitionist,who’s obsessed with being famous and shocking people in public. Now in the public eye as Steve Buscemi’s character’s girlfriend in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, Paz made quite the spectacle of herself, after she got so drunk after the Golden Globes last night that she was turned away from the GG Afterparty. TMZ has a video of Paz, stumbling around with a breast hanging out of her dress. Once the doorman at the Chateau Marmont convinced her she was too drunk to enter the party, Paz and a male friend began to walk away, until she suddenly fell down and caused a huge rip up the back of her dress. Even after all the humiliation, and probably because she was plastered out of her mind, Paz was still willing to sign an autograph.

Creative Allies

2011-01-16T22:49:00.000-08:00

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Interview with La Barbie

2010-09-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

Narco-blogger beats Mexico drug war news blackout

2010-08-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

MEXICO CITY — An anonymous, twentysomething blogger is giving Mexicans what they can't get elsewhere — an inside view of their country's raging drug war.

Operating from behind a thick curtain of computer security, Blog del Narco in less than six months has become Mexico's go-to Internet site at a time when mainstream media are feeling pressure and threats to stay away from the story.

Many postings, including warnings and a beheading, appear to come directly from drug traffickers. Others depict crime scenes accessible only to military or police.

The undifferentiated content suggests that all sides are using the blog — drug gangs to project their power, law enforcement to show that it too can play rough, and the public to learn about incidents that the mainstream media are forced to ignore or play down.

In at least one case Blog del Narco may have led to a major arrest — of a prison warden after a video posting detailed her alleged system of setting inmates free at night to carry out killings for a drug cartel.

The mysterious blogger hides his identity behind an elaborate cyber-screen. The Associated Press wrote to the blog's e-mail address, and the blogger called back from a disguised phone number. He said he is a student in northern Mexico majoring in computer security, that he launched the blog in March as a "hobby," but it now has grown to hundreds of postings a day and 3 million hits a week.

"People now demand information and if you don't publish it, they complain," he said.

Indeed, President Felipe Calderon has heard complaints that his government is not putting out enough information to allow people to function and stay safe.

"You authorities have placed Mexicans in the middle of a shootout where it's not clear where the bullets are coming from," journalist Hector Aguilar Camin said at a recent forum evaluating the government's strategy for fighting organized crime. "When it comes to information, the Mexican public safety agencies don't even shoot in self-defense."

The violence has killed more then 28,000 people and made Mexico one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists, which explains why Blog del Narco cloaks itself so heavily in anonymity.

"For the scanty details that they (mass media) put on television, they get grenades thrown at them and their reporters kidnapped," the blogger said. "We publish everything. Imagine what they could do to us."

Among his postings:

_ A video of a man being decapitated. While media only reported police finding a beheaded body, the video shows the man confessing to working for drug lord Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villareal, who is locked in a fight with both the Beltran Leyva and Sinaloa cartels;

_ The prison warden affair, which unfolded in a video of masked members of the Zetas drug gang interrogating a police officer, who reveals that inmates allied with the Sinaloa cartel are given guns and cars and sent off to commit murders. At the end of the video the officer is shot to death;

_ Links to Facebook pages of alleged traffickers and their children, weapons, cars and lavish parties;

_ Photos of Mexican pop music stars at a birthday party for an alleged drug dealer's teenage daughter in the border state of Coahuila, across from Texas.

"The girl wrote to me and told me, in a threatening way, to take down her photos," the blogger said. "But as long as I don't hear from her father, I won't take them down."

While there are numerous blogs on Mexico's drug war, Blog del Narco seems to be the first used by the traffickers themselves. The blogger said he provides an uncensored platform, posting photographs and videos he receives regardless of content or cartel affiliation.

It can be extremely gory, but his neutrality has helped build his credibility.

"We don't insult them, we don't say one specific group is the bad one," he said. "We don't want problems with them."

Critics say it's free public relations for the cartels.

"Media outlets have social responsibilities and have to serve the public," said Carlos Lauria, of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "This is being produced by someone who is not doing it from a journalistic perspective. He is doing it without any ethical considerations."

Blog del Narco's first posting concerned a small-town shootout in the border state of Tamaulipas that police wouldn't even confirm happened. The blog aired a resident's YouTube video of the crashed cars and corpses along the highway.

Soon Blog Del Narco was dominating Mexico's drug-war blogosphere.

The blogger maintains a Facebook page and Twitter account that includes CNN en Espanol, all major Mexican media, the FBI and the Mexican Defense Department among its more than 7,300 followers. Rusty Payne, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said "we're very aware of these kinds of things" but wouldn't say whether the DEA uses the information in its investigations.

Blog del Narco has also become a meeting point for people anxious to get information the mainstream media doesn't deliver, such as what streets to avoid during shootouts.

In Nuevo Laredo, where journalists have been attacked, 26-year-old storeowner Claudia Perez says she reads Blog del Narco to know when streets close, but can do without the gore.

"There are times when they do publish useful things, like such or such street is blocked," she said, "but they also put a lot of information about narcos and the ugly things they do."

Blog del Narco is registered with a U.S. company and all its blog-related payments are made with bank deposits, not a credit card, he said.

The blogger said he spends about four hours a day working on the blog and has recruited a friend to help after becoming overwhelmed with submissions.

Many of his videos are sent to him by readers, who know he will get them a much wider airing in Mexicedo, or are taken from YouTube. He regularly lifts news reports from other media sites without credit. He says mainstream media did the same with his content — until the national Milenio Television network aired the prison warden video and credit Blog del Narco.

Its daily hits went up 30 percent.

The death of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel

2010-07-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

MEXICO CITY — One of the world's most powerful drug cartels took a major hit when soldiers killed a top kingpin in a gunbattle, and his death will likely will mean more violence as factions fight for the cocaine and methamphetamine empire that he left behind.

The death of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel during an army operation also challenges a long-held notion that Mexican government officials at the highest levels have been helping the Sinaloa cartel win the drug war. Coronel was the No. 3 of the gang led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted drug lord.

The attack was an exclusively Mexican operation, unlike other recent raids targeting top drug lords that have relied on U.S. intelligence, Mexican and U.S. officials said Friday. After month of intelligence work, the Mexican army zeroed in on Coronel at his mansion Thursday in a ritzy suburb of Guadalajara.

"I absolutely believe that this will have an impact on ... the Sinaloa federation's capability to move their drugs, at least in the short term," said Dave Gaddis, deputy chief of operations that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "They will require time to rebuild."

Coronel, who had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, is considered one of the founders of Mexico's methamphetamine trade, building clandestine laboratories in the country and smuggling the drug into the United States. He controlled meth and cocaine trafficking routes that extended from Mexico's Pacific coast and inland up to Arizona.

Gaddis said a battle over who will control those routes next is "a distinct possibility." Sinaloa cartels rivals are already thought to be encroaching into some of the territory that Coronel dominated, including the Pacific port of Manzanillo that has been a major entry point for meth precursor chemicals, he said.

"It would be reasonable to suspect that either a new trafficking group or components of the current Sinaloa drug trafficking organization would try to take over the area that he once controlled," Gaddis said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And that may spawn some resistance from people have worked for him."

And experts said Coronel's death would not mean the imminent destruction of the Sinaloa cartel, which some U.S. law enforcement officials believe has become the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world.

Mexican police once captured "El Chapo" Guzman himself, only to see him escape from a high security prison in a laundry truck. He has since become one of the world's richest men and Forbes magazine even listed him as one of the "World Most Powerful People." U.S. law enforcement officials say he has won control over trafficking routes in Ciudad Juarez after a bloody fight with the Juarez cartel in the border city.

Most recently, the Sinaloa cartel co-opted several other cartels into an alliance to destroy the Zetas gang. That could help Sinaloa keep control of the southern Pacific trafficking routes that Coronel ruled, said George Grayson, an expert on Mexico's drug war at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. One of Sinaloa's new allies — La Familia — has a growing presence in the so-called Pacific route, he said.

"It's a blow but it's not a knock out punch," Grayson said.

President Felipe Calderon's government has brought down several kingpins since he deployed thousands of troops in 2006 to fight traffickers at their strongholds.

Those victories have nearly always unleashed waves of violence that have terrified ordinary citizens and sapped popular support for Calderon's drug war, an effort supported by millions of dollars in U.S. aid for equipment and training. Nearly 25,000 people have been killed by drug violence during Calderon's government.

Cartels have fought back with brash attacks against security forces and even their families. In December, hit men gunned down the mother aunt and siblings of a marine killed in a raid that took out kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva. And Leyva's death opened a new front in the drug war, turning the picturesque central town of Cuernavaca into a bloody battleground for control over his cartel.

This time, the army was careful not to reveal the name of the only soldier killed in the raid on Coronel's home.

The government was subdued in victory, making no comment at all beyond the initial announcement that the capo was dead. Defense Department officials said the government did not want to compromise the safety of its security forces or compromise its intelligence strategies by discussing the attack.

Calderon — who at the time of the operation had been attending a public event just miles away in the same Guadalajara suburb — made no public appearances Friday. This, even though Coronel's downfall gives him ammunition against those who have long alleged that the Sinaloa cartel is protected by top government officials.

Coronel's death "does lay that perception to rest," Grayson said.

The insinuations have come from Mexican analysts, politicians from Calderon's own National Action Party and countless banners put up by rival gangs. Scandals ensnaring top officials have fueled the suspicions.

In May, the newspaper Reforma reported that secret police documents containing the names and contact numbers of federal officers were found in the car of an associated of "El Chapo" Guzman. The government never confirmed or denied the report. Two years ago, Mexico's former anti-drug czar and several other high-ranking officials were arrested for allegedly protecting the Beltran Leyva gang, which as the time was allied with the Sinaloa cartel.

The suspicions have increasingly provoked violence against government security forces, including a July 15 car bomb that killed a federal police officer and two other people in Ciudad Juarez. The Juarez cartel claimed responsibility for the bomb and threatened more attacks against unless federal police who protect the Sinaloa cartel are arrested.

Washington officials have always dismissed insinuations that Calderon favors any cartel.

"The government of Mexico has given full attention to combatting the drug trafficking threat from the Gulf cartel, the Beltran Leyva organization, the Sinaloa or Pacific organization, La Familia Michoacana all equally," Gaddis said.

And Calderon has always insisted that he is aggressively trying to root out corrupt officials who protect any criminals. Two months ago, Mexican marines arrested the captain of Manzanillo — the port where Coronel brought in many of his meth shipments — on charged of drug trafficking ties.

Mexico's military made clear they had long been learning details that proved crucial to bringing Coronel down, including his habit of traveling with only one bodyguard, Iran Francisco Quinonez, who was captured in the raid.

Coronel and Quinonez were the only ones in the house when soldiers stormed in, backed by helicopters hovering overhead. The army said Coronel grabbed a gun and opened fire, provoking a shootout in which he and the soldier were killed.

Prison chief allegedly sent inmates to conduct Mexico birthday party massacre

2010-07-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

A prison director is suspected of arming inmates and sending them on the July 18 Mexico birthday party massacre that killed 17. To some, Mexico's drug war seems 'the script of a science fiction movie.'

Mexico City

When gunmen burst into a private birthday party on July 18 and opened fired on guests, killing 17, the attackers were initially suspected to be members of one of Mexico's drug gangs, which have killed thousands of people in escalating violence over the past several years.
Nobody could have guessed they were jail inmates on assignment from their prison director.

It turns out that the gunmen behind the July 18 Mexico birthday party massacre had already been incarcerated for crimes in Mexico's drug wars. Prison guards reportedly lent vehicles and weapons to the inmates to carry out a 'revenge attack' in the northern city of Torreon. Afterward, the inmates drove back to their cells in the nearby city of Gomez Palacio.

IN PICTURES: Mexico's drug war

"According to witnesses, the inmates were allowed to leave with authorization of the prison director ... to carry out instructions for revenge attacks using official vehicles and using guards' weapons for executions," Ricardo Najera, a spokesman from the attorney general's office, revealed Sunday.

The attack may have been motivated by rival drug trafficking gangs, Mr. Najera said, though innocent people were among the victims. The prison director and security guard, among others, have been put under house arrest.
Corrupt police force

The incident highlights a weak point in Mexican President Felipe Calderón's strategy against drug traffickers, with corruption rife in police forces and prison systems, says Jorge Chabat, who researches the drug war at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, a university in Mexico City.

“Security is a chain of all these processes, of police, judiciary, and prison system. If one of these links fail, then everything fails,” says Professor Chabat.

President Calderón has presented reforms to Mexico's police and judiciary, but Chabat says that little attention has been paid to prisons, even though drug traffickers often carry out extortion and business behind their cells.

Even Calderón's own newly installed Interior Secretary Jose Francisco Blake Mora agreed that the incident calls for a potential policy change.

The incident "can only be seen as a wake-up call for authorities to address, once again, the state of deterioration in many local law enforcement institutions ... we cannot allow this kind of thing to happen again," Mr. Blake said Sunday.
Wearier by the day

While Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, has captured most of the attention in the drug wars that have taken nearly 25,000 lives since Calderón launched a military-backed offensive in late 2006, other cities are becoming new flashpoints.

The revelations in the Torreon investigation come as 51 bodies were uncovered in mass graves in the state of Nuevo Leon over the weekend, outside of the industrial city of Monterrey.

Mexicans seem wearier by the day. In a column Monday morning in the daily El Universal, Denise Maerker writes: “It seems the script of a science fiction movie, but no, it is the plot resulting from the first investigations that the attorney general has carried out after the executions of innocent

Mass Grave Unearthed By Mexican Soldiers

2010-07-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Top Story — Mexican soldiers discovered 51 bodies in a mass grave the size of three soccer fields east of the city of Monterrey, which they believe is part of a series of executions conducted by drug cartels operating in the region.

Mexican officials discovered the graves after receiving an anonymous tip last Thursday and have been using backhoes and refrigerated trucks to find and store the bodies.

Many of the bodies showed signs of torture, with many found bound with rope, tape or handcuffs and others having been partially burned. “They could have been people linked to organized crime, [killed in] a clash, in the war that the cartels are fighting among themselves,” said Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina, according to the Los Angeles Times. “It undoubtedly shows the level of violence with which they confront each other.”

Medina also mentioned that many of the bodies had tattoos. “The tattoos may tell us if they belonged to one group or the other,” said Adrian de la Garza, head of a state police agency, according to Milenio television.

Several of the bodies had yet to decompose, which lead officials to believe they were killed in the past few days and that the grave was recently frequented by the killers. Officials believe that most of the bodies- 48 men and 3 women- were all killed in the last 15 days.

Monterrey has recently become a hotspot in Mexico’s drug war, with traffickers frequently blocking off roads and disrupting order in the city.

Since 2006, when President Felipe Calderón’s government began its assault on the drug cartels, 25,000 people have been killed. Calderón says the dead are mostly involved in drug trafficking but victims also include police, soldiers, mayors and civilians.

Police Seek Motive in Mexican Attack That Killed 17

2010-07-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

MEXICO CITY — The gunmen pulled up to the party hall, blocked the exits and started shooting at the crowd. The man for whom the party was being thrown was shot dead. So was his brother. Four musicians from the band were killed.

The attack on the party in the northern city of Torreón that killed 17 young people early Sunday morning seemed straight out of Mexico’s organized crime playbook: members of one drug gang killing off their rivals.

But on Monday, investigators said that they had yet to link anybody at the party with drug gangs and that they were still trying to determine a motive for the attack.

“Until now, the way this was carried out definitely points to it being committed by organized crime,” the chief prosecutor for the state of Coahuila, Jesús Torres Charles, said in a radio interview. “However, we have yet to find any element that links either the organizers or the partygoers with organized crime.”

The mass slaying was the third this year in Torreón, an industrial city in the south of the state of Coahuila, which borders Texas. In January and again in May, gunmen attacked bars in the city. Altogether, 18 people were killed in those shootings, some of them students who had no evident links to organized crime.

Mr. Torres said that state investigators believed those killings were carried out by drug gangs against the bars, which were owned by rivals. The victims, it seems, may simply have been caught in the cross-fire.

Despite the growing violence in Torreón, there are no federal police officers in the city and the municipal police force is operating at half-strength after a labor dispute. Mr. Torres said that the state government had been requesting federal police forces since March.

The January attack in Torreón got little national attention because it occurred the same day as another massacre in the border city of Ciudad Juárez. Gunmen stormed a party in a working-class neighborhood and opened fire. At the end, 15 people were dead, most of them of teenagers from the neighborhood.

The event caused outrage when it became clear that most of the teenagers were students who were celebrating close to home to avoid the city’s dangers.

The party in Torreón this weekend was for Héctor José Mota Méndez, 35. Among the dead were five women, the state prosecutor’s office said. The authorities had initially said that 18 people were killed, but they later corrected the number to 17.

Several people told the police that that they survived by playing dead, including one member of the band. On the band’s Facebook page, a fan, Eugenio González, wrote: “I miss my safe and quiet Torreón where you could have fun without the fear that you wouldn’t come home.”

US official: Mexican car bomb likely used Tovex

2010-07-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A drug gang that carried out the first successful car bombing against Mexican security forces likely used an industrial explosive that organized crime gangs in the past have stolen from private companies, a U.S. official said Monday.

The assailants apparently used Tovex, a water gel explosive commonly used as a replacement for dynamite in mining and other industrial activities, said the U.S. official, who is familiar with the investigation but spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the Mexican-led investigation.

The U.S. official had no other details on how the bomb was constructed, and Mexican officials declined to comment.

The car bomb killed three people — including a federal police officer — Thursday in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, and introduced a new threat in Mexico's drug war. Mexican authorities say the assailants lured police and paramedics to the scene through an elaborate ruse seemingly taken out of an Al-Qaida playbook.

A street gang tied to the Juarez cartel dressed a bound, wounded man in a police uniform, then called in a false report of an officer shot at an intersection. They waited until the authorities were in place to detonate the bomb.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the car bomb "may represent a different tactic."

"Unfortunately, these drug cartels, they have an enormous amount of resources at their disposal. They can buy any kind of capability they want. But we are determined, working with Mexico, to do everything in our power to reduce this violence that affects not only the Mexican people, but our own," Crowley told a news conference Monday.

A graffiti message scrawled on a wall Monday threatened more attacks in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas. The message directed its threat at the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, demanding an investigation of Mexican law enforcement officials who "support the Sinaloa cartel."

The Sinaloa cartel — one of the world's most powerful drug-trafficking organizations — has been battling the Juarez cartel for control of Ciudad Juarez in a 2-year-old war that has converted the city into one of the world's deadliest.

Messages that presumed drug-gang members have scrawled on walls and banners and attached to the bodies of their victims frequently accuse Mexican federal forces of protecting the Sinaloa cartel, a charge President Felipe Calderon's administration vehemently denies.

Monday's graffiti message said there would be another car bomb unless "corrupt federal" officials are arrested within 15 days. There was no way to verify the authenticity of the message.

The FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives are aiding the Mexicans in the car bomb investigation, officials from those agencies have said.

"This is a whole new level" of aggression from drug gangs, said Tony Payan, a political analyst and expert in Mexico's effort to combat drug cartels. "When you compare it to terrorism as it is traditionally understood, there are some similarities. The modus operandi was definitely of a terrorist attack. It was designed to instill fear in the police and the general population."

Payan added that the Mexican government was too quick to dismiss the possibility that the motive behind the attack was political.

"When you state purposefully that your goal is to intimidate the police and scare the population it means that you intend to drive an even wider wedge between the government and the government's popular support for the war on drugs," he said.

The day after the bombing, Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chavez insisted there was no evidence of "narcoterrorism" in Mexico or any ideological motive behind the attack. On Monday, officials from his office said they could provide no new information on the ongoing investigation.

Brig. Gen. Eduardo Zarate, the commander of the regional military zone, has said as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives might have been used in the car bomb attack. He said last week that batteries and a mobile phone found at the scene suggested it was remotely detonated.

Mexico's powerful drug cartels have long been experimenting with explosives. In the northern state of Durango in 2009, more than a dozen masked gunmen stole 900 cartridges of Tovex water gel explosives from a warehouse run by the U.S.-based Austin Powder Company. Mexican authorities recovered the stolen material, but the theft underscored how easy it can be to get explosive material in the country, where armed men also have attacked transport vehicles carrying such substances.

The ATF has helped investigate several events involving improvised explosive devices around Mexico, including a roadside bomb in March at a gas station in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. That bomb, which didn't injure anyone, consisted of two large cylinders filled with nails and possibly black powder, another substance that is readily available on the black market.

Mexico's drug violence has killed nearly 25,000 people since December 2006, when Calderon deployed thousands of troops and federal police to fight the cartels in their strongholds.

The government announced Monday it would send more federal troops to the northern state of Coahuila following the massacre of 18 people at a private party there. Gunmen stormed the party in the city of Torreon on Sunday and opened fire without saying a word.

Investigators had no suspects or information on a possible motive but Coahuila is among several northern Mexican states that have seen a spike in drug-related violence as the Gulf cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, fight for control of drug-trafficking routes.

The Coahuila state Attorney General's Office said in a statement Monday that the death toll rose to 18 overnight after one of the wounded died. There were 12 male and six female victims; among them were four teenagers, the youngest a 17-year-old boy. Seventeen were wounded.

The attack was ghastly, but no longer unprecedented in a region that is slammed day after day by gruesome slayings that authorities attribute to an increasingly brutal battle between drug gangs feuding over territory.

Middle Men Review

2010-07-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

A Paramount release of a Mallick Media presentation of an Oxymoron Entertainment production in association with Blue Star Entertainment. Produced by Christopher Mallick, William Sherak, Jason Shuman, Michael Weiss. Co-producer, Nate Blonde, Co-executive producers, Daniel S. Frisch, Shaliza Somani, Andy Weiss. Directed by George Gallo. Screenplay, Gallo, Andy Weiss.

Jack Harris - Luke Wilson
Wayne Beering - Giovanni Ribisi
Buck Dolby - Gabriel Macht
Diana Harris - Jacinda Barrett
Audrey Dawns - Laura Ramsey
James - Terry Crews
Nikita Sokoloff - Rade Serbedzija
Curt Allmans - Kevin Pollak
Jerry Haggerty - James Caan
Ivan - Graham McTavish
Denny Z - Jason Antoon
Louie La La - Robert Forster

"Boogie Nights" meets "Goodfellas" in "Middle Men," a relentlessly sleazy but undeniably intriguing tour of the bottom-feeding netherworld where porn and organized crime do their mutual bump-and-grind. Unabashedly genuflecting to Martin Scorsese as he pushes a whole lot of stuff in your face you'd perhaps rather not have within inhaling distance, "Midnight Run" writer George Gallo applies considerable narrative skill and reasonable cinematic flair to an insanely intricate tale of men who can't resist giving in to their basest instincts. A more heavyweight cast would have helped Paramount push over this immorality tale with audiences not necessarily disposed toward fare that will make them want to take a shower immediately after seeing it. Distrib will release the film this year, but a date has not yet been determined.

Worthy of being double billed one day with "The Informant!" due to the remarkable extent of the protag's self-denial about what he's really up to, "Middle Men" is a whopper of an "inspired by true events" story about a legit Texas businessman who somehow imagines he remains morally uncontaminated by his surroundings while mixing it up with porn stars, Internet scam artists, Russian mobsters, Vegas wheeler-dealers, FBI agents, corrupt politicians and assorted scumbags -- all while pretending to maintain a proper, if distant, family life back home. And he's the so-called good guy with whom you're supposed to identify.

At the very least, Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) is the guide who, via reams of voiceover narration that give Ray Liotta's running commentary in "Goodfellas" a run for its money, provides an ongoing road map through the dizzying maze of sordid events and personalities that populate this lower-middle range of earthly hell.

Pic defines its area of interest early on with a sequence the likes of which has assuredly never been seen before in a Hollywood studio feature -- a masturbation montage. The point of this unique interlude is to illustrate a commercial niche unfilled as of 1997: "something to jerk off to over the Internet." That need is willingly met by two slime-buckets entirely lacking in principles, Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht). Initially grabbing porn straight from magazines and posting it on their site, the grubby former veterinarian and NASA technician, respectively, see the subscriptions start rolling in, which means they can now afford more and better drugs.

Jack provides the boys with guidance as to how they can much more dramatically increase their income, but with millions come associations with people ready to rip you off at best and do you bodily harm at worst. Old-school Vegas lawyer and dealmaker Jerry Haggerty (James Caan) is always happy to help but then never lets you forget your debt to him, while much more direct is Russian crime boss Nikita Sokoloff (Rade Serbedzija), who's got a threat for every occasion.

The cast is rich with colorful lowlifes and no-goods, and Wayne and Buck's complete whacked-outness and acts of utter stupidity become increasingly mind-blowing the more successful they become. They need Jack's help to get them out of their frequent scrapes, and that's where Jack's genius shows itself; the man is a master diplomat and calculator who can negotiate a deal from which everyone goes home happy even in the most extreme circumstances.

Jack keeps a legal distance from his partners' porn activities by officially running only their billing operations, and rationalizes it professionally by insisting he's no more involved in the sex business than are respectable hotels that offer it to guests on in-room TV. Still, he scarcely sees his wife (Jacinda Barrett) and growing son because he's running a glitzy nightclub, becoming far too involved with porn star Audrey Dawns (Laura Ramsey) and ultimately getting into hot water with Nikita.

Gallo shows again that he can write funny, vulgar dialogue, and he moves the action along with reasonable verve and, given the complicated story, admirable coherence. Where the film doesn't connect as it needs to is with Jack's character. In a tale full of operators, Jack is the king, but as written and in Wilson's performance, one doesn't really see him operating; there's nothing going on in the actor's eyes. As a result, Jack is pretty bland, a seemingly ordinary guy with an expertise that seems to come out of nowhere. It would have been much more interesting to see him as a confident high-stakes gambler who always believes he can out-finesse the other guy.

Macht similarly declines to take his character, a formerly straight-arrow aspiring-astronaut type, to the limit, leaving it to Ribisi to steal the show as a certifiable maniac and confrontationalist who really doesn't know what he's saying most of the time. Serbedzija gives his Godfather-like figure some human traits but is downright scary when he wants to be, which is much of the time.

Sharp around the edges but rather soft at its core, "Middle Men" sports snazzy production values and an expensive soundtrack of, again a la Scorsese, a wide assortment of popular tunes.

Camera (Deluxe color, Panavision widescreen), Lukas Ettlin; editor, Malcolm Campbell; music, Brian Tyler; music supervisor, Tricia Holloway; production designer, Bob Ziembicki; art director, Douglas Cumming; set decorator, Bob Kensinger; costume designer, Sharen Davis; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Michael B. Koff; supervising sound editors, Allan Fung, Mark Gingras; re-recording mixers, Keith Elliott, Brad Thornton, Mark Zsifkovits; assistant director, Marty Eli Schwartz. Reviewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival (closer), Feb. 14, 2010. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 99 MIN.

Welfare recipients get $12,000 from strip club ATMs

2010-07-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Gov. Schwarzenegger orders the California Department of Social Services to remove the clubs from a list of businesses approved for state-issued cards.

Reporting from Sacramento —

California welfare recipients have been able to get taxpayer cash — meant to feed and clothe their children — from ATMs at strip clubs across the state, including some well-known gentlemen's cabarets in Los Angeles.

More than $12,000 from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was dispensed between the start of 2007 and the end of 2009 at clubs, including Sam's Hofbrau, Star Strip and Seventh Veil, according to officials at the state Department of Social Services.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the department to remove the clubs from the official list of businesses where welfare recipients can withdraw benefits using state-issued ATM cards.

The move came a day after The Times asked the administration how much welfare cash had been withdrawn at 17 adult clubs in recent years, and less than a week after The Times reported that more than half the casinos and state-licensed poker rooms in California appear on the state website showing welfare recipients where they can access cash benefits.

After that report, Schwarzenegger ordered the casinos struck from the state's ATM network and directed the Department of Social Services to produce a plan to reduce "waste, fraud and abuse" in the welfare program.

"We'll take a wide-ranging look and apply some common sense to the list of outlets where cash assistance should not be withdrawn," Department of Social Services spokeswoman Lizelda Lopez wrote in an e-mail to The Times on Tuesday evening, announcing that her department had "taken steps to deactivate ATMs in adult entertainment clubs."

Strip club managers seemed shocked that welfare benefits have been accessible through their ATMs. In most cases the machines are provided by a third party, the managers said, and they have no way of knowing their ATMs are part of the state system.

The state contracts with the Quest ATM network.

"If there's a way that the ATM can reject their card if they're on welfare, I'm really and truly all for that," said Merle Matias, manager at Sam's Hofbrau in downtown Los Angeles, where $2,159 has been withdrawn, according to Department of Social Services officials. "I don't think it will affect us at all."

Star Strip manager Joey Mancini said state officials must be wrong about the $1,265 they said has been withdrawn from his club's ATM. The Quest symbol isn't on the machine, he said, adding that he thinks any system that allows access to welfare benefits at a strip club should be reformed.

"This is not what that money is for," he said.

A manger at Seventh Veil declined to comment.

Nearly $4.8 million has been withdrawn from ATMs at casinos and poker rooms with welfare benefits cards from 2007 through last month, state officials said last week. The vast majority of that, $4.4 million, was withdrawn at tribal casinos.

"This is a huge amount of money when we're slashing programs right and left," said Assemblywoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), who added that the Schwarzenegger administration should have caught the problem years ago.

In May, Schwarzenegger proposed eliminating the CalWorks program, which provides the cash portion of welfare benefits, as part of his plan to close the state's $19-billion budget deficit.

Advocates for the poor say that it would be unconscionable to cut any more from the state's already shrinking social safety net, arguing that there are good reasons to preserve access to cash benefits even at gambling establishments.

"Casinos in some rural places have become like little hubs of the community," said Michael Herald, a lobbyist for the Western Center on Law and Poverty. "My guess is there's a small contingent of CalWorks recipients who work at, or live near, these casinos."

BP oil cleanup efforts disrupted on many fronts by rough seas

2010-06-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Even though Hurricane Alex was headed away from the site of the massive BP oil spill Wednesday, it was affecting containment and collection efforts on multiple fronts, Coast Guard officials said.

Alex, upgraded from a tropical storm late Tuesday, was causing heavy seas throughout the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday. And that had several major consequences: Oil skimming ships had to return to shore, containment booms were thrown asunder, and efforts to burn oil on the surface and break it down through dispersants were put on hold, along with efforts to position a third ship to collect oil at the spill site.

"Until the weather subsides, all we can do is have everything ready to attack and remove this oil once we have weather that's more conducive," said Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, who delivered a briefing for the Coast Guard Wednesday.

"We've been held hostage for the last two days due to the prevailing weather," he said.

Alex -- the first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season -- was picking up speed and heading toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. It was expected to make landfall in Mexico late Wednesday or early Thursday.

But while that would be far from the spill site, the storm has produced waves seven to 10 feet high much further east, Zukunft said.

"When seas get over three feet high, the skimmers become ineffective. They wind up gathering water and not oil," he said.

More than 500 skimmers, from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, have been forced to return to shore.

Also on hold: setting up another ship to contain oil at the spill site. BP has two vessels, the Discoverer Enterprise and the Q4000, that are being used to contain oil. The company had hoped to bring in a third Tuesday called the Helix Producer, which would increase total containment capability to 53,000 barrels of oil per day.

But crews need seas of less than four feet to make a connection to a coupler below the surface, according to Zukunft. BP now is aiming to complete the job by July 7, he said.

The Coast Guard official said the seas also have disrupted containment booms, meant to limit the amount of oil reaching shore. He said officials will be making an aerial survey of the situation Thursday.

One thing that has not been affected -- BP's effort to drill relief wells down to the area where oil is leaking. Weather would have to be very severe to affect that, according to Zukunft, and at this point, BP said it is on track to reach the area in August.

The storm also is having an impact on where the massive oil spill is flowing. Previously, some oil had been reaching Pensacola Beach in Florida, but the storm's prevailing southeast winds have drawn it more toward the environmentally sensitive Mississippi and Chandeleur sounds, off the coast of Mississippi and Louisiana, according to Zukunft.

The briefing came on a day of change for the Coast Guard, as Adm. Thad Allen -- who has been overseeing the cleanup effort for the government -- officially retired from the Coast Guard.

Allen will continue as the national incident commander for the spill, but as a civilian.

The move was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who said in a statement, "I commend Admiral Allen for nearly 40 years of dedicated military service in the Coast Guard. Throughout his career, our nation has turned to Thad Allen for leadership at times of great crisis, and this is one of those times."

She continued, "Thad Allen has provided excellent leadership as the national commander of our massive response to the largest environmental disaster in our nation's history, and he will continue to leverage his decades of experience in civilian duty as the National Incident Commander for this spill."

Adm. Robert Papp was sworn in as Coast Guard Commandant on May 24, when Allen left the Coast Guard's top post as previously planned, to serve solely as national incident commander on the Gulf spill.

Meanwhile, authorities also were busy preparing for future storms.

Planners with the Louisiana governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness this week created a hurricane evacuation plan with BP, said the office's director Mark Cooper.

The plan, applicable for the entire hurricane season -- which ends November 30 -- calls for BP's thousands of workers to leave the Louisiana coast at least 16 hours before officials begin evacuating residents.

"We can't have BP blocking our roadways with equipment and personnel," said Cooper.

It also designates 700 buses to be used only by disabled residents and calls for BP to be back on the scene combating the spill within 72 hours after a hurricane, said Cooper.

Researchers have estimated that between 35,000 barrels (about 1.5 million gallons) and 60,000 barrels (about 2.5 million gallons) of oil are gushing into the gulf every day.

CNN's Ashley Fantz and Vivian Kuo contributed to this report.

i heart monster!

2010-06-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

monster logos owned by monster beverage company , and I'm not in any way sponsored (not yet lol ,but i should be)

seriously though i love monster, i think its an addiction :'( but its delicious,however i drink a limit of 1 per day ,its OK considering the 3per of years back lol.. Basically I just posted this because i just bought one ice cold mmm yummy.. haha see i should sell this stuff (hint-hint Mr.monsterownerguy)

LA Lakers 2010 NBA Champions - LA Lakers Win the 2010 NBA Championship - NBA Champions 2010 LA Lakers Winners

2010-06-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

LA Lakers 2010 NBA Champions - LA Lakers Win the 2010 NBA Championship - NBA Champions 2010 LA Lakers Winners

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are the winners for the second consecutive season as they slipped by Boston in the 4th quarter Thursday night at the Staples Center. At one point, Boston was up by 13 points in the third quarter only to watch that lead get chipped away.

Thursday’s Game 7 featured sloppy offensive and tenacious defence with both teams, but the difference was on the boards where the Lakers grabbed 53 rebounds to 40 for the Celtics.

The rebounding made up for a poor shooting night for Los Angeles, which connected on just 32.5 per cent of its field goals and 67.6 per cent of its free throws. The Celtics, meanwhile, shot 40.8 per cent from the floor and 88.2 per cent from the line.

The Boston Celtics and LA Lakers have pushed the NBA’s most storied rivalry into another epic, winner-take-all game to decide the championship. Johnson, as much as anyone, understands the importance of looking your best when history calls.

This is the 17th Game 7 in Finals history, and all but five have included either the Celtics or Lakers. The Celtics have won all seven of their appearances, including all four against the Lakers.

This is the first time that the finals has gone to a game 7 since 2005 and it's only the third time it's hit that number in 22 years.

The rivalry’s history intermingles with the drama tonight. The defending champion Lakers are going for their 16th banner, while Boston is playing for its unprecedented 18th title in the NBA’s two most successful franchises’ secondfinals meeting in three years.

World Cup Mexico vs. France Soccer Match Results

2010-06-17T23:04:00.000-07:00

The World Cup Mexico vs. France soccer match results shows Mexico coming back to win this game after dropping their opening game. The Mexico vs. France game ended in a 2-0 win for Mexico with a rare penalty shot given after a blatant trip. The stats from the game were mostly even with 13 shots with four on goal for France and Mexico having 11 shots with five on goal. The time of possession was just barely favoring France with 52% of the time controlling the ball. Mexico has scores from Javier Hernandez at the 64 minute mark. Cuauhtemoc Blanco was awarded the penalty shot after Eric Abidal intentionally tripped a Mexico team player. Blanco was able to score. Fouls were close with 23 for France and 25 for Mexico.

Sponsoring Usher

2010-06-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

check out this cool video from Cartel Clothing

snapback

2010-06-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

I found this brand new, New Era snap-back hat. I'm a big fan of New Era,however, when it comes to adjustable classic caps I love the Starter hats.At Cartel Clothing, were working on designing and negotiating a limited snap-back cap with Starter brand. So hopefully once they are out on the market,you can get your hands on one!

new ad

2010-06-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

check this new ad. a colab. creation by me and CLER

New Logo

2010-06-10T00:07:00.000-07:00

hey everyone , just here posting Cartel's newest logo. Our newest addition to the family. So every time you see this logo, Cartel Clothing will pop into your mind :) hope you likey!

New Black Shirt

2010-06-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

ok so finally Cartel is working on a black t shirt. Ive been getting plenty of requests for a black shirt. We were braistorming and finally we decided to make a strip club theme based on a visit to a club that I and the Cartel team really had a great time in lol. So stay tuned for the upcoming t shirt from Cartel Clothing.

Two Year Old Indonesian Chain Smoker - Parents To Blame?

2010-05-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

A two-year-old toddler named Ardi Rizal smokes up to 40 cigarettes a day and his family accepts this awful habit! Here is the video of Ardi smoking. If you watch Ardi smoking...it's obvious that he's not a stranger to the huff and puff. He even seems more mature than his two years.

Despite his shocking habit, Ardi looks to be in good health and is also having a conversation with his parents or someone. This toddler seems to be intelligent so why are his parents allowing him to smoke all these cigarettes?

Want my take on this situation? My guess is that Ardi's parents are more accepting of his bad habit because, obviously they don't think it's such a big deal. Ardi's father was the one who handed Ardi a cigarette when he was just 18 months! That's only one and a half years old.

I'm assuming that Ardi's father Mohammad Rizal, gave him the cigarette in the beginning because of two possible reasons:

1. Ardi's father thought it was amusing to see his baby smoking a cigarette

2. Ardi's father was humoring Ardi when he reached for the cigarette and wanted to smoke, the father didn't foresee an addiction.

Either way, it was just a bad decision from the get go.

I also believe that the family may not fully understand the health risk they're putting on Ardi when he is allowed to smoke as many cigarettes as he does in one day.

Ardi's father has said that they basically cave in and buy him cigarettes,

'He cries and throws tantrums when we don't let him smoke. He's addicted. He went on to say, " I'm not worried about his health, he looks healthy."

I'm am certain that if Ardi's parents fully comprehend what they are doing to their child, they will stop him from smoking and kick his habit.

Two-Year Old Toddler Smokes Cigarettes - Watch more Funny Videos

President Obama Welcomes Mexican President Calderon to White House

2010-05-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, the Obama administration welcomed Mexican President Felipe Calderon to the White House do address issues such as crime, immigration and trade.

TheCelebrityCafe.com Staff

At the beginning of a formal arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House that occurred on Wednesday, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed Mexican President Felipe Calderon to Washington. According to CNN.com, U.S. President Obama and Mexican President Calderon are preparing to address a myriad of issues such as crime, immigration, and trade due to a new era of cooperation between the United States and Mexico.
While speaking at the White House, President Calderon condemned Arizona’s controversial immigration law due to its potential to cause Mexican people to face discrimination from authorities. The Mexican President described his country’s relationship with the United States as a positive one due to their shared beliefs in regards to democracy, freedom and justice.
U.S.-Mexican relationship analyst for the Woodrow Wilson Center, Eric Olson, commented on the bilateral talks that will be taking place. Olson told CNN, “You need to reaffirm it often and strengthen it. Like a boyfriend and girlfriend in high school – if you don’t keep reaffirming it, then you worry things aren’t what they should be.”
In relation to the subject of crime, America is concerned about a statistic indicating that 90 percent of the cocaine that is smuggled into the country is transported through Mexico. In terms of gun control, Mexican authorities have reportedly seized 45,000 weapons that were smuggled from the United States.

2 Great Quotes (hahaha)

2010-05-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

"I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend, but with my accent, I was afraid they would try to deport me." Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, ribbling Arizona's new immigration law during his commencement speech at Emory University in Atlanta

"its kind of like it says on the rearview mirror: things may appear larger" Hope Dworaczyk, a Playboy centerfold, on being photographed nude for a 3-d spread in the magazines June edition

The world’s most dangerous place?

2010-05-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

CIUDAD JUÁREZ , MEXICO—The light is falling, the heat is letting up and gunmen have arrived at the modest house with the concrete front yard where there is a birthday party going on. With quiet efficiency they approach the painted wrought iron gates and begin spraying the adults with bullets. Three men crumple to the ground, dead. Two others succumb later in hospital.
The evening has begun with a massacre, but it’s still early.
A couple hours later, a man will be lying in a semi-fetal position, dumped at the side of the road opposite a used car lot, his blank eyes still open, his head in a pool of blood. Just down the road, another man will be shot dead inside a convenience store.
By the end of the night, there will be 10 killings in Juárez. The next day, 13. The day after that, 22.
Juarez, a city of 1.3 million hugging the border with El Paso, Tex., may now be the most dangerous place in the world — riskier even than Baghdad or Kandahar. This isn’t the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, or Cité Soleil in Port-au-Prince, pockets of danger in a larger whole. In Juárez, it’s everywhere. Here, death is like a Whac-A-Mole game, constantly rearing its head.
A corpse hangs from an overpass. Another floats in the Rio Grande. A man’s body slumps in his driver’s seat, his severed head resting on the hood.
It happens in store parking lots in broad daylight. In funeral parlours, homes, businesses, nightclubs.
And though there are now around 10,000 police and soldiers in the city, the average person remains utterly unprotected.
The cause is a vicious turf battle between two powerful drug cartels, and the war President Felipe Calderón has launched, with U.S. backing, against them.
The main result so far? Escalating violence. Some are now calling this an epic failure of policy.
“Even if they reduce the flow of drugs, it will come at what cost?” asks one Juárez journalist. “Tens of thousands dead?”
Driving across the short, unadorned bridge from El Paso and into dusty Ciudad Juárez is immediately jarring. One of the first things I notice is a sandbag fortification in front of an aging hotel, behind which is a federal police officer in full armour and helmet, peering out from behind a machine gun. I stop the car. A taxi driver warns me that my rental with its out-of-town plates is a target.
Juárez resembles a police state. Streets are crawling with agents, outfitted like soldiers but more menacing; their faces masked like bank robbers, their eyes shielded by dark sunglasses, standing in the beds of police trucks covering each direction with their machine guns.
Paradoxically, this heavy police and military presence has coincided with the region becoming increasingly lawless.
In March, the Canadian government warned its citizens against travelling to Mexico, especially Juárez, following the ambush of three people linked to the U.S. consulate.
There have been more than 5,100 killings here since 2008, when the Sinaloa cartel under Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman (one of the world’s richest men, according to Forbes), seeking greater profits, began to fight for territory long held by the Juárez cartel. The government began fighting them both.
The lives of Juarenses have changed completely in the face of the chaos. Few leave their homes at night. Tens of thousands have moved away.
“I feel a fear I’ve never felt before,” says Reina Alicia Hernandez Flores, holding her elbows and staring at the pavement, “like at any moment we could die.”
Hernandez is standing in the shade of a tree on Villa de Portal Street in south Juárez. I’ve come here because it’s the site of a crime so wanton it jolted awake even the most desensitized to the violence.
On the night of Jan. 30, dozens of local teenagers were partying inside a peach-coloured house on the street. Their mothers used to say that if their kids were going to go out, they’d rather it be close by; it’s safer.
Not that night.
Around 11, seven SUVs and trucks pulled up. Two blocked the intersections. Masked gunmen entered the house while others kept watch outside. The partygoers, boys and girls, were rounded up and shot in the head. Sixteen were killed — 11 teens and five adults — and more than a dozen wounded.
Pictures of the aftermath show the floor of one room bathed in blood.
Hernandez heard the shots from her home about five doors down. Her husband, who was outside smoking a cigar before bed, ran back in the house. “They’re killing the boys!” he screamed. Hernandez bolted down the street but was stopped by the barrel of an AK-47, a glaring gunman fingering the trigger. She pleaded with him. “My son is inside! Please!”
In seconds the executioners emerged from the house. “We’re finished our work,” she heard one of them say. They climbed in their trucks and drove off.
The darkness made it difficult to find the body of her son Adrian, 17, amid the pile of corpses. From the way they were positioned, it appeared “they were all trying to protect each other,” Hernandez said.
At first, the state prosecutor, and later the president, claimed it was a drug-related vendetta. They changed their tune — and the president apologized — after evidence suggested otherwise. It appears gunmen for the Juárez cartel were looking for another party with rival gang members
“They were good, studious kids,” says Hernandez’s neighbour Maricrus Camargo, whose 19-year-old, José Luis, was also among the dead.
Camargo says that before the incident, she used to think that the only people killed in this drug war were, as the president claims repeatedly, somehow involved in it.
“But not now,” she affirms. “A lot of people are innocent.”
I ask them how they feel about their city now. “They killed our sons in front of our eyes,” Camargo declares. “We can expect anything now.”
Just that morning, she bought flowers from a mobile vendor. As she was arranging them, she was thinking of her son, crying.
“Now I buy flowers for my son, instead of shoes.”
The “borderland” is extremely important to the cartels because it’s worth billions. The U.S. State Department says 90 per cent of the cocaine destined for the U.S. flows through Mexico from its origins in South America. And up to 60 per cent of all illegal drugs are smuggled across a 350-kilometre stretch from New Mexico to Texas’s Big Bend National Park.
By extension, Mexico is also the main source of cocaine in Canada, since the U.S. is the major transit country for the drug smuggled into this country, according to the RCMP.
But few in the backrooms of Toronto nightclubs snorting the white powder think about the eroding security in Ciudad Juárez.
At the scene of the five-person massacre earlier this night, in the middle-class Infonavit Casa Grande neighbourhood, I watch as the police, federal and municipal, mill about, filling out forms, talking on cell phones. I don’t see any statements taken. Within a half-hour the police tape is gone, and so are they.
Gustavo De la Rosa Hickerson, a human rights ombudsman with the Chihuahua State government, says the killers are almost never caught in this war. “Nobody is convicted of anything,” he says. The conviction rate for drug-related arrests across Mexico is believed to be about 2 per cent.
Cecilia Valenzuela de Mendez, dressed in a pink satin blouse, has been staring into space. Her son Arturo, father to a 4-year-old, is dead. Murdered in the family’s own front yard.
It was a relative’s birthday party. Valenzuela was in the back of the house washing dishes when she heard the commotion and caught a glimpse of the killers as they fled. “They were wearing uniforms,” she says.
She starts to moan, like she’s about to vomit. “It has come home to us,” she wails. “What do I do?”
Her other son, José Alfredo, looks bewildered. His eyes dart side to side, as if he’s worried the killers, probably the feared sicarios — hitmen for the organized crime groups — might return. The victims “weren’t involved in anything,” he says, preempting any question about drugs, gangs.
The government has claimed that sicarios have used stolen police uniforms in the past. But public suspicion of the police and military is rampant.
Virtually no one says they are to be trusted. One young man contends he was forced by federales — the federal cops — to withdraw money from an ATM. Others say they stop vehicles on false pretenses and steal valuables, or simply take bribes.
Police in Mexico have long been corrupt; it’s one of the scourges Calderón has tried to root out, as well as dishonesty inside the justice system.
Not all officers are crooked. On April 23 six federal agents and one municipal officer — a 22-year-old mother — were slaughtered in an ambush by a cartel-affiliated gang. They appeared to be honest cops trying to do their jobs.
Before early April, when 5,000 federales took over from the Mexican army in leading the anti-drug effort here, ombudsman De la Rosa’s office was investigating 220 complaints of abuse by the military, from illegal detention to torture to disappearances.
Then one night he was threatened with a gun pointed to his head while stopped at a suburban intersection. Later one of his bodyguards was killed. He fled to El Paso.
He has since returned to work, but now there are complaints against the federales.
Even municipal police officers like Arturo Muñoz are wary of the effort. In the middle of Muñoz’s back is a hard lump. It’s a bullet, still lodged there since he was shot in March while working as an undercover cop guarding a convenience store.
“These federales come from far away and all they see is a big market to make money,” the 20-year veteran officer says. “They’re supposed to deal with the cartels but they’re just looking for your car without plates so they can stop you, take $50 and let you go.”
Muñoz, who makes about $600 a month and has another job making garage doors to make ends meet, believes the corruption goes up very high. The traffickers wouldn’t be able to move their products and guns past the hundreds of checkpoints in the city and countryside undetected. “If something happens,” he surmises, “it’s because they allow it to happen. It’s not luck.”
Corruption is also top of mind for the woman who manages the finances at one of the city’s more expensive funeral homes. I went there mistaking it for another that endured a massacre during a memorial service.
This woman had her own story to tell. The business is being forced to pay $600 in weekly extortion. It began last October with a phone threat. The management didn’t pay attention at first. The threats continued. The office was moved and staff began wearing jeans and running shoes to work, in case they had to flee.
Then, gunmen shot up the front of the building with high-calibre rifles.
Management began paying, says the woman, who asked that neither her name nor that of the business be published for security reasons. “It was the only way. The threat was that the next time it will be dead people.”
All through the ordeal, the woman adds, the police would never come. But now that they’re making payments — every Monday they get a call telling them where to take the money — the police “respond very quickly,” she says, shaking her head.
The day he took office, Juárez mayor José Reyes Ferriz fired the municipal forces’ top officers. The chief had been caught crossing into the U.S. with a trunk full of marijuana. It took two years but the local department is now almost entirely made up of new recruits.
Reyes is optimistic for the future, despite the increasing violence. “This has nothing to do with the failure of federal policies,” Reyes says. “It has to do with the flow of drugs into the U.S. over the last 15 years.”
The soft-spoken Reyes, a business lawyer by profession, sits behind a presidential desk in an elegant dark-wood paneled office in Juárez’s city hall. He’s had threats, including a pig’s head at his front door. Most Juarenses believe he sleeps at his home in El Paso every night; he denies it.
Reyes comes from a more left-wing party than Calderón, yet he staunchly defends the president. Calderón has been able to reduce the flow of cocaine through Mexico by 30 per cent, Reyes says, and so the cartels are “fighting for a larger piece” of a shrinking pie.
Critics say Calderón has inexplicably thrown firepower at the cartels while ignoring other crucial elements in any fight against organized crime.
Notably, argues Edgardo Buscaglia, a renowned expert on global organized crime, his government has ignored the thousands of legal enterprises linked to the cartels that allow them to launder money, move and distribute their products, and bribe soldiers and police.
“As long as you don’t dismantle the economic side of organized crime in the legal economy, you’ll never get rid of their power to corrupt and exercise violence,” explains Buscaglia, a professor of law and economics at the Autonomous Institute of Technology of Mexico.
And why isn’t this tackled? Buscaglia says it’s simple: these businesses contribute to the political campaigns of all parties.
Named after Benito Juárez, Mexico’s first president from an indigenous native group and one of its most celebrated, Juárez is a mix of dilapidated and sparkling new. Until the recession, it was one of Mexico’s richest cities, thanks to hundreds of cheap-labour maquiladoras producing everything from TVs to medical supplies for the world.
The recession has hit hard: Juárez went from zero to 20 per cent unemployment in two years.
But the other reason for the decline is the dramatic explosion in violence and the near impunity with which it all unfolds.
Alfreda Varela’s life as a reporter has changed dramatically in the past couple of years. Juárez used to have as many murders as any similar-sized American city. Now, All Varela reports on nowadays is death. On this night, he is speeding from one murder scene to the next for his all-news station, Channel 44.
He goes from the Casa Grandes case and soon he’s in front of a used car lot, Teto Car’s (sic). Lying on the ground is the body of Israel Valle José Triana, a 31-year-old who appears to have been kidnapped, then dumped out of a vehicle and shot.
After 20 minutes at the scene, he and his crew move on to the next, the Oxxo convenience store. “It’s historic what’s happening here,” Varela says to me. “Juárez’s social structure is falling apart. All the executions, the kidnappings, the assaults, femicides, extortions, it’s killing the economy, and the corruption is infiltrating all the police forces.”
Many think that once you step foot into Juárez you stand a good chance of being killed. It’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I worried for my safety only once, while standing before a concrete fence behind the home of celebrity singer and songwriter Juan Gabriel, on which sicarios, working for the Juárez drug gang, wrote a graffiti message taking responsibility for the killing of the seven police on April 23. They suspected the police of providing support for the Sinaloa cartel. They threatened more carnage if this support continues.
My guide was already nervous about being there. Not long after our arrival a large, white SUV with smoked-out windows rolled by, then backed up and turned down the street we were on. Keenly aware these were likely gang members, and were likely armed, and remembering the death toll here, I held my breath.
The SUV drove very slowly past, but didn’t stop. I exhaled.
I was beginning to understand what life feels like in Juárez.
BODY COUNTS
Since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in December, 2006, there have been about 23,000 drug-related deaths across the country. The most murderous city has since become Juárez. Some comparisons from 2009:
Toronto: 62 murders
Juárez: 2,660
Baghdad: 1,545 deaths (with a population five times larger than that of Juárez)
Afghanistan: 2,412 civilian deaths and 520 coalition military deaths for the entire country (population 29 million).

Sources: UNAMA, Iraq Body Count, icasualties.org
The gangs of Juárez
Juárez cartel: Led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, this cartel has long ruled these parts. For enforcement, it uses La Linea, which took responsibility for the recent slaughter of seven police, and the Barrio Aztecas, who got their start in the Texas prison system.
Sinaloa cartel: Led by the notorious Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman, in recent years it has encroached on Juárez territory, seeking to control the most lucrative transport corridor to the U.S. and Canada. Guzman, who was arrested years ago but claimed to be a simple farmer, is still believed to still be living in the lush Sinaloa state to the southwest, some say openly with the protection of authorities. For enforcement, the cartel uses the Mexicles and the Artist Assassins.

Cartel Papers Show Bribes to Mexican Authorities

2010-05-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

MEXICO CITY — Internal documents from one of Mexico’s largest and most profitable drug trafficking cartels help explain why the group’s leader remains at large, nearly a decade after he boldly escaped from a maximum-security prison by hiding in a laundry cart.
Some of the people who are supposed to be pursuing him are apparently on his payroll.
The paperwork, recovered by the Mexican authorities from a suspected associate of the drug don, Joaquín Guzmán, show that he has a sophisticated counterintelligence operation and that he is a master at buying off top police officers and soldiers with his ample drug profits.

The documents, leaked to Mexico’s Reforma newspaper, were recovered from a Hummer last year that the authorities said belonged to Roberto Beltrán Burgos, who is suspected of being a lieutenant of Mr. Guzmán's.

read more click headline

el chapo guzmans wife arrested and released.

2010-05-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

MEXICO CITY — The wife of Mexico's most-wanted drug lord was questioned and released after she was found during raids on seven houses linked to the fugitive trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, prosecutors said Thursday.

The Attorney General's Office said Griselda Lopez Perez was in one of the houses raided Wednesday and was taken to the offices of investigative police, where she made a statement and was let go early Thursday.

The office did not reveal the contents of her statement, but said it had no outstanding warrants or criminal cases open against Lopez Perez, or an alias she allegedly was known by, Karla Perez Rojo.

She has been identified by authorities as Guzman's wife since at least 2002.

Authorities said they seized six of the seven houses as well as seven luxury vehicles, computer equipment and five safes containing jewelry. It was not clear if any of that property belonged to Lopez Perez.

The combined raids by police, soldiers and prosecutors' agents were carried out in at least four upscale neighborhoods in the northern city of Culiacan. The city is the capital of Sinaloa state, long considered the cradle of Mexico's most powerful drug lords.

Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel, has reportedly built alliances with other cartels and trafficking gangs stretching along the country's northern border region and is reportedly leading an offensive against the rival Zetas gang.

He has long been reported to hide out and operate in the mountains of Sinaloa.

The government has traditionally denied it pursues relatives of drug suspects unless they are suspected of involvement in crimes.

Last August, prosecutors released the mother of reputed La Familia drug cartel leader Servando "La Tuta" Gomez after holding her two days.

His gang had threatened to retaliate against police if they bothered his family; federal police suffered violent attacks in the cartel's home state of Michoacan both before and after the mother's detention.

The Mexican army also reported Thursday that it had detained five suspected cartel gunmen with assault rifles and hand grenades in the northern state of Chihuahua, after troops came under fire from the group. The soldiers also destroyed an opium poppy field of about one acre ( 1/2 hectare).

(sorry there was no pictures released of hiswife)

the Godfather

2010-05-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

very pleased to say that now i am the godfather of one of my twin baby sisters, the party went pretty good, the hangover pretty bad lol i charged the camera after church n started drinking and setting things up early and i forgot the damn camera hahaha but my image wasnt picture friendly hahaha mm yummy tho the food was great and the buchanan delicious, plus we had a full bar lol homemade!

new shipment!

2010-05-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

cartel clothing has recieved a new shipment and plus new office , check out the shirts, click the shop page on top. heres 2 quick pics i had no time for pics,been moving,ordering,doin all kinds of stuff, work work work.

check out my myspace too and hit me up if u like myMyspace

Pancho Villa, leader of the Mexican Revolution and Hollywood movie star

2010-05-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

‘The Lost Reels of Pancho Villa’ at REDCAT explores the curious relationship between the Mexican Revolution leader and the U.S. film industry.

By Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times

May 1, 2010

The Vietnam conflict has been called the first television war, beaming visions of battlefield carnage directly into America's living rooms. But the first cinematic war likely was the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920, a multiphased, internecine conflict that left at least 1 million people dead. And its biggest "star" was Pancho Villa, the daring, strategically brilliant leader of the guerrilla army that helped seize control of the country's northern and border territories for the rebels. read full article by Reed Johnson at L.A. Times

WEST COAST AGREES WITH MARIJUANA

2010-04-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

A poll was conducted among a random sample of 858 adults nationwide by CBS, on the legalization of marijuana from March 29 – April 1, 2009 and was released April 20th.
This November Californians will get to vote on a ballot initiative , if passed, it would legalize marijuana in the state, making it the first state in the nation to do so. The measure would permit those age 21 and over to possess small amounts of marijuana, and the sale of it would be regulated and taxed by local governments.
The poll conducted finds that 51% of the West Coast supports the idea of legalization, while 41% disagree and 4% are undecided.
The nation wide poll found that 51% of Americans opposed the idea of legal use of marijuana while 41% support the idea.

Official CBS Poll

Shop Opened!!!

2010-04-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Cartel Clothing Online shop is open and taking pre-orders, make yours before were sold out!

SHOP CARTEL CLOTHING

Bolivian Coca Colla

2010-04-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

A Bolivian company, launched a new drink they called, "Coca Colla". A energy drink, whos main ingredient is coca leafs is being distributed in La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. The company distributed 12,000 half liter bottles which cost around 1.50 US dollars.

ONLINE CARTEL STORE COMING SOON!!

2010-04-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

Cartel Clothing is opening a online store with Storenvy.com, the page is under construction, but soon to include tshirts,posters,stickers and more. cartelclothing.storenvy.com

DRUG LORD MAKES THE COVER

2010-04-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

Ismael Zambada Garcia "El Mayo", was interviewed and put on the cover of a prestigious Mexican publication, Proceso magazine. The interview stirred controversy, as renown journalist and owner of Proceso magazine,Julio Sherer, interviews and poses for a cover picture with one of the worlds most wanted drug lords, Mayo Zambada. Some criticize the situation, personally i think is a great achievement in journalism, and may be a collectors item perhaps? :)

CONVOY OF ARMED MAN CAUHT ON CCTV

2010-04-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

This is a video of sicarios in Creel with weapons in hands and pulling vehicles over without any intervention from police. The men massacre 9 members of a family before leaving the town. please post your comments about the subject.

MEXICOS DRUG WAR RELATED DEATHS RISE!

2010-04-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Various news posts, report that the number of drug war related deaths has risen above 22,000,since president Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and launched a war on drug cartels, in efforts to stop the trafficking of illicit drugs. We at Cartelclothingbrand.com wouldlike to read some of your thoughts on this subject.

Banksy's '"Exit Through The Gift Shop"

2010-04-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

New graffiti film EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP opens in 2 selected cinemas in LA, the Arclight, Hollywood, and at the Landmark cinema, April 16. This film Documents a variety of graffiti artists like Shepard Fairey "OBEY", Buff Monster, Swoon, Banksy himself, and more. Here is some example of their work and the movie trailer and an extra 5 min sneak peek.

BANKSY

OBEY

BUFF MONSTER

Goodmorning America!!!

2010-01-27T22:44:00.000-08:00

This is the new t shirt for the first season. this piece was actually designed by my brother, whos a artist/graffiti artist, were working on collabos between Cartel and his designs, name and images will be released soon, stay tunned! lol

Tequila!

2010-01-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

Also i came across this and had to buy it, lol. Well my excuse being a new t shirt added to the season, LOL. check it out on top its called Goodmorning America.

Ostrich IDEA

2010-01-27T22:37:00.000-08:00

Recently working on ideas and designs, i came across some products i had to purchase. Not only for personal use, but as basis of my own designs. here in the picture is a wallet and shoes, Cartel Clothing is currently designing our own to give that ostrich skin a new street fashion image.

Designs

2010-01-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

These are the designs for the first season, i will be updating you guys with newer products, designs and ideas of new products to my line.For now there is 7 items .3 of wich are limited and 1 of them is a limited edition sweater, the following season were hoping to bring out brighter shirts, blue,red,turquoise.ect...

Salvador Haro,

2010-01-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

hey everyone soon ill post some designs and concepts, for you guys to see. for now ima put a link for my myspace page and for the Cartel myspace.

hit me up and chek out the designs we have up.

Salvador Haro Myspace

Cartel Clothing Myspace

Private Party

2010-01-19T18:52:00.000-08:00

While planning one of our many private parties, we were searching for a band that would play in our party, not everyone made the cut , fortunetly we came across a promissing yound one-man band Grupo Las Latas De la Vida. hahahaha . wow that party got cracking!!!

Cartel Clothing

2010-01-19T13:37:00.000-08:00

Cartel Clothing, is a limited brand with luxury streetwear, for those who make that money, whether you hustle or recycle! If you doing it big for yourself let everyone know you rocking pure gold, cartel clothing!!

cartel clothing myspace

new domain

2010-01-17T00:42:00.000-08:00

just got the domain, cartelclothingbrand.com , damn i need a smoke hahaha