Drug Trafficking United States

It took U.S. authorities more than a decade to bring Vivian Blake to trial: five years to find him in his native Jamaica and another five in court fighting for the extradition of the man they say headed a brutal Jamaican drug posse. Now comes the hard part. As federal prosecutors here prepare to try Blake, who was finally extradited from Jamaica last month, they face the daunting task of rebuilding an old case against him without their star witness--a man who has become the subject of a U.S.

A federal jury convicted three Mexican nationals and acquitted three others Thursday in connection with Operation Casablanca, the biggest drug money laundering investigation in U.S. history. The split verdicts were an obvious blow to prosecutors in a showcase trial intended to demonstrate a link between Mexican bankers and Latin American drug cartels. The six defendants were among 110 people and three of Mexico's largest banks indicted in May 1998 after a 2 1/2-year undercover probe by the U.S.

One of the largest check-cashing services in the West and three of its top executives pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges Monday for their role in a scheme to launder drug profits, the U.S. attorney's office said. The guilty pleas before U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew in Los Angeles cap a joint FBI-Los Angeles Police Department investigation that began several years ago at a check-cashing store in the San Fernando Valley.

Mexico's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a man suspected of being a top drug trafficker can be extradited to the United States to face charges if he is arrested by Mexican police. The court upheld a lower court ruling that rejected Miguel Caro Quintero's effort to block his extradition, a court official said on condition of anonymity. Caro Quintero controls a large portion of drug trafficking along Mexico's northwestern border with the U.S.

As the Operation Casablanca money-laundering trial got underway in earnest Tuesday, a federal prosecutor told jurors that secretly recorded video and audiotapes will demonstrate conclusively that the six Mexican defendants eagerly participated in a scheme to launder millions of dollars in drug cartel funds. But defense lawyers countered by branding the tapes misleading and incomplete, insisting that their clients were duped into believing they were involved in legitimate investment transactions.

Amid speculation about last-minute plea agreements, three of Mexico's most prominent banks are set to go on trial Thursday in Los Angeles federal court on charges of laundering millions of dollars for the Cali and Juarez drug cartels. The trial, which could have far-reaching political and economic repercussions in Mexico, is the first of four stemming from Operation Casablanca, the U.S. Customs Service's massive probe of international drug-money laundering.

To U.S. officials overwhelmed by the explosion of Mexican drug trafficking in the early 1990s, it seemed a bold solution: Fight the cartels with cross-border forces composed of elite officers rigorously vetted and trained in the United States. Men like Nicolas Carrillo and Eligio Garcia. But today, Carrillo and Garcia are in a Tijuana jail--among six Mexican members of the elite forces accused of serious crimes in various cities. Outraged U.S.

A key defendant in Operation Casablanca, the massive drug money laundering case against Mexican banks and bankers, pleaded guilty Monday in Los Angeles federal court. Victor Manuel Alcala Navarro, a reputed money launderer for the Juarez drug cartel, entered his plea to 28 criminal counts three weeks before he was to go on trial on money laundering and conspiracy charges. Alcala, known as El Doctor, fell prey to a sting operation by undercover U.S.

Mexico on Friday won President Clinton's stamp of approval as a full partner in the crusade against drugs despite testimony from U.S. law enforcement officials that narcotics syndicates south of the border have gained enormous power in that country.

It was all over in 24 hours. Luis Amezcua was checking out a used Chrysler Shadow in Guadalajara when Mexican anti-drug agents pounced. The next morning, police swooped down on his brother, Jesus, as he consulted a Cuban Santeria guru in Mexico City. The arrests of the Amezcuas were hailed as Mexico's biggest anti-drug victory in years, a crushing blow to the alleged godfathers of the booming U.S. market for methamphetamine, or speed.