Drudge: Mexican Drug Cartel $1M bounty for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head

[FrankRep]

Mexican Drug Cartel Allegedly Puts a Price on Arizona Sheriff's Head (http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/immigration/mexican-drug-cartel-sheriff-arpaio-07292010)
$1M offered for Arpaio, $1K to join cartel


My Fox Phoenix
29 July 2010


PHOENIX - He's been at the center of the discussions and controversies surrounding illegal immigration enforcement in Arizona for quite a while.

On the day parts of Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, went into effect, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is in the news for another reason: there's a price on his head - allegedly offered by a Mexican drug cartel.

The audio message in Spanish is a bit garbled, but the text is clear.

"It's offering a million dollars for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head and offering a thousand dollars for anyone who wants to join the Mexican cartel."

A man who wants to remain anonymous says his wife received the text message Tuesday evening. It also included an international phone number and instructions to pass the message along.

"She showed it to me..I was kind of disgusted..I reported it to the Sheriff's department yesterday..they said they were going to direct the threat squad on it."

Lisa Allen of the Sheriff's office says they believe the message originated in Mexico.

Although the Sheriff has received numerous death threats in the past, they believe this threat is credible because of its timing.

"Arpaio gets threats pretty routinely, but obviously with this heightened awareness of his role in the immigration issue we've got to take this one a little bit more seriously with a million dollar contract out on him," said Allen.

But she says what really concerns investigators is how quickly the message may have been spread. "It's going so many different places that our folks are looking at it and thinking well at any given point in time it could land in front of some crazy person who thinks I can do that."

As for Arpaio's reaction to the threat, "It's a little bit like water off a duck's back for him, but you never know if it's that sense of false bravado with him..you just can't read it, I'm sure he's concerned, I'm sure he's concerned for his family more than anything else," said Allen.

The Sheriff's office says investigators are trying to trace exactly where the text message came from, but because it did originate from an international number, that will be difficult too.


SOURCE:
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/immigration/mexican-drug-cartel-sheriff-arpaio-07292010

[Dr.3D]

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=255089

[Johnnybags]

goes bankrupt and lawless. Time for a private, well regulated militia in AZ.

[LibertyVox]

Only a million dollars? We have a 20 million dollar bounty on mullah omar in the world's poorest, dirtshit destroyed part of the world.

If the cartel is willing to pay upfront, I might volunteer, collect the money, show the finger and then runaway to either kandahar or the tribal belt in AFPAk and lay low for a while. HA!

[FrankRep]

http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/stories/AP_9-2009/joe%20arpaio-t-ap.001.jpg



Arguably the “world’s toughest sheriff”, Maricopa County (Phoenix, Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to draw heavy fire for his strong statements, stands, and tactics against illegal immigration. by Bob Adelmann


World’s Toughest Sheriff — No Apologies (http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/crime/2560-worlds-toughest-sheriff-no-apologies)


Bob Adelmann | The New American (http://www.thenewamerican.com/)
Wednesday, 16 December 2009


Arguably the “world’s toughest sheriff,” Maricopa County (Phoenix) Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/sheriff-joe-arpaio-unapologetic-tactic%3E%20s-%3E%20illegal-immigrant-crackdowns/story?id=9219341) to draw heavy fire for his strong statements, stands, and tactics against illegal immigration.

After a long career in law and drug enforcement, Arpaio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio) eventually advanced to the position of head of the Arizona DEA. In 1992, he campaigned successfully for the office of Maricopa County Sheriff, and was re-elected by double-digit margins for four additional four-year terms.

He instituted a number of innovative programs that have been effective in preventing or reducing crime, including bicycle registration; block watches; child ID; “Operation Identification”; “Operation Notification”; “Hard Knocks High,” which gives credits for a high school diploma; ALPHA, a highly successful anti-substance abuse “Project Lifeline”; and an annual summer camp for kids.

His office’s website (mcso.org (http://www.mcso.org/)) hosts “Jail Cam,” an internet webcast which shows arrestees being brought in, handcuffed, fingerprinted, booked, and then taken to holding cells. The site receives millions of hits every day.

He has drawn national attention for three primary reasons: Tent City, Voluntary Chain Gangs, and Illegal Immigration enforcement.

Tent City is an extension of the Maricopa County Jail, which presently holds approximately 1,200 of the 10,000 prisoners incarcerated there. In summer, temperatures can reach well in excess of 100 degrees in the shade, making the upper bunks particularly uncomfortable for the inmates. When inmates complained, Arpaio said, “It’s 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents, have to wear full body armor, and they didn’t commit any crimes, so shut your mouths.”

Because inmates stole the white prison boxer shorts, Arpaio ordered them to wear pink shorts instead. This was expanded to include pink handcuffs when the regular issue cuffs also began to disappear.

In addition, the inmates wear black-and-white prison stripes, are fed two meals a day (to save money), no longer have access to pornographic magazines such as Playboy, and their TV channels are limited to The Disney Channel and C-SPAN.

When asked about Tent City by Nightline, he responded (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/sheriff-joe-arpaio-unapologetic-tactics-illegal-immigrant-crackdowns/story?id=9219341), “Why do you say rehabilitation? Why don’t [you] use the word punishment anymore? I’ll use it. You do something wrong, you lose your privileges, and you’re punished for it. So I’m not afraid to say punishment.”

Arpaio offers no apologies (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/sheriff-joe-arpaio-unapologetic-tactic%3E%20s-%3E%20illegal-immigrant-crackdowns/story?id=9219341) about the inmate treatment, saying that he makes prisoners’ jail time so painful that they never want to come back.

Volunteer Chain Gangs were instituted during Arcaro’s first term as a way to provide essentially free services to save taxpayer monies by cleaning streets, painting over graffiti, and burying the indigent in the county cemetery.

In addition, Arpaio has expanded the county sheriff’s posse to more than 3,000 volunteers who not only assist with regular police duties, but also by rounding up deadbeat parents, fighting prostitution, patrolling malls during holidays, and investigating animal cruelty complaints.

But the one area where Arpaio has been most successful, and for which he has drawn the most hostile fire, is illegal immigration.

When Arizona passed a state law in 2005 making smuggling illegal aliens across the border a felony, Arpaio instructed his deputies and posse to arrest illegal aliens.

His strategy was elegant simplicity itself: “We use minor misdemeanors to catch dope dealers, seize drugs, and catch DUIs," he said on Nightline (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/sheriff-joe-arpaio-unapologetic-tactics-illegal-immigrant-crackdowns/story?id=9219341&page=2). Regarding illegal immigration, Arpaio told said: "That’s a high interest of the country right now. And this county is putting resources towards that. I have $1.6 million from the state just to do that.”

Arpaio also noted on Nightline: "We reward people for illegally coming into this country, reward them with jobs.... You do know if you go into the ER many people [are] here illegally where U.S. citizens have to wait in the back of the line and they get angry about this.”

Sheriff Arpaio told (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/may/10/20060510-115750-3996r/) the Washington Times: "My message is clear: if you come here and I catch you, you’re going straight to jail.... I’m not going to turn these people over to federal authorities so they can have a free ride back to Mexico. I’ll give them a free ride to my jail.”

That's enough to draw the ire of such organizations as the ACLU, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/051/1997).

Time magazine (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1929920,00.html) recently asked if Arpaio was “an effective law-enforcement officer or…a flagrant human-rights violator.” Time said that “although Arpaio’s severe tactics are popular among Arizonans, his deputies have attracted widespread criticism in their pursuit of illegal immigrants for harassment and the racial profiling of Latinos.”

The New York Times Editorial Writers blog (http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/americas-worst-sheriff-joe-arpaio/) considers Arpaio “armed and dangerous. He is a public menace with a long and well-documented trail of inmate abuses, unjustified arrests, racial profiling, brutal and inept policing and wasteful spending.”

Even the Goldwater Institute (http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/Common/Img/Mission%20Unaccomplished.pdf) has drawn a bead on Arpiao with its claim that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is not “the leader in establishing the standards for providing professional quality law enforcement.”

Despite the attacks, however, Arpaio remains highly effective in upholding and enforcing the law, as the latest ABC Nightline show reveals. The Nightline team went along with one of Arpaio’s deputies on Interstate 17, and pulled over a suspicious vehicle. The result: 18 illegal immigrants crammed into the vehicle.

Nightline concluded: “There’s no time for sentiment. The night’s bounty — 16 men and 2 women — were cuffed and placed in a prison truck. They made it to America, but their journey has come to an abrupt halt.”

Thanks to Joe Arpiao, the “world’s toughest sheriff.”


SOURCE:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/crime/2560-worlds-toughest-sheriff-no-apologies

[WaltM]

goes bankrupt and lawless. Time for a private, well regulated militia in AZ.

there are some, they just get accused of being racist or lawless all over again.

[WaltM]

Only a million dollars? We have a 20 million dollar bounty on mullah omar in the world's poorest, dirtshit destroyed part of the world.


Hello? Keyword : ALLEGEDLY.



If the cartel is willing to pay upfront, I might volunteer, collect the money, show the finger and then runaway to either kandahar or the tribal belt in AFPAk and lay low for a while. HA!

screwing people over isn't cool, would you like it done to you?

[Zippyjuan]

Arpaio is tough on crime. He is also tough on innocents too. In 2006 he staged a SWAT raid on a house in Litchfield Park (after notifying the media) hoping to arrest a criminal suspect. Expecting some serious resistance?

"They ransacked my house. They had 30, 40 SWAT team members standing on my front lawn. They had helicopters flying over the house,” Dowling said. "It literally looked like a circus."
The fearsome suspect? An unarmed female school superintendant. She was accused of stealing $3.5 million from a school budget. Another problem. No money was actually missing. Sandra Dowling has filed a mulit million dollar lawsuit. She did plead guilty- to giving her own daughter a summer job. All other charges were dismissed. The same guy who is proud of saving costs by only feeding inmates twice a day is costing taxpayers more money. http://www.kpho.com/politics/19652647/detail.html

He has arrested in grand exhibitions other political opponents who also eventually had all charges dropped or dismissed. He is being investigated by federal authorities on abuse of power. http://www.kpho.com/news/22177676/detail.html

Judges are joining the case agains him. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/28/20100528judges-claim-against-arpaio-thomas.html

[Fox McCloud]

Arpaio is tough on crime. He is also tough on innocents too. In 2006 he staged a SWAT raid on a house in Litchfield Park (after notifying the media) hoping to arrest a criminal suspect. Expecting some serious resistance?

The fearsome suspect? An unarmed female school superintendant. She was accused of stealing $3.5 million from a school budget. Another problem. No money was actually missing. Sandra Dowling has filed a mulit million dollar lawsuit. She did plead guilty- to giving her own daughter a summer job. All other charges were dismissed. The same guy who is proud of saving costs by only feeding inmates twice a day is costing taxpayers more money. http://www.kpho.com/politics/19652647/detail.html

He has arrested in grand exhibitions other political opponents who also eventually had all charges dropped or dismissed. He is being investigated by federal authorities on abuse of power. http://www.kpho.com/news/22177676/detail.html

Judges are joining the case agains him. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/28/20100528judges-claim-against-arpaio-thomas.html

isn't this the same prick who wanted to line the entire county border with cops/deputies and force everyone to be effectively strip searched before they could enter the county?

[Liberty_Mike]

isn't this the same prick who wanted to line the entire county border with cops/deputies and force everyone to be effectively strip searched before they could enter the county?

Wouldn't surprise me. I hope he does ok and makes it through this threat, but it would be a huge win for liberty if he resigned from office!

[michaelwise]

I would think Carlos Slim from Mexico, worlds richest man, would make for a much higher value target.

"Carlos Slim Helú (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkarlos eˈslim eˈlu], known simply as Carlos Slim (born January 28, 1940), is a Mexican businessman, philanthropist and the chairman and CEO of Telmex, Telcel and América Móvil [3]. As of April 2010, he is the wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of around US$60.6 billion.[4][5] His sons Carlos, Marco Antonio and Patrick Slim Domit run the day-to-day operations of Telmex, Telcel, and América Móvil."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim

[Vessol]

While he doesn't sound like someone whom is pro-liberty nor someone I'd like in person, I don't want him to be killed. I don't think death or violence brings any good results.

[UnReconstructed]

I think they do this for publicity. There is no "price on his head" or it would have already been collected.

[Vessol]

I think they do this for publicity. There is no "price on his head" or it would have already been collected.

Agreed. It sounds like Neocon propaganda at worse. Some of the Mexican cartels wouldn't even waste the time announcing a bounty, they'd just kill him.

[oyarde]

Seal the border , man it, place a one year moratorium on all drug laws and put the violent cartels out of business.

[devil21]

I'm not a fan of Arpaio, love him or hate him, but do we really need anything more than this to know that our country is under attack on our very own soil?

[low preference guy]

I'm not a fan of Arpaio, love him or hate him, but do we really need anything more than this to know that our country is under attack on our very own soil?

Attacked by our own government! It's the politicians on Washington who empower these gangs by keeping the price high through prohibition. Just like they did in the '20s when they outlawed alcohol.

[libertarian4321]

I used to think he was just a "tough sherriff."

But now I lump Arpaio in with Jesse Jackson- an annoying narcissistic personality who will do anything to get more publicity.

If they offered this guy a shot at "Surreal Life 23" or any other equally lame reality show, he'd jump at the chance.

[Aratus]

then again ... or this is real ... and someone
wants arizona to politically explode... and
although the sheriff's jails are abysmal,
he does have his enemies... serious