Customs OI rocks...just sayin'. (Full disclosure...I am former Customs OI trapped in an ICE/HSI alternate universe...)
Customs OI rocks...just sayin'. (Full disclosure...I am former Customs OI trapped in an ICE/HSI alternate universe...)
It was a joke from another thread. Totally unrelated to this.Originally Posted by Greg
There's nothing civil about this war.
I pulled the plug at the end of the year of the merger.
There's nothing civil about this war.
Rented it today on your guys' recommendation; I thought it was an excellent example of how to do a police movie, my blood pressure steadily rose the entire film until the ending (which is a good thing).
It's hard for me to find movies I truly enjoy very often and this is a good one that doesn't fly off the handle into fantasy land. Much appreciated.
Last edited by Peally; 05-29-2017 at 10:49 PM.
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
Awesome thread. Thanks for sharing your stories, Blues. Very interesting and entertaining. A million stashed in frozen broccoli... how did you catch or figure out where they would hide stuff? through searches? or did you have to know where it was prior to a warrant?
You will more often be attacked for what others think you believe than what you actually believe. Expect misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and projection as the modern normal default setting. ~ Quintus Curtius
As I recall, the broccoli (cocaine) seizure was based upon information gleaned from one of several wiretaps that were up in connection with the Operation Cornerstone (Harold Ackerman) case.
The million in cash in the image I posted above was seized based upon surveillance of targets involved in laundering funds through an undercover operation we had in place. (It had no direct connection to the other case and occurred a year or two prior.)
The bad guys would go to our guy to have their money laundered. We'd follow and sit on these guys once they departed the meeting with the UC. Over a period of days and weeks we'd locate various other contacts of theirs as well as stash houses and associated businesses.
The specific situation that day was I was following the bad guy away from his home that morning from the Miami Lakes area in NW Miami-Dade County.
The guy picked up the heat at some point down in Kendall and tried to get away. Since we thought he might be loaded down we gave pursuit.
Pulled him over at some point and when he reached for his glove compartment he nearly got shot as there was a gun in it but he chose the better part of valor.
We didn't want to actually arrest the guy as we didn't want to tip how we were on to him, (and burn our undercover op or our informant), so I told him that if he cooperated we'd let him go.
He consented to a search of his residence. During this search his attorney called and was in the process of asking us to vacate the premises until a warrant was obtained. While I stalled him on the phone telling him his client had signed a consent form etc, I directed one of my team to a closet where a box of $500,000 was found.
I told the lawyer that we were seizing the money and arresting his client. (We weren't going to arrest, that was a bluff for the reasons mentioned above.) The lawyer asked to speak to his client and I put him on the phone. When I got back on he said the guy would cooperate.
I told him to make it good. The mope took us to another residence in the Lakes where we netted about another $80K. I called the attorney and told him all bets were off as we don't get up in the morning for $80K. He spoke to his client again and when I got back on the phone he said his client would take us to a load of cash. I told him he'd better make it good.
The bad guy directed us to a Mister Donuts, (like a Dunkin' Donuts), shop on Red Road where he told us that the money was in the dumpster.
The agent I was working with jumped into the dumpster and we found the cash just as a sanitation truck was pulling up. Their eyes bugged out of their heads.
The other agent said to me: "Hey, blues, this money is abandoned property, right?" To which I replied "We're working, Joe, (not his real name), it's a seizure...don't make me pull my gun on you."
(He actually "jokingly" mentioned this another time or two until I told him he was making me uncomfortable and if I couldn't turn my back on him I was going to put him in cuffs. The matter never came up again but I never felt comfortable working with him after that when there was a lot of money involved.)
We cut the guy loose after telling his attorney to have him report to us future loads of cash but of course we knew he never would.
The money was transported back to the office where it was run through counting machines, put into evidence and eventually forfeited as the proceeds of narcotics trafficking.
Hope this wasn't more detail than you wanted to know.
Last edited by blues; 05-30-2017 at 08:31 AM.
There's nothing civil about this war.
While reading stuff about Bonni I found this and thought it was interesting:
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/re...s/infiltrator/
Last edited by mmc45414; 05-30-2017 at 09:31 AM.
Pretty good and mostly pretty accurate from my cursory read.
I actually found myself in this exact situation years earlier on an undercover assignment in NY where we targeted strip clubs run by outlaw motorcycle gangs and traditional organized crime (LCN).Did Robert Mazur say he had a fiancée in order to avoid sleeping with a stripper?
My role was playing a corrupt officer that was taking bribes from these outfits to "fix" things. Since I wore at least a transmitter and recorder to each meeting, it was obviously a delicate tap dance that had to be performed when girls were offered as a favor. I had to tell the guys "I could get my own girls, just show me the money". They'd usually buy it or I'd jokingly say I was a "fag" and that I didn't like girls to get them off my back.
Needless to say it caused some anxious and tense moments. One time I walked into the men's room and whispered into the Kel unit (transmitter) that I planned on accepting a sexual gratuity since I couldn't hold out any longer. I'm sure that caused a bit of consternation and worry in the vehicles outside the site recording the conversations and providing backup if I were set upon by the targets. (I was joking, but just barely.)
I thought it was a lot of fun back then and looked forward to my assignments. Looking back now I think I must've been completely nuts. No wonder the military sends young men off to war.
Last edited by blues; 05-30-2017 at 09:46 AM.
There's nothing civil about this war.
Not at all! Hearing how this actually works, the connections, following leads, trails, breadcrumbs, the mind games (as opposed to the typical Hollywood presentations) straight from the source is fascinating. How long would it take the undercover op to infiltrate an illegal op? Seems like gaining trust of the ultra paranoid would be incredibly difficult.
Very interesting scenario with your partner as well. Were any of the agents ever caught with their hands in the cookie jar? How about counter intel... so much money involved to pass around... were they (bad guys) ever able to successfully get to anyone inside the agency? or caught trying?
Again, thank you very much for sharing.
You will more often be attacked for what others think you believe than what you actually believe. Expect misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and projection as the modern normal default setting. ~ Quintus Curtius
It's all good stuff Blues. The ability to attach things like this to very real people and events makes it far more interesting.
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
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