Stanley E Morris

U.S. Marshals Service Director Stanley E. Morris is scheduled to become a top deputy to Drug Control Policy Director William J. Bennett, White House officials said Thursday. The officials said that Bennett had chosen Morris as his deputy director for supply, a position with responsibility for drug interdiction and law enforcement efforts. President Bush has not yet made the nomination official, but sources said that they see no obstacle to Morris' appointment. The 47-year-old official is credited with rejuvenating the Marshals Service, which he took over in 1983.

U.S. Marshals Service Director Stanley E. Morris is scheduled to become a top deputy to Drug Control Policy Director William J. Bennett, White House officials said Thursday. The officials said that Bennett had chosen Morris as his deputy director for supply, a position with responsibility for drug interdiction and law enforcement efforts. President Bush has not yet made the nomination official, but sources said that they see no obstacle to Morris' appointment. The 47-year-old official is credited with rejuvenating the Marshals Service, which he took over in 1983.

Saying that deputy U.S. marshals are "on the brink of burnout," the director of the U.S. Marshals Service told Congress that last year's sweeping anti-crime bill and the creation of 85 new federal judgeships are tying up the criminal justice system. The testimony by Director Stanley E. Morris marked the Administration's first public assessment of the new demands that last year's Comprehensive Crime Control Act has placed on federal law enforcement officials.

Two escaped convicts from Chicago are believed to be headed for California to seek revenge on state Supreme Court Justice Malcolm Lucas, who as a federal judge in Los Angeles sentenced one of them, authorities said today. Lucas and his family were informed of the threat several days ago but the justice has declined comment, according to court spokeswoman Lynne Holton. California State Police notified all state law enforcement agencies of the threat to Lucas by escapee Hugh T. Colomb, the U.S.

Stepping up pressure on drug traffickers operating in Southern California, top law enforcement officials announced the kickoff of a program Tuesday aimed at pursuing big-ticket distributors of cocaine and other illicit drugs.

The U.S. Marshals Service on Monday announced the apprehension of 218 major drug fugitives, including 12 charged with trafficking who had been at large at least eight years. Marshals Service Director Stanley E. Morris called the 10-week manhunt cost-effective, noting that the seizure of $1,266,521 in cash and property that came with the arrests more than covered the $1.1-million cost of the operation.

The discovery of an elaborate 270-foot tunnel built under the Mexican border by drug traffickers to haul large quantities of cocaine to an Arizona warehouse was revealed Friday by federal officials. Flabbergasted Customs Service agents described the million-dollar passageway as "something out of a James Bond movie," replete with electric lighting, concrete reinforcement and a hydraulic system that raised a game-room floor in a Mexico hide-out to provide entry to the secret border crossing.

Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh, in an unusual session that one participant described as "a real bloodletting," Wednesday ordered the heads of three Justice Department agencies to end their opposition to a compromise he had worked out on legislation overhauling the department's inspector-general powers.

The U.S. war on drugs is taking aim at a new target: otherwise legitimate businesses that accept illicit spoils as payment, and in effect launder drug money. Drug control director William J. Bennett and other officials contend that some sellers of big-ticket items, such as car dealers, yacht salesmen, jewelers and real estate operators, too often accept large cash sums for their wares, despite clear signs that the money flowed from illegal drug dealing.

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, attempting to settle a bitter internal turf war that has been cited as an example of his inability to solve major Justice Department problems, has set up a mechanism that allows the FBI and the Marshals Service to appeal disagreements over the pursuit of fugitives.