Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Grits for Breakfast

Criminal Law

: Grits for Breakfast

El Paso flooded with drugs for five years while authorities watched

Prof. Alexandra Natapoff argues that widespread use of confidential informants (a.k.a., "snitches") may actually increase crime overall because the tactic encourages police to tolerate crime instead of enforcing the law.That issue was raised this week by an El Paso court case in which a jury just returned RICO convictions for a half-dozen members of the Barrio Azteca gang, providing a rare glimpse into both the drug-running underworld in Juarez's sister city and the well-intentioned but problematic tactics used to investigate high-level drug crimes. Reported the El Paso Times ("6 in Barrio Azteca guilty," Dec. 3):After the verdict, Herrera's lawyer, Ken Del Valle, criticized the FBI's use of informant Josue "Casper" Aguirre, a member of the gang who had criminal charges dismissed and was paid a total of $75,000 by the government...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 03, 2008 (boomark / email).