  Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 7022 Registered: 09-2005 |
Who says Detroit's hurting for money? Feds: Tour Buses Used to Traffic Drugs Across United States Saturday , April 28, 2007 FoxNews.com MADISON, Wis. — Three men face federal charges in connection with a drug ring that used tour buses to move millions of dollars and marijuana between Detroit and Tucson, Ariz. U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said authorities have seized about $3.7 million in cash from the drug ring in recent weeks, according to a statement issued by his office in Milwaukee late Friday afternoon. Terrance Lamont Davis, of Tucson, and Calvin C. Wiggins and James L. Reaves, both of Detroit, have been charged with conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. The three men are being held in Tucson. They could face life in prison and up to $4 million in fines if convicted. Biskupic's statement said the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation division, the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the Illinois and Michigan state police, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Oklahoma State Highway Patrol and Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department and Oklahoma City Police all participated in the bust. A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Milwaukee said the ring used a Chicago-based tour bus company called Jackson Coach Lines as a front. The organization had two buses and paid people to act as passengers and drivers. The buses would travel from Chicago to Detroit, where they were loaded with large bags full of drug money. A confidential informant told a Wisconsin Justice Department agent he had ridden on three separate trips between November 2006 and January 2007, the complaint said. Passengers were told to lay down and not look out the window during the transfers, the informant said. Another confidential informant said he served as a driver and saw multiple packages being loaded onto the bus. The buses would then travel to Arizona to pick up marijuana. They would stop first in Tucson, where the money would be taken from the buses and loaded into a waiting vehicle. The buses would then continue on to Phoenix, where they'd spend the night. The next day they would travel to Tucson again and fill the luggage compartments with marijuana. They would drop the drugs in Detroit before returning to Chicago. On Monday, law enforcement agents followed one of the two buses from Chicago to Detroit. The bus then left Detroit for Arizona. Police watched bags transferred from the bus' luggage compartments into a car at a restaurant. The bus then traveled to Phoenix while the car went to a Tucson-area house. Agents executed a search warrant there on Wednesday morning and captured $1.4 million in cash from the bags. Arizona Department of Public Safety Sgt. Mark Morlock said the 32-year-old Davis was arrested as he sped away from the house, while the 26-year-old Wiggins was captured in the house. Police arrested Reaves, 20, at another location in Tucson later that afternoon, Morlock said. Meanwhile, another group of police were tailing the second bus, which had left for Detroit. They pulled that bus over near Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Police found about $1.2 million in cash in its luggage departments. Police pulled over the first bus in Tucson shortly after the second bus was stopped in Oklahoma, the complaint said. About 15 people were on the Tucson bus, the complaint said. One of them told agents the two buses would communicate with each other. Biskupic's statement does not say what became of those people. The Oklahoma bus was carrying about 17 people, including three to five Wisconsin residents and a man agents believe is one of the ring's leaders. He has not been charged. Biskupic's statement does not say what became of those people, either. A message The Associated Press left at Biskupic's office Friday afternoon wasn't immediately returned. Morlock said he didn't have information about how many people may have been on the bus in Arizona. He referred further questions to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which did not immediately return a call seeking comment. A recorded greeting with the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety didn't allow a caller to leave a message. A message left with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department wasn't returned. The two confidential informants who spoke to Wisconsin justice agents told them they robbed one of the buses in January and made off with $1.3 million. Police in Milwaukee recovered about $1.1 million of that money in March, the statement said. The two informants had spent the remainder on cars and a house in the Milwaukee area. | ||
Sticks Member Username: Sticks Post Number: 281 Registered: 08-2005 |
quote: Wow, way to keep the informants identity hidden. They won't have a clue of who they are now. That being said, I'm surprised they weren't knocked off already. They stole $1.3 million from an operation that pushes a thousand kilos per run? That doesn't seem like a small-time operation. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8942 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: You are a fool. Nothing like making light of the situation. I wonder how many crimes have been committed, possibly murders, and lives ruined because of these people. You are a sick person if that is something that you think is worth joking about. | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 7025 Registered: 09-2005 |
As usual, Jt1 attacks the messenger. If I thought it was a joke, I would have posted it on the "jokes" thread. And if you thought it was serious, Jt1, why didn't you post it? | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8943 Registered: 10-2003 |
I was not attacking the article but your tasteless comment attached at the top. quote: I didn't see it. I am not criticizing the article and I am very happy that these people will be, hopefully put away for a long time. SO you don't see how you sound like an insensitive jerk when you write "Who says Detroit's hurting for money?" | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 7026 Registered: 09-2005 |
Uh, earth to Jt1: If you think a busload of pot garnering $3.7M is chump change in a city hard-pressed to clean up riot damage from 40 years ago, yer clueless. "Insensitive jerk"? Save your silly rhetoric for those involved in the crimes - not those who report/comment on it. You appear to be part of the problem, not the solution. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8945 Registered: 10-2003 |
Earth to Karl - If you think making jokes about this (Who says Detroit's hurting for money?) is acceptable you certainly fit the description. When the effects of drug dealing in that amount of money is typically murders, violent crime, ruined families, damaged neighborhoods, etc it is not funny no matter how you try to portray it. quote: Where did I say it is chump change. It seems to me that you think that their dealings was a benefit to the economies in the community. The riots have nothing to do with this and the trying to change the subject certainly won't work. quote: As I said above, I hope they get severely punished but that does not diminish the fact that you find it acceptable to start this with a nonsensical sentence like you did. So exactly how am I part of the problem for pointing out your insensitive comments? Is it the neighborhood clean-up that I do? Is it the youth mentoring? Is it the volunteer hours? How exactly am I part of the problem because I don't ind humor in your comment. Admit your attempt at humor failed miserably without trying to change the subject or blame others for your shortcomings. Should I contact parents of innocent children that have died as a result of the drug trade violence and expain to them that you find it to be a subject worth laughing about? | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 1271 Registered: 08-2006 |
That 3.7 million dollars probably much more, is in the possession of a gang of thugs. That's not the city's money. It's not the thugs responsibility to clean up the city. Should they, yes. But it's not their job. Just because lots of drug deals go down in Detroit or its a major transferring area, doesn't mean the city is doing well. Detroit doesn't have money right now, a very small group of thugs have a substantial amount of money. That being said, it was a good article. I read about this and have heard about it in our local media. The plan is to step up enforcement on 94 from Milwaukee to Madison. 94 is a big road, Chicago to Minneapolis. | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 7030 Registered: 09-2005 |
Milwaukee: While not the "city's money" it certainly strikes at the heart of the city - that money was rent money, school lunch money, utility money, all taken from the homes of Detroit. However meager a home, this outflow of cash undermines further any semblance of home life, and guts the workings of a city already in dire need. Example: if the rent isn't paid and instead is bussed to AZ, how do you think the taxes on the apartment/house get paid? They don't, and the sorry cycle continues/escalates. Check the facts on how many pieces of real estate in Detroit are already off the tax rolls. This only adds to that disaster. Jt1: "So exactly how am I part of the problem for pointing out your insensitive comments?" You're not, really. You're just wasting your breath on personal attacks, better spent on the other worthy things you do. My comment was meant to do one thing: draw attention and more constructive thinking when some Detroiters whine that Detroit's problems start/end somewhere outside the home. And drugs don't solve it any more than casinos do. They both haul much-needed money right out of the city - and the state - probably to buy, among other things, foreign cars. Think. | ||
Citylover Member Username: Citylover Post Number: 2280 Registered: 07-2004 |
I understand you sensitivity jt1. What I find interesting is this: Although I know you were not much of a participant in the legalize marijuana threads here on the forum, it is good to see you acknowledge the viciousness of the marijuana trade. The dealers of marijuana logically deal in other drugs. And they will protect their greed and lust for money with the same feloneous tactics they would any other illegal substance. You asked or commented to Karl that the effects of drug dealing i.e. murder and violence , etc are nothing to make light of_ I feel a bit validated by that as I have long commented that the marijuana dealer is no groovy aging hippie. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8946 Registered: 10-2003 |
I agree with you. While I think that marijuana should be legal the simple fact of the matter is that any illegal trade that deals in volumes of millions and millions will have adverse affects in the community, in the lives of many families, etc. If red meat was make illegal the steak trade would become deadly. It seems silly on the surface but it is very true. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 1273 Registered: 08-2006 |
I see what you're saying. Tell me if I've got this right. That money is the money of the city's citizens and at least part of it would go to taxes or rent. So let's say 1 in 3 dollars are the city's. Now it's the city's money, but the city really doesn't have any control over it. This is why I would deflect blame from the city government. There's nothing they can really do about this. If people don't pay their taxes, then they get evicted, but that's really all the city can do. My point being, we shouldn't assume there is a lot of money in Detroit. That money probably came from thousands of buyers in the city. That just means that there are a lot of crack heads in town, not rich people. Detroit doesn't have money, in fact this just shows us that the city is in a dire state. I'm not disputing the article, I'm disputing its title. | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 7032 Registered: 09-2005 |
Milwaukee - I never blamed "the city government" I blame the "citizens" who, instead of taking responsibility for taxes, fatherhood, families and homes, choose instead to spend it on themselves and their own downfall - taking their families with them. All of which causes a city, in this case Detroit, to spin faster down the toilet bowl - despite the noble efforts of folks like Jt1. That being said, now I learn this gem from Jt1: "....I think that marijuana should be legal..." Jt1, you have just completely discredited yourself in this discussion. Apparently you believe that making things like this legal will diminish "involvement" - and then compare it to "steak" Completely and utterly clueless. | ||
Scs100 Member Username: Scs100 Post Number: 954 Registered: 12-2006 |
"That money probably came from thousands of buyers in the city." You may be somewhat correct in that statement; however, I would have to think that a good chunk of it came from the suburbs. A lot of people I know in GP have either quit or are on marijuana. | ||
Peter Member Username: Peter Post Number: 53 Registered: 02-2007 |
We all know that the suburbs are to blame for all of the marijuana problems. Besides... real Detroiter's are into more hard stuff than pot. | ||
Softailrider Member Username: Softailrider Post Number: 33 Registered: 02-2007 |
Calm down guys , that 3.7 mil is probably traded EVERY day in the open air drug markets on the city streets around town . | ||
Rocket_city Member Username: Rocket_city Post Number: 240 Registered: 04-2006 |
What I don't get about criminals is why they run. I mean, if you're going to go through with things like this, wouldn't you want to convince yourself that you're not doing anything wrong, so that when the cops come, you can justify your actions? What is running going to do, and where are you going to go? Wouldn't it just be more worth it to work your ass off like the rest of us in order to make a living? Or do criminals have some sort of rights to domestic terrorism that I'm not familiar with...unless a cop comes? Of course I'm being facetious, but sometimes I just want to hit people in the head over and over again!  ARG! | ||
Erikto Member Username: Erikto Post Number: 548 Registered: 11-2003 |
As a Canadian, lemme point out, for the next time a grand standing American drug-warrior politician pisses on Canada for being a drug supplying nation a la Mexico or Colombia, that an organization based one decidedly Northern metropolis and a border city had an easier time driving all the way across their own country to pick up, than 'shopping' up north. | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 7079 Registered: 09-2005 |
Good point, Erik. Perhaps they did it to avoid those pesky borders? | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8949 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Karl, again you miss the point in its entirety. I do believe that marijuana should be legal (it is no more a risk than alcohol) but as long as it is illegal I think that these people, as I said above, should receive the fullest punishment possible. The point of the steak comment was that anything that is criminalized will still be sold but will be sold in an illegal, extremely dangerous manner. Obesity in the US is a much larger threat to lives and the financial well being of our health system. If the politicans believe that marijuana being illegal is for the benefit of the greater good, as well as trans fats in restaurants in some states, smoking in public places in some states, etc why shouldn't we criminalize red meat? Our politicans have been passing laws to 'protect' us, maybe red meat should be the next to go. If your opposition to marijuana due to the fact that it is illegal or do you have a valid concern about it. If you believe it should be legal I ask if you believe that alcohol should be illegal. If not, where do you see marijuana as a bigger danger to society than alcohol? | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1361 Registered: 12-2004 |
I'm sort of impressed that Detroit and Detroiters were such an important part of this grand scheme. If only these guys spent their time creating legal businesses... | ||
Rb336 Member Username: Rb336 Post Number: 26 Registered: 02-2007 |
or if only we would legalize the business these guys were in | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5290 Registered: 11-2003 |
Oy veyesmere, imagine a bus the size of a Greyhound rolling down an Interstate driven by a guy smoking dope. Drug dealers must test out their merchandise enroute. Milwaukee, INTERSTATE 94 runs from Porch Urine, Michigan to Billings, Montana. You are right, it's a long road. jjaba likes the MO. Apart from the obvious evil of the drug trade, using a $500,000 tour bus shows us some class. They should know however, that like Willie Nelson, buses can easily be stopped an inspected. Erikto makes a good point but fails the producer's geography exam, eh. Goods like BC Bud have to compete with producers closer to market. In this case, evidently Arizona is a better transfer station than importation of your world-renoun Canadian export, eh. BTW, BC Bud is bigger than logs, mining, or agriculture in British Columbia. Not a lot of Detroiters know this. jjaba, Westsider. | ||
Dsmith Member Username: Dsmith Post Number: 114 Registered: 07-2005 |
http://www.google.com/lochp?hl =en&tab=wl&q=6382%20LONDON%20S T+DETROIT+MI+48221 Check out the tour bus/RV(?) in Calvin's driveway. | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 7120 Registered: 09-2005 |
Jt1, there's barely a druggie alive (and many dead) who didn't start with, or have a significant stint with, pot. Do you know any particularly bright, innovative and successful people who attribute their blessings to pot? "I couldn't have done it without my spouse, God, employees, parents, family - and weed." Yup, we hear it all the time. Not. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8950 Registered: 10-2003 |
Let me rephrase it. Jt1, there's barely a druggie alive (and many dead) who didn't start with, or have a significant stint with, alcohol. Do you know any particularly bright, innovative and successful people who attribute their blessings to alcohol? Where is the differentiation between alcohol (the true gateway drug) and pot beyond what the law states? I do not think either is a benefit to the user but I find it hypocritical that pot is seen as an evil drug and alcohol has free reign in this country. Of course when alcohol was illegal the crime and violence that came from that is very similar to the crime and violence that comes from pot being illegal. | ||
Goat Member Username: Goat Post Number: 9375 Registered: 10-2003 |
People use FedEx or other couriers to move their drugs around the country with no issue. What's the difference? | ||
Lvnthed Member Username: Lvnthed Post Number: 133 Registered: 03-2007 |
I have as very serious question to ask all of you!! Do any of you have first-hand knowledge about the drug trade in the city, or are you just pulling quotes out of your asses. The ignorance displayed on this thread is typical stereotyping and very alarming. Who am I kidding!! This isn't typical..."IT'S THE MICHIGAN WAY" | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8953 Registered: 10-2003 |
lvn - Care to offer up some more detail or clarification? | ||
Beavis1981 Member Username: Beavis1981 Post Number: 556 Registered: 08-2006 |
If anyone here really did have first-hand knowledge would you- 1. Really listen anyways? 2. Assuming one has first hand knowledge they are probably a user. In which case would you even find said account credible? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5294 Registered: 11-2003 |
Goat nails it. Don't fuck with Fed-ex. That was the downfall of the boys on their own bus. Thanks Goat. jjaba. | ||
Lvnthed Member Username: Lvnthed Post Number: 134 Registered: 03-2007 |
I grew up on Emily, off Van Dyke, between 7-mile & Nevada in the early 80's and 90's. Had a 2 year run from 91-93. Not my proudest accomplishment, but I paid for my sin's. I still visit the old neighborhood barbershop to get my weekly hair cut. Normally a trip that keep's me pretty informed about the going's-on in the neighborhood. That corridor was/is one of the most profitable areas in the city. We were exporters. 90% of the drugs went to the suburbs. I didn't have a single black customer. City customers account for 6 days a month, the suburban customers are 27-7 365 a year. I still see and hear the same thing today, although a little less traffic than before. My problem is that most people post on this thread about things like drugs in the city and have no clue about what/who is responsible for the sale/consumption of this poison. You post what you hear, not what you know. that is the problem with this region. It's easy to cast blame but you refuse to take it. People like PETER seem to think that people in the city are the sole consumers of hard drugs. SORRY to let you know that you can find more Hardcore Drugs in suburban High Schools than all of Detroit. The fact of the matter is if you eliminate weed from the discussion, you will have a 10/1 ratio of hard drug use between white/black people. That is just the facts. Whites have a more addictive quality about them. My daughter is about to go to Highschool this year' And I am struggling with a choice between Detroit where she lives vs Sterling Heights School where I live. Why would I have such a dilemma. DRUGS!!! I am more fearful of the drugs in this Blue Chip district than the Fights in detroit. My younger sister graduated from the school system and found it very hard to make friends because she didn't drink or smoke or do drugs. This is across the board. I have relatives in GP, BF, and Farmington school districts with the same issues. But no one want's to hear that. It's easier to blame the city residents and lock up the young men that get caught-up in the fast money. But you never wan't to attack the true problem. As long as there is an ample supply of drugs flowing through the city, and an ample amount of quality suburban customers; You could lock up all of Detroit and there would be some one to fill the void. If you cut off the sponsors(customers) the market will die and the dealers disappear. The dealers are the least of the problems. The focus should be on the Trafficers and the consumers. Two things the dealers can't live without. But that means going after your own... There is a 80/20 consumption ratio between Sub/City and nothing can be done to solve the city's problems until White people accept this sad truth. "DO YOU HAVE THE STOMACH FOR IT" PS: Strongest Drug I have Ever used was Vicodin for a tooth extraction. Don't Smoke and Rarely Drink. Tried Weed about 5 times 20 years ago but it put me to sleep every time. | ||
Warriorfan Member Username: Warriorfan Post Number: 710 Registered: 08-2005 |
quote: If those are the facts, then you should have no problem backing them up with some reliable statistics. Where are your links to the "proof?" | ||
Mayor_sekou Member Username: Mayor_sekou Post Number: 761 Registered: 09-2006 |
If what he says is true I'd take his word for it. Honestly I didnt know what the hell a shroom, acid, or meth was until I came to MSU and I grew up in Detroit my whole life. I think we tend to stick to weed, crack, heroin, and of course the worse drug of them all liquor. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1264 Registered: 02-2005 |
From the Albuquerque Journal: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 Arizona Sets Record for Pot Seizures for 5th Year in A Row Associated Press PHOENIX — Agents with the U.S. Border Patrol have seized a record amount of marijuana from smugglers along the Arizona-Mexico border for the fifth year in a row. The agency said it has seized more than 331 tons of marijuana worth $530 million last fiscal year, ending Sept. 30. The record amount nearly equaled the 350 tons seized in California, Texas and New Mexico combined. Officials say Arizona is on pace to set another record this year. Since Oct. 1, agents have seized more than 106 tons of pot worth $170 million. That's nearly 20 tons more than the same period the previous year. The record seizures indicate the beefed-up Border Patrol and National Guard troops are doing a better job of stopping marijuana loads from getting through, officials said. Arizona is the busiest entry point for illegal immigrants along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. --- Tuesday, June 6, 2006 Around New Mexico Journal and Wire Reports 41/2 Tons Pot Found in Truck It was speeding in a construction zone that got the driver of a 2003 Peterbilt tractor-trailer pulled over on Interstate 40 last week. But it was 41/2 tons of marijuana in the trailer that landed Clarence Variste and Andrew McLean in federal custody. They are scheduled for detention hearings Friday in Albuquerque. The two men were stopped Wednesday by McKinley County Deputy Sheriff John Trevor-Smith. According to a criminal complaint, Variste was the driver, and the truck was registered to McLean. Variste told Trevor-Smith the trailer contained empty boxes, but drug-sniffing dog Apollo was highly interested in the rear doors. After obtaining a search warrant and a forklift, deputies found that the first two wooden boxes were empty, the complaint says, but there were 8,900 pounds of marijuana in the other 15 boxes. --- Thursday, May 25, 2006 Pot Seizures Near Border on Rise By Mark Stevenson The Associated Press SASABE, Mexico— Weighed down by 50-pound sacks of marijuana, they hike through the desert for days to reach remote drop-off points in the United States, then sneak back across the Mexican border. They are seldom illegal immigrants. They are drug runners, physically fit and able to carry heavy loads for long distances. Lately, they're getting caught running more drugs than ever— often over the same desert routes used by undocumented migrants— and the U.S. Border Patrol is reporting a sharp increase in the amount of marijuana seized. The Border Patrol's Tucson, Ariz., sector confiscated almost as much marijuana in the first 71/2 months of this fiscal year as it did all of last year, and seizures are up all along the border. "These are often second- and third-generation smugglers. This is what they do for a living, and once they deliver a load, they simply go back" into Mexico, said Gustavo Soto, a spokesman for the Tucson sector. Soto said the backpackers— known as narcotics "mules"— "wander in the desert for anywhere from two to possibly even four days until they get to their destination." The drug runs are so difficult that Steve Robertson, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency special agent who has worked along the Texas border, says the average migrant couldn't make them. Soto attributes the rise in seizures to increased border security, including sensors, cameras and a variety of desert vehicles. But Mexico's attorney general, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, said cartels are also becoming more reliant on income from marijuana. "We know that marijuana is becoming more and more important (for the cartels) and that cocaine is on its way down," he said. Changing U.S. drug habits— like the increasing popularity of synthetic drugs, such as methamphetamines— also have cut into cocaine's profitability, experts say. On Monday, Mexican federal agents announced one of the biggest marijuana seizures in recent memory: 8.4 tons of pot, packed among fertilizer inside a truck bound for the U.S. border. Border Patrol cocaine seizures are down to 5,260 pounds so far this fiscal year, from the 6,406 pounds seized in the same period last year. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Todd Fraser said the surge in marijuana seizures may be short-lived, and may force traffickers to use other tactics. "In the short term, you may see an increase," he said, "but I think over the long term there may be a decline, as these drug trafficking organizations say 'Hey, they're intercepting our loads. It's not worth it smuggling over these traditional routes.' '' The recent discovery of smuggling tunnels under the border may be a sign of the traffickers' desperation, he said. "We look at this as a success," Fraser said. "We're literally forcing these people underground." | ||
Lvnthed Member Username: Lvnthed Post Number: 135 Registered: 03-2007 |
Warriorfan, That question itself hi-lights your flawed thinking. I'm sorry, but my experience, "is what it is", And it translates across the city. I get my info from the source, and there's no stats for that. |
