Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumGun-tracking operation caught top suspect, let him go
Gun-tracking operation caught top suspect, let him go
By Richard A. Serrano / Tribune Washington Bureau
Monday, March 19, 2012 - Added 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Seven months after federal ATF agents launched the ill-fated Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, they stumbled upon their main suspect in a remote Arizona outpost on the Mexican border, driving an old BMW with 74 rounds of ammunition and nine cellphones hidden inside.
Detained for questioning that day in May 2010, Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta described his close association with a top Mexican drug cartel member, according to documents obtained this weekend by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau. The top Fast and Furious investigator, Special Agent Hope MacAllister, scribbled her phone number on a $10 bill after he pledged to cooperate and keep in touch with investigators.
Had they arrested him red-handed trying to smuggle ammunition into Mexico, Fast and Furious could have ended quickly. Instead, the program dragged on for another eight months, spiraling out of control.
Celis-Acosta continued slipping back and forth across the border, allegedly illegally purchasing more U.S. weapons and financing others. He was not arrested until February 2011, a month after Fast and Furious closed down.
Why the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not arrest Celis-Acosta immediately is not clear. He was their prime suspect and the subject of secret wiretaps approved by the Department of Justice.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20120319gun-tracking_operation_caught_top_suspect_let_him_go/
Prime suspect. Subject of wiretaps.
That would seem, by definition, to mean "big fish". The article goes on to say that "From the start, Celis-Acosta, now 24, was the main target, according to internal ATF documents that have not been publicly released. An ATF flow chart listed him at the top of more than two dozen individuals involved in the gun-smuggling ring."
It would seem, that the "botched sting to get bigger fish" meme was wrong.
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friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)
shadowrider
(4,941 posts)They'll just bypass the thread and go elsewhere to wail.
Atypical Liberal
(5,412 posts)I personally believe that this operation has been a way to counter the Zetas cartel power by arming the Sinaloa cartel.
There is just no way this could have been a sting operation or an attempt to track firearms to bad guys. We never informed the Mexican government of the operation, nor did we inform BATFE field offices in Mexico. No attempt was made to track the firearms once they crossed the border into Mexico.
It's quite obvious here that the intent is to get arms into Mexico.
For what purpose is not exactly clear at this time.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Sounds good to me. Now if ATF would turn their efforts on the Zimmermans and Loughners of the USA . . . . . . .
eqfan592
(5,963 posts)
ileus
(15,396 posts)
one-eyed fat man
(3,201 posts)Six months after it began, ATF apprehended its primary target smuggling ammo into Mexico, he admitted his ties to cartels, and they let him go!!!!!!
He went right back to smuggling, of course. (Boy, is that ever a fucking surprise.)
In his car was a ledger tracking payments to "Killer," in case there was any doubt about the type of fellow they were releasing.
Can bumbling bureaucrats be charged with conspicuous stupidity in a public place? Who do these morons work for? So explain why guns were allowed to "walk" to Mexico without the blessing of someone further up the food chain?
Was all the yapping by the AG and the Secretary of State calling for a renewal of the expired assault weapons ban mere coincidence? The Washington Post ran a series of articles which named and condemned specific border gun dealers claiming they were responsible for the most traces of cartel crime scene weapons. That these very same dealers when reporting questionable buyers to the ATF were ORDERED to complete the sales was never mentioned.
Oh, and the William D. Newell, Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix who is also a signatory on the report, is the same one who reported outside normal channels to White House National Security Director for North America Kevin O'Reilly. Remember, the guy they made disappear to Iraq when that tidbit broke?
