Gun Permit Info

Archive for the ‘ATF and Guns’ Category

The head of a multi-state cocaine trafficking ring was sentenced last week to 30 years in federal prison for drug and firearms charges, following an investigation conducted by the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDEFT), which included agents and officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Pensacola Police Department and the Escambia County Sheriffs Office.

Alejandrino Popoca, 33, of Foley, Ala., was the leader of an armed cocaine distribution organization responsible for transporting kilogram quantities of cocaine from Mexico to Texas, Alabama, and Florida, using vehicles equipped with hidden compartments, between 2007 and 2010.

Two of Popoca’s co-defendants were also sentenced to prison last week. On Dec. 9, Francisco Torres-Rodriguez, 22, was sentenced to serve 162 months in federal prison and Juan Jalomo-Ruiz, 44, was sentenced to serve 78 months.

All three were convicted at the conclusion of a jury trial held in U.S. District Court in Pensacola earlier this year. Evidence developed during the OCDEFT Operation “Bayou Run” established that Popoca and his nephew, Torres-Rodriguez, boasted of membership in the “Gulf Cartel,” an organized crime and narcotics organization primarily based out of Mexico. Their involvement in the organization included attempting to arrange the murders of at least two cooperating federal witnesses.

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/immigration/details/organized-crime-leader-receives-30-years-for-transporting-drugsweapons/3565/

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives: Careers. (2008, December 1).
Retrieved December 1, 2010, from Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. <http://www.atf.gov>

The Federal Bureau of Investigation: Careers. (2008, December 1). Retrieved December
2, 2010, from The Federal Bureau of Investigation. <http://www.fbi.gov>

LAS VEGAS — Federal agents seized five pounds of C-4 military explosives from the home of a man accused with a Navy SEAL and a Las Vegas associate of smuggling machine guns from Iraq into the U.S. for sale and shipment to Mexico, authorities said Thursday.

Grenades and night-vision goggles also were found in the Colorado home of 34-year-old Richard Paul, according to federal prosecutors and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents in Las Vegas and Colorado.

Paul and Andrew Kaufman, 36, of Las Vegas, were arrested Wednesday and appeared Thursday before federal magistrate judges in Durango and Las Vegas on conspiracy charges. Each was ordered held in federal custody pending an evidentiary hearing.

They are accused of conspiring with Navy SEAL Nicholas Bickle of San Diego to smuggle and sell weapons to an undercover federal agent in Nevada and Colorado.

"As long as they got paid … they didn’t care if the weapons wound up in Mexico or on the streets of Las Vegas," federal prosecutor Drew Smith told U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. in Las Vegas.

Smith characterized Bickle, 33, as a "rogue Navy SEAL" — an active-duty special warfare operator 1st class who Smith said also worked as a consultant on the Hollywood movie "Transformers 3."

Bickle was arrested Wednesday and was due to appear Friday before a

LAS VEGAS — Federal agents seized five pounds of C-4 military explosives from the home of a man accused with a Navy SEAL and a Las Vegas associate of smuggling machine guns from Iraq into the U.S. for sale and shipment to Mexico, authorities said Thursday.

Grenades and night-vision goggles also were found in the Colorado home of 34-year-old Richard Paul, according to federal prosecutors and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents in Las Vegas and Colorado.

Paul and Andrew Kaufman, 36, of Las Vegas, were arrested Wednesday and appeared Thursday before federal magistrate judges in Durango and Las Vegas on conspiracy charges. Each was ordered held in federal custody pending an evidentiary hearing.

They are accused of conspiring with Navy SEAL Nicholas Bickle of San Diego to smuggle and sell weapons to an undercover federal agent in Nevada and Colorado.

"As long as they got paid … they didn’t care if the weapons wound up in Mexico or on the streets of Las Vegas," federal prosecutor Drew Smith told U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. in Las Vegas.

Smith characterized Bickle, 33, as a "rogue Navy SEAL" — an active-duty special warfare operator 1st class who Smith said also worked as a consultant on the Hollywood movie "Transformers 3."

Bickle was arrested Wednesday and was due to appear Friday before a

Why did they decide that there should be a distinct agency to regulate those three things? It seems like firearms would just be dealt with by general law enforcement, and that the FDA, Health Department, or Department of Agriculture would deal with alcohol and tobacco.
Ahh, things I should have googled.