slimvictor
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A former Army sergeant is facing conspiracy charges in a federal sting operation that focused on a team he allegedly supervised in what the team thought was international drug trafficking and planned killings, according to the U.S. attorney in Manhattan.
Joseph Hunter, 48, led a "security team" of former soldiers from around the world to assist people he believed were Colombian narcotic traffickers, federal authorities allege. In fact, the "traffickers" were U.S. informants, according to federal authorities.
Hunter, along with Timothy Vamvakias, 42, an American who also served in the U.S. Army; Dennis Gogel, 27, a German national who served in the German armed forces; and two other men acted as the security team that surveyed the transportation of what they believed to be illegal drugs by Colombian dealers. The men acted as "contract killers" who planned to eliminate anyone who threatened the drug trade -- including law enforcement agents, a press release from the U.S. attorney's office said.
Specifically, authorities said in a Friday news release that the men planned an assassination in Liberia "for a six-figure payday," targeting a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and a person purportedly cooperating with the DEA. The killings apparently never took place.
Hunter, Vamvakias and Gogel are each charged with separate counts of conspiracy to murder a law enforcement agent, conspiracy to kill a person to prevent communications to law enforcement, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and other drug and gun related charges, according to federal documents. Each count carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The story as spelled out in a federal indictment starts in early 2012 when Hunter believed he had made contact with Colombian drug traffickers.
Hunter recruited a team of four individuals to assist the "drug traffickers" he had met, collecting his alleged team members' resumes via e-mail, the indictment said. Hunter told his men that they could expect to see "tons of cocaine and millions of dollars," according to the indictment.
The men Hunter thought were Colombian traffickers "were in fact confidential sources for the DEA," according to the indictment.
"Hunter spoke with the (confidential sources) about serving as the head of security for the ... purported Colombian drug trafficking operation, and Hunter provided ... resumes for the individuals he had selected as prospective members of the security team," the indictment said.
From there, the indictment tells a complex story that Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara compared to the work of a well-known spy novelist.
"The bone-chilling allegations in today's Indictment read like they were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel," Bharara said Friday. "The charges tell a tale of an international band of mercenary marksmen who enlisted their elite military training to serve as hired guns for evil ends."
The indictment details how the defendants traveled to various countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean and met with the government's confidential sources -- apparently the same unidentified sources Hunter believed to be Colombian traffickers -- as they allegedly discussed various criminal enterprises. The meetings were recorded by the informants, according to the indictment.
There are references to talks among the alleged team members about "bonus work," which Hunter explained meant assassinations, the indictment said.
cont at
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/27/us/ex-army-drug-trafficking/
Joseph Hunter, 48, led a "security team" of former soldiers from around the world to assist people he believed were Colombian narcotic traffickers, federal authorities allege. In fact, the "traffickers" were U.S. informants, according to federal authorities.
Hunter, along with Timothy Vamvakias, 42, an American who also served in the U.S. Army; Dennis Gogel, 27, a German national who served in the German armed forces; and two other men acted as the security team that surveyed the transportation of what they believed to be illegal drugs by Colombian dealers. The men acted as "contract killers" who planned to eliminate anyone who threatened the drug trade -- including law enforcement agents, a press release from the U.S. attorney's office said.
Specifically, authorities said in a Friday news release that the men planned an assassination in Liberia "for a six-figure payday," targeting a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and a person purportedly cooperating with the DEA. The killings apparently never took place.
Hunter, Vamvakias and Gogel are each charged with separate counts of conspiracy to murder a law enforcement agent, conspiracy to kill a person to prevent communications to law enforcement, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and other drug and gun related charges, according to federal documents. Each count carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The story as spelled out in a federal indictment starts in early 2012 when Hunter believed he had made contact with Colombian drug traffickers.
Hunter recruited a team of four individuals to assist the "drug traffickers" he had met, collecting his alleged team members' resumes via e-mail, the indictment said. Hunter told his men that they could expect to see "tons of cocaine and millions of dollars," according to the indictment.
The men Hunter thought were Colombian traffickers "were in fact confidential sources for the DEA," according to the indictment.
"Hunter spoke with the (confidential sources) about serving as the head of security for the ... purported Colombian drug trafficking operation, and Hunter provided ... resumes for the individuals he had selected as prospective members of the security team," the indictment said.
From there, the indictment tells a complex story that Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara compared to the work of a well-known spy novelist.
"The bone-chilling allegations in today's Indictment read like they were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel," Bharara said Friday. "The charges tell a tale of an international band of mercenary marksmen who enlisted their elite military training to serve as hired guns for evil ends."
The indictment details how the defendants traveled to various countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean and met with the government's confidential sources -- apparently the same unidentified sources Hunter believed to be Colombian traffickers -- as they allegedly discussed various criminal enterprises. The meetings were recorded by the informants, according to the indictment.
There are references to talks among the alleged team members about "bonus work," which Hunter explained meant assassinations, the indictment said.
cont at
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/27/us/ex-army-drug-trafficking/
