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A U.S. Army soldier is facing drug-related charges in connection with a recent raid by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on a Colorado Springs, Colorado, raid. The raid led to the arrest of 114 illegal aliens and the seizure of handguns, drug paraphernalia, and narcotics. Juan Gabriel Orona-Rogriguez, a 28-year-old soldier, is facing federal criminal charges of distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute cocaine after his arrest in connection with the recent DEA raid of an underground, unlawful nightclub in Colorado Springs. Orona-Rodriguez is accused of selling cocaine to an undercover DEA agent. According...

A sprawling fentanyl trafficking network stretching from Albuquerque to Salem, Oregon, has been shattered by federal authorities in what’s being called one of the largest operations of its kind in U.S. history. The takedown, made public this week, culminated in a massive sweep across New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Oregon. Federal agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration seized staggering amounts of contraband: over 4 million fentanyl pills, $4.4 million in cash, 79 pounds of meth, along with heroin, cocaine, and more than 41 firearms, according to records from the U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. At the helm of...

Federal authorities announced Sunday that more than a hundred illegal immigrants were detained in a massive raid at an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs that officials say was "frequented by TdA and MS-13 terrorists." The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Rocky Mountain Division led a multi-agency operation early Sunday morning and arrested 114 illegal immigrants at the venue that contained more than 200 people inside. Authorities uncovered drugs, including pink cocaine, as well as evidence of prostitution and multiple firearms during the operation, according to the DEA. "@DHSgov has taken more than 100 illegal aliens into custody," DEA Rocky Mountain said...

The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, declared a state of emergency in the capital city, Lima, on March 18. The decree, which came amid a wave of violence, gives the police and military full control of the security situation there for a period of 30 days. Peru is no stranger to emergencies of this kind. Only last year, in September 2024, Boluarte’s government declared a 60-day state of emergency in 12 districts of the capital. The rationale for declaring the emergency now, as in the past, remains the same: to address the threat posed by criminal gangs. The latest emergency...

Thanks to oil, Venezuela was once the wealthiest country in the region — before becoming the continent’s poorest, ravaged by corruption and feckless economic policy. And amid the economic decline, high-ranking government officials became conspicuously wealthy. But how? According to U.S. indictments, former government officials, and regional experts, officials linked to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and members of Maduro’s government built a massive drug syndicate — while most of the country increasingly struggled to find food to eat, or medicine to care for the sick. “Venezuela was a narco state several years ago, but it has become darker and...

Judge Boasberg blocks Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Tren de Aragua, despite intelligence linking the gang to Venezuela’s government and acts of sabotage in the U.S. As President Trump fulfills his campaign promise to deport criminal illegal aliens, a blatantly corrupt judge is trying to stop him. Judge James Boasberg, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has abandoned all pretense to fairness. I will leave it to others to focus on his conflicts of interest (the FISA Court, his wife, his daughter) and his double standard of justice. This article...

In a remote Bolivian town, within a compound owned by a radio station catering to coca growers, former president Evo Morales is holed up, shielded by thousands of loyalists armed with sticks. Facing charges of human trafficking and statutory rape, he risks arrest the moment he steps outside. Yet, Morales remains defiant, plotting a comeback despite a court ruling barring him from running in August’s election. The former leftist leader, once hailed for overseeing Bolivia’s economic boom, is now confined to a few buildings in Lauca N, Cochabamba.

An Ohio grandmother was mauled to death by her neighbor’s pit bulls — which were later found to have been high on cocaine, according to a lawsuit. JoAnn Echelbarger, 73, was “peacefully gardening” in October when she was ripped apart by the pit bulls, Echo and Apollo, freely roaming her Ashton condominium’s common areas, according to court documents. Her husband, Stanley — who suffers from dementia and was in a wheelchair — watched helplessly as his wife was mauled for several minutes while “screaming for her life,” according to the complaint, which said one dog continued the attack even after...

Back in July 2023, when the Secret Service found a plastic bag of cocaine in the White House, the stonewalling began immediately. Despite the fact that the bag was found in the most closely watched and carefully guarded place on earth, with the world’s most elite investigators supposedly available to discover what really happened, no one could figure out whose cocaine it was, or how it had gotten into the executive mansion.

A Grammy Award-winning rapper and music producer originally sentenced to 14 years in prison for smuggling cocaine is one of 16 people receiving pardons or reduced sentences from President Bush. John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., a graduate of the elite Phillips Exeter Academy prep school who later became a producer for the rap group The Fugees and released two albums on his own, was caught in 2000 at Newark International Airport with two briefcases filled with $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine, according to court documents. Forte, 33, a first-time offender, was convicted of possessing the 31 pounds...

She was sniffed out by the feds. A Mexican woman responsible for testing the quality of cocaine being trafficked by a drug cartel has been extradited to the United States and charged by federal prosecutors, the Justice Department said. Irma Elvira Cruz, known as "Huzipol" and "Madre," 60, was indicted earlier this month on federal charges of conspiracy to unlawfully import cocaine into the United States and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. "Cruz allegedly played a critical role in the trafficking of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into the United States," said acting U.S. Attorney Richard Moultrie, Jr....

EL PASO, Texas – A Customs and Border Protection officer was arrested in El Paso on criminal charges related to his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle undocumented noncitizens for financial gain and alleged drug trafficking activity. According to court documents, between on or about Dec. 21, 2023 and Feb. 5, 2025, Manuel Perez Jr., 32, of El Paso, allegedly smuggled and attempted to smuggle undocumented noncitizens into the United States for commercial advantage and private financial gain. The indictment alleges that, in multiple instances, Perez Jr. admitted a vehicle driven by an undocumented noncitizen at the Paso Del...

Cocaine is no worse for your health than the common glass of whiskey, claimed the president of Colombia — the world’s biggest producer and exporter of the illegal drug. In a first-of-its-kind, six-hour live broadcast ministerial meeting in the South American country, Colombian President Gustavo Petro argued that cocaine is only illegal because of global politics — further claiming that it can be consumed as casually as alcohol, according to a report. “Scientists have analyzed this. Cocaine is no worse than whiskey,” the 64-year-old president said, according to CBS News. It is not clear what analysis the president was referring...

President Biden will end his term next month leaving behind one of the biggest White House whodunits of all time as the public and politicos still wonder who brought cocaine into the most secure building in the world. Roughly 17 months after cocaine was discovered in a storage box near an entrance to the West Wing, the culprit remains a head-scratcher. And with the Secret Service closing the investigation in July 2023 after 11 days without interviewing a single suspect, security experts say it’s unlikely a culprit will ever be identified. “I don’t think that we are ever going to...

Joe Biden has issued a record-breaking clemency grant that benefits fraudsters, drug traffickers, cartel leaders, and crack dealers, court records show. The lame-duck president’s list of convicted criminals includes nearly 1,500 individuals who will have their sentences commuted. On Thursday, Biden announced he would commute sentences for individuals “who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.” However, the list of commutations released by the White House includes several high-profile and dangerous criminals. One individual, Francesk Shkambi, was initially sentenced in July 2014 to 27 years in prison. According...

Gov. Gavin Newsom's office on Wednesday announced that he has granted clemency to a person who committed a crime in Monterey County. The governor is allowed to extend executive clemency in the form of a pardon, commutation or reprieve. According to Newsom's office, the governor bases his decisions on the grantee's self-development and accountability after conviction. Andy Silvestre, now a resident of Arizona, applied and was approved for clemency. Silvestre was sentenced to three years probation and 120 days in jail for possession or purchase of cocaine base for sale in 1990. He was approved after providing evidence he has...

The Brief A father and son from the Phoenix area are accused of running a large drug trafficking organization. The two leaders are also charged with the rare "Kingpin" statute and a majority of the defendants indicted are from Arizona. Phoenix DEA Special Agent in Charge Cheri OZ says Arizona is ground zero for drug trafficking.

Did his attempt to curry favor with Iran work? One of the ways Hezbollah earns money — about one billion dollars a year — is by drug trafficking. It controls much of the sale of drugs sent from Colombia and Venezuela to customers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. For eight years, beginning in 2008, a wide-ranging investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency known as Project Cassandra uncovered how Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle Eastern political and military organization into an international crime syndicate, but Project Cassandra was shut down by the Obama administration, that...

Joe Biden regrets picking Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead his Justice Department after the agency prosecuted his son Hunter. Publicly, Biden has remained hands off with his son's tax and gun legal troubles, but in private his anger towards his Attorney General has simmered, according to excerpts of journalist Bob Woodward's new book obtained by CNN. 'Should never have picked Garland,' Biden told an associate, Woodward writes. 'This is never going to f**king go away.'

Bob Woodward, a far-left author and Washington Post editor, is set to drop an ‘October surprise’ on Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Far-left author Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will drop several bombshells on October 15. Per RealClearInvestigations reporter Paul Sperry: OCTOBER SURPRISE: A source close to Bob Woodward says his forthcoming book, “War,” about the Biden-Harris administration’s inner workings will “not be kind to Biden or Kamala” and will drop several bombshells on Oct. 15 when Simon & Schuster releases the tome … developing … Simon and Schuster called Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book ‘War,’...