Adela Alvarado, the mother of kidnap victim Monica Alejandra Ramirez, holds a picture of her daughter.

Phoenix New Times, By Monica Alonzo, Thursday, Aug 12 2010
Maria was drifting off to sleep on the bedroom floor. She could hear women getting raped in the next room. Only she didn’t hear screams — she heard the laughter of male guards.

The women had been drugged by their rapists, who had done the same to Maria as soon as she walked into the house. They forced her to swallow a red liquid and handed her some chalky, white pills. She drank the liquid and tucked the pills on the side of her mouth, but they were slowly dissolving.

The drugs were beginning to deaden her senses.

Maria had arrived at the modest three-bedroom house in west Phoenix several days earlier in the back of a white van. She was one of about a dozen other immigrants who had hired coyotes to smuggle them into the United States in May. They each paid the human smugglers about $1,800 to guide them safely through the treacherous Arizona desert.

Their guides betrayed them. They delivered them to other coyotes, who were more vicious than their counterparts. The kidnappers demanded another $1,700 apiece for Maria and the 12 others, including two young boys, they were holding.

To read the complete article, click here:
Phoenix New Times

Mexican Gov. Authorties wouldn't release any ser. nr's. from these hundreds of weapons!

El Universal (Mexico City) Sunday 8/15/10
So far this year, Mexican Customs has intercepted merely 150 firearms, compared to the thousands the Mexican military has seized in combat against organized crime groups. Jose Bravo Moises, a leading official in the Customs service, explains that it is because the operations of his agency discourage trafficking through ports of entry. He recognizes that arms can cross by other means such as through the ample unguarded areas along the border and by air and sea.

Nonetheless, a special legislative commission overseeing Customs revealed in a meeting with the agency’s head that they paid 100 pesos [$7.86] to bring a firearm from Guatemala into Mexico. “One came in and they didn’t check anything in that Customs office, a serious problem for the traffic of arms the country suffers, for the thousands of deaths and the violence that no one stops,” said Representative Hector Pedroza Jimenez.

The Customs official rejected that the traffic of arms takes place through the Customs inspection points or that there exists corruption in the agency because as soon as any irregularity is detected, it is investigated. “We haven’t detected direct collusion, but we are constantly looking,” he said.

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El Universal,com

German factory investigated for supposed sale of arms to Mexico
La Jornada (Mexico City) 8/15/10

Berlin – German authorities opened a proceeding against the Heckler & Kochel arms factory for the presumed offense of illegal exportation of arms in 2006 to Mexican states with violent internal conflicts, according to the weekly edition of Der Spiegel. The investigation, led by the government attorney’s office and German Customs, is to determine if the factory violated the prohibition, in force in the country, to sell arms in zones of conflict. According to information, in 2006 the factory received official permission to sell “different Mexican national police” thousands of G36 assault rifles, the customary German Army weapon. The authorization supposedly excluded the areas of conflict such as the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Chihuahua and Jalisco. A year later, Heckler & Koch solicited another permit, this time to supply parts for those rifles “to clients with an established address” in those states. The investigation is in its initial stage.

To read the complete article, click here:
La Jornada (Mexico City)

Nogales International, Published Friday, August 13, 2010

RR (Rio Rico) man gets 5 years for drug conviction; one co-defendant brother killed, one missing

A Rio Rico man who was indicted along with two of his brothers on federal drug charges, then fled to Mexico with his brothers before turning himself in, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Vicente Cheang, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine during an April 20 hearing at U.S. District Court in Tucson, court records show. He was sentenced on Aug. 10.

He was named, along with his brothers Sergio Cheang and Ricardo Cheang, in a six-count indictment filed Feb. 18, 2009, that accused the men of trafficking cocaine from Nogales to Phoenix between October 2005 and December 2007.

Only one of the counts named Vicente Cheang, however, and defense attorney Francisco Leon wrote in a sentencing memorandum that his client’s role in the conspiracy was “peripheral and limited.” “There is no evidence at all … that Vicente Cheang himself ever possessed or transported any cocaine of any quantity at any time,” Leon wrote. “Vicente has freely admitted knowing his brothers were trafficking in drugs and advising them how to avoid detection and
arrest for their drug trafficking activities.”

Flight to Mexico

According to Leon’s memo, Vicente Cheang immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen on Sept. 17, 2003. That same year, he started his own business, Quick Freight, which contracted with Fed Ex to deliver packages and letters in Santa Cruz County. By
the following year, he had purchased three Fed Ex routes in the local area.

As federal investigators honed in on Sergio and Ricardo’s smuggling activities, Leon wrote, they also targeted Vicente’s delivery business. “On numerous occasions, law enforcement officers stopped Vicente’s

Fed Ex vehicles and searched them expecting to find narcotics in them,” he wrote. “Nothing was ever found, however, because Vicente never used his vehicles or his routes to smuggle any drugs.”

The Cheang brothers each posted a $25,000 bond after their arrest in March 2009 and fled to Mexico. “Almost immediately after he left, Vicente regretted his decision and
contacted his counsel to discuss returning to the United States and surrendering to authorities,” Leon wrote.

On July 29, 2010, Vicente Cheang surrendered to authorities at an unspecified port of entry in Nogales.

Brother murdered

According to Leon, on April 24, 2010, while Vicente was in custody, Ricardo Cheang was murdered in Nogales, Sonora. “Ricardo is believed to have been held hostage by narcotics
traffickers in Nogales, Sonora, who extracted a substantial sum of money from his family,” Leon states in his memo. “When his family was unable to pay the amount of money demanded, Ricardo was released and, as he left the area where he had been held, was murdered in his
vehicle in the presence of his long-time girlfriend.”

Sergio Cheang remains a fugitive from justice.

Note: A weapons bust south 50 miles south of Sasabe, AZ. In which 11 AK or clone; other
long gun maybe a Barrett? , 4 frags (Hand Grenades), 52 mags and “lots of rounds”
and 458 packets of drugs were found.

To read the complete article, click here:
Nogales International

I have sat on this presentation for sometime awaiting the nod to go ahead and post while the file leaked into the private domain. Early this morning I received to go-ahead from the provider to post, so here it is, in part.

I’ve included only those sections of this power-point presentation that gives useful information to LE and concerned citizen. I’ve excised those portions showing gratuitous blood and violence.

I do not pretend to be an expert on any of the following—rather an informed and concerned citizen.

In addition to the remarks made in the presentation I note the following:

1. This attack appears well planned and executed.

2. Note that the attackers appeared not to hesitate to take out (Kill) the driver of the large white bus—a non-involved civilian. (Several passengers were also killed and several more were wounded.)

3. Rifle stocks—these homemade stocks are most likely added after the weapons user discovered just how difficult it was to fire and control an AK while holding it only by the pistol grip. This is a recurring phenomenon around the world among those who have seen too many movies—removed the butt-stock to look cool and then been engaged in a fire fight and discovered just how difficult it is to fire with any accuracy without a rifle stock.

4. Almost none of the weapons shown are available on the legitimate US market, as all were fully automatic—giving the lie to the Obama Administrations mantra that these weapons are being smuggled into Mexico via the US. Mexican Border. Mexican authorities rarely release the serial numbers or manufacture data from these weapons, as to do so would prove that the weapons never came into the US. Rather they arrived in Mexico via Belize, having first stopped in Havana and/or Caracas.

5. Of course the key to any firefight is superior firepower, the ability to concentrate that firepower, cover/concealment and the ability to maneuver. All of which should be timed, concentrated and disciplined. The battle damage to the various magazines is an indication of all of the above—as is the indication that all of the targets were engaged at distance from places of cover and concealment.

6. Last but certainly not least is the ability to change-out, and charge (Load to the novice) magazines under fire is critical and probably lead to at least one of the deaths pictured below. (A training program that I have both participated in and observed over the years goes something like this: run the student in full kit a mile then through a patch of water at least calf high, then low-crawl them for 20 to 40 meters. Then have them address the firing course during which they will be presented with a magazine that will present the student with a stoppage issue. Finally have the student hand load one round at a time at the end of all of the above and fire through it.)

7. The above drill should be practiced (With variation) at least once every two months.

To view the power-point presentation, click here:
Nuevo_Laredo_Cartel_Gun_Battle_7-16-2010

Again, some of the photos are bloody and well just disgusting, not for viewing if you are under the age of 18.

East Valley Tribune, Posted: Friday, August 6, 2010, Bill Richardson, Commentary

Another police officer has been murdered in Maricopa County. The third this year. Last week, a Chandler police detective was murdered during an undercover drug investigation by a heavily armed crew of mostly convicted felons and career criminals who obviously had no fear of the carnage they were going to leave behind. Two other detectives were seriously wounded.

In May, a Phoenix police officer was ambushed and murdered by a career criminal during a hit-and-run investigation.

Six months ago, a Gilbert police lieutenant was shot in the face at point blank range during a traffic stop by a career criminal who at the time was the primary suspect in an unsolved murder in another jurisdiction. He has since been indicted for that murder.

In February 2007, a Glendale police officer was shot and killed. The suspect: a career criminal. Five months later, a Phoenix police officer was shot and killed. The suspect: also a career criminal. Two months later, a second Phoenix officer was murdered by a career criminal who had an outstanding felony warrant for his arrest.

Last December, an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer was killed in Phoenix during the pursuit of a career criminal who was fleeing from police in a stolen vehicle.
Eight Valley officers have died at the hands of career criminals in just over three years in an area less populated than Los Angeles. Only one LAPD officer has been murdered during the same time frame.

If you believe the incessant political vitriol, our fallen law enforcement officers are being gunned down in droves by illegal aliens. Not true. Just one of those eight officers was murdered by an illegal alien.

And according to a June 8, 2010 study completed by interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, three local enforcement officers have been murdered by illegal aliens since 1994. During that time frame, 21 officers have been shot and killed in the line of duty.

The study also found that “40% of the officers shot and killed from 1994 to present were shot by ‘Prohibited Possessors’.” A prohibited possessor is someone who has been convicted of a felony, is a career criminal, has been convicted of domestic violence or is an illegal alien. “45% of those prosecuted for shooting and killing officers from 1994 to present have prior felony convictions and/or open warrants.”

The report said since 2003 60 percent of Arizona officers murdered were shot by prohibited possessors. Only one was an illegal alien. Half of the officers shot were murdered by people with prior felony convictions and or outstanding felony warrants and 80 percent of Arizona officers killed since 2003 were from local law enforcement agencies in Maricopa County. It’s been reported Maricopa County has an estimated 38,000 unserved felony warrants sitting in the files of the sheriff’s office.

From 1995 to 2008, five Arizona officers have been gunned down on the border and near border counties. Two in Yuma in 1995, two in Tucson in 2003 and 2008, and one Pinal County deputy who was murdered near Eloy in 2001.

Romley’s report ended by saying; “The last five, now six, law enforcement officers shot and killed in Maricopa County were killed by defendants who had prior felony convictions and/or open warrants.”

Too many police officers have been murdered in Maricopa County!

While all eyes and Arizona’s dwindling law enforcement resources are focused on the border, an area where crime is down and thousands of federal agents, local and state police, and the National Guard are literally bumping into each other during this election year, someone needs to pay attention to what’s happening in the rest of state, especially in Maricopa County, when it comes to the growing numbers of murdered local police officers who are far away from the international border and its low crime zone.

The carnage and the political showboating needs to stop.

Retired Mesa master police officer Bill Richardson lives in the East Valley

To read the entire article, click here:
East Valley Tribune