Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

DEA Says It Arrested a Real-Life Evil 'A Team'
New York Magazine ^ | 9/27 | Adam Martin

Posted on 09/28/2013 6:45:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Joseph Manuel Hunter, left, is led by Thai police commandos to Police Aviation Division after being arrested, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013. Thai police said they arrested the American man wanted by the U.S. for allegedly running a drug trafficking network that spanned Asia and the United States. Hunter was arrested Wednesday on the resort island of Phuket as part of a sting operation launched at the request of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

A former Army sergeant named Joseph Hunter, who once trained snipers, chose a post-military life in private-sector security, as many ex-soldiers do. But according to federal prosecutors in New York, Hunter, whose nickname was Rambo, chose to play for the other team, arranging executions for drug traffickers and other such unsavory types. DEA agents and their Thai and Liberian counterparts this week arrested Hunter, in Thailand, and two other ex-soldiers (one American and one German) in Liberia, for allegedly agreeing to assassinate a DEA agent and an informant in Liberia at the behest of what they thought was a Colombian cartel. The New York-based prosecutors also charged the ex-soldiers with conspiracy to import cocaine.

The would-be hitmen were told they would receive $800,000 for the Liberia job and eventually, per Hunter, "millions of dollars and tons of cocaine." Turns out the cartel members were DEA informants and the surveillance and security assignments they fed Hunter ahead of the alleged assassination plot were all part of an operation to nail them. Chillingly, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said investigators believed Hunter had previously arranged for the murders "of hundreds of people." We have said here before that all hit men are undercover cops, but that apparently wants updating: All hitmen are undercover cops unless they're real and the client is an undercover cop.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: adammartin

1 posted on 09/28/2013 6:45:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

ATeam Intro

2 posted on 09/28/2013 7:28:16 PM PDT by Sawdring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Taihland ???????????????


3 posted on 09/28/2013 7:29:46 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom ;Sarcasm is my bidness)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: al baby

Yes, It said Tiahland!!!!!!!!!!!!


4 posted on 09/28/2013 7:32:21 PM PDT by ThomasThomas ("We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: al baby; ThomasThomas

Right next to Cabmodai.


5 posted on 09/28/2013 7:41:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

“chose to play for the other team”

Its anyone’s guess which “team” is the bad team, the DEA or those against the DEA. I suspect that they are both bad.


6 posted on 09/28/2013 7:52:33 PM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

So . . . is this, like, some sort of Fast and Furious offshoot or something?

Kinda like Muslims killing other Muslims - I just can’t get real worked up about it either way.


7 posted on 09/28/2013 8:26:55 PM PDT by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

When a country fights multiple, low-intensity wars, soldiers act like cops, and eventually cops act like soldiers.

What’s the big deal, here?

We already decided to go all over the world, arbitrarily getting involved in civil wars we have NOTHING to do with.

This brawny door-kicker was expected for years to suspend any kind of value judgement about what he was doing. Anyone forget we’re helping Al Qaeda in Syria? We’re helping the folks who blew up the Twin Towers.

Anyone remember we paid our guys to make SURE the cartels had machine-guns?

Garbage in, garbage out, as they say in the programming world:

This guy sounds like he successfully adapted to total insanity and then simply continued using his job skills.

I guess he could have joined the BATF and burned down churches —then maybe now he’d instead be a hero for exactly the same stuff...?


8 posted on 09/28/2013 9:12:09 PM PDT by gaijin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grumpygresh

Thesse dudes were killing drug dealers. Why the DEA stop them?


9 posted on 09/29/2013 5:40:40 AM PDT by lavaroise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: lavaroise

Job security.


10 posted on 09/29/2013 5:43:19 AM PDT by gitmo ( If your theology doesn't become your biography it's useless.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: gitmo

They probably were of the wrong color too


11 posted on 09/29/2013 6:11:42 AM PDT by lavaroise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: lavaroise

Any Fed gov agency vs criminals is legal bad guys vs illegal bad guys.
Years ago, I didn’t used to see it that way, but now that’s it.


12 posted on 09/29/2013 6:49:26 AM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

“Phuket?” Really?


13 posted on 09/29/2013 8:47:56 AM PDT by G-Bear (Always leave your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway; al baby; ThomasThomas

Taihland....Tieland....ah, Phucket!


14 posted on 09/29/2013 8:55:20 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

So, who gets that $800,000 sitting in a Liberian bank? If anyone wants to send me their bank account info and password, I’ll split it with you!


15 posted on 09/29/2013 8:56:32 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson