AP Exclusive: DEA agent accused of conspiring with cartel

[Baitball Blogger]

MIAMI (AP) — A once-standout U.S. federal narcotics agent known for spending lavishly on luxury cars and Tiffany jewelry has been arrested on charges of conspiring to launder money with the same Colombian drug cartel he was supposed to be fighting.

Jose Irizarry and his wife were arrested Friday at their home near San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of a 19-count federal indictment that accused the 46-year-old Irizarry of “secretly using his position and his special access to information” to divert millions in drug proceeds from control of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“It’s a black eye for the DEA to have one of its own engaged in such a high level of corruption," said Mike Vigil, the DEA's former Chief of International Operations. "He jeopardized investigations. He jeopardized other agents and he jeopardized informants."

Federal prosecutors in Tampa, Florida, allege the conspiracy not only enriched Irizarry but benefited two unindicted co-conspirators, neither of whom is named in the indictment. One was employed as a Colombian public official while the other was described as the head of a drug trafficking and money laundering organization who became the godfather to the Irizarry couple's children in 2015, when the DEA agent was posted to the Colombian resort city of Cartagena at the time.

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20200222/e4824a71-524d-4c03-a4ba-e9210962fb2a

[Baitball Blogger]

1. Jesus. It was the press who exposed him. The other narcotics agents

were mum about what was going on.

"When The Associated Press revealed the scale of Irizarry’s alleged wrongdoing last year, it sent shockwaves through the DEA, where his ostentatious habits and tales of raucous yacht parties with bikini-clad prostitutes were legendary among agents"

[crickets]

4. I immediately wondered about that.

How could he possibly be living so high on the hog without being on the take? How could none of his coworkers be aware, or at least suspicious? Well, possibly two of them were given there are unnamed co-conspirators. Yikes.

[malaise]

5. I know about a former police commissioner on this island

You should see the homes he built in the hills - he and his children had their visas revoked. The whole damn gang was/is involved in drugs and money laundering.
Those closest to the massive amounts of money are often bought out.
A close friend has a hobby - looking at the death columns for the addresses of former senior cops. Then he sends us email with smilies and says Told You he was a crooked cop.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. And you know they couldn't do it without others turning a blind eye.

Close to home I can see it. An ex-Police Chief using his authoritarian power in his retirement years. Not a pretty sight.

[malaise]

7. Starting with the crooked politicians who appoint them

and the rich corporate bosses who control the drugs.

[Dan]

2. Maybe he figured with the WH/POTUS corrupt,

The GOP Senate corrupt,
The House GOP corrupt,
The various Departments under this administration corrupt,
Why not?

[Baitball Blogger]

3. kick

Come on people. This is huge. Our criminal justice systems are showing signs of a break-down.

[hunter]

8. The DEA is, in effect, a price support agency for both the legal and illegal drug trade.

Without them most interesting drugs would be cheaper than chocolate.

Cannabis is a weed, opium is a flower, ephedra (precursor to amphetamines) is a shrub, and cocaine literally grows on trees.

The problems caused by drug addiction in our society would be far less damaging if we dealt with addictions in a rational way.

We wouldn't have people burglarizing houses or prostituting themselves to support their habits, we wouldn't have so many people killed by bad drugs of unknown potency, we wouldn't have people sharing needles, etc., etc., etc., and there would be no big money for drug cartels to buy off law enforcement officers and politicians.

The disparity between wealthy drug addicts (Rush Limbaugh) and poor drug addicts (dead or in prison) would also be reduced.