From some meth big shot in Mexico. Over $200 million in cash. I'm no fan of the drug war, but the amount of money here is stunning. Boy, to take a little taste would be tempting!
http://www.snopes.com/photos/crime/drugmoney.asp
Spider
06-25-2007, 10:57 AM
send all 6 of my kids to college ,and still be able to afford a brand new pair of Tony Llamas ;D
Bronco Bob
06-25-2007, 11:12 AM
Just think of all the John Elway trading cards you could buy with that.
alkemical
06-25-2007, 03:36 PM
just think of all the meth you could buy!
Los Broncos
06-25-2007, 04:29 PM
I would be swimming in women.
alkemical
07-24-2007, 02:05 PM
Officials Nab Mexico's Alleged Meth King (http://news.aol.com/story/_a/officials-nab-mexicos-alleged-meth-king/20070724002009990001)
Officials Nab Mexico's Alleged Meth King - Suspect Linked to World's Largest Seizure of Drug Money
By IOAN GRILLO,AP
Posted: 2007-07-24 02:57:48
Filed Under: Crime News, World
MEXICO CITY (July 24) - U.S. federal agents arrested alleged methamphetamine trafficker Zhenli Ye Gon Monday night in a restaurant in suburban Washington, complicating the fugitive's efforts to avoid extradition to Mexico.
Ye Gon, whose Mexico City mansion was the scene of what U.S. officials say was the world's largest seizure of drug cash, was surprised by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at the restaurant where he was meeting with one of his lawyers, said one of his attorneys, Ning Ye.
In Washington, DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney confirmed that Ye Gon was arrested on drug smuggling and money laundering charges, adding that the fugitive was tracked down by agents and did not turn himself in.
Mexican officials have requested Ye Gon's extradition to face organized crime, drug trafficking and weapons charges.
In March, Mexican agents found more than US$207 million in dollar, peso and euro bills in a mansion owned by Ye Gon in one of the capital's most exclusive neighborhoods.
Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said the money was connected to one of the hemisphere's largest networks for trafficking pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in methamphetamines. He said the ring had been operating since 2004, illegally importing the substance and selling it to a drug cartel that mixed it into the crystal form and imported into the United States.
Ye Gon said the chemicals imported by his company, Unimed Pharm Chem de Mexico SA, were legitimate and intended for use in prescription drugs to be made at a factory he was building in Toluca, just west of the Mexican capital.
Ye, the attorney, said early Tuesday that DEA agents swarmed the Maryland restaurant where his client had been dining with a member of his legal team at about 9:30 p.m. Monday. The agents also raided the house where Ye Gon had been staying. Ye Gon went willingly, he said.
The lawyer said he was surprised by the arrest because he had reached a verbal agreement late last week with a DEA agent in Mexico that called for Ye Gon to surrender to U.S. marshals on Thursday. In return, Ye Gon was to be tried in the United States, not Mexico, Ye said.
"Only the United States can provide the most comprehensive procedural safeguards concerning what is happening on the Mexican side," Ye said.
The lawyer denounced the "lousy evidence made up by Mexican government" and said Ye Gon would apply for political asylum in the U.S.
Ye said he will be at the U.S. district court in Washington early Tuesday to file the first motions in the legal battle.
Rogelio de la Garza, Ye Gon's lawyer in Mexico, told the Associated Press that his client would fight extradition. But he said he feared that U.S. authorities may simply deport him to Mexico to avoid a drawn out legal battle in a U.S. court.
"I don't know if his visa (for the United States) has run our or not," De la Garza said.
De la Garza said he will fight for Ye Gon's immediate freedom if he arrives in Mexico, arguing the money was earned legally and that Ye Gon was not found with any narcotics.
Ye Gon has also claimed that claimed that US$150 million of the money belonged Mexico's ruling party, and that he was forced to store it for party officials in his mansion under threat of death during the 2006 presidential race, which Felipe Calderon narrowly won.
Calderon has called the accusations "pure fiction."
Ye Gon's other U.S. lawyer, Martin F. McMahon, had said he would ask that Ye Gon be given asylum in the United States and called for congressional hearings and a DEA investigation into his client's claims.
"If he goes back to Mexico, he's going to be tortured ... we're convinced he faces death," McMahon told a news conference in Washington.
U.S. anti-drug officials have praised Calderon's crackdown on Mexican traffickers since taking office. DEA chief Karen Tandy also praised Mexican agents following the March money seizure.
"This is like law enforcement hitting the ultimate jackpot. But luck had nothing to do with this windfall," Tandy said, calling it "the largest single drug-cash seizure the world has ever seen."
Associated Press Writer Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pennsylvania contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Bronco Bob
07-24-2007, 02:08 PM
From some meth big shot in Mexico. Over $200 million in cash. I'm no fan of the drug war, but the amount of money here is stunning. Boy, to take a little taste would be tempting!
http://www.snopes.com/photos/crime/drugmoney.asp
I'm sort of an agnostic about drugs. The laws against pot are ridiculous,
but meth is some really bad stuff. If the DEA would concentrate on stuff
that really is bad for us, like meth, and stop wasting money on destroying
non-THC containing hemp crops grown by the Sioux, we'd all be a lot better off.
Ya they did get my petty cash box.