Why drug dealers rarely kill cops
Tom Alciere
http://www.nola.com/metro/1999/031299/tpm031299a.html
The New Orleans Times Picayune
12 March 1999
Drug kingpin has no regrets at sentencing
Pena to spend life behind bars for drugs,
murders
By Michael Perlstein
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune
March 12, 1999
Expressing no regrets about his reign as a violent
drug lord because "it's hard
to regret something from a job you love to do,"
Richard Pena calmly
accepted a life sentence Thursday for eight
murders he orchestrated while
leading one of the largest and most violent
cocaine-trafficking organizations
ever to take root in New Orleans.
Pena, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge
Eldon Fallon as part of a
plea bargain in which prosecutors dropped their
pursuit of the death penalty
in exchange for a detailed confession. Fallon also
fined Pena $2.5 million and
made it clear that his life sentence would be
served without the possibility of
release.
Under extra-tight security, Pena appeared unfazed
as he stood before the
judge in a red prison jumpsuit, handcuffed and
shackled. Pena's wife, one of
18 co-defendants in the sprawling case, and a
group of family members that
included his parents wept quietly during the
sentencing.
Pena, who pleaded guilty in January, confessed to
using cartel-level
connections in Houston, Miami and Mexico to flood
New Orleans with
cocaine, distributing most of his narcotics in the
city's public housing
complexes.
=======================
...to customers who WANTED it.
--Tom
=======================
At his peak in the mid-1990s, Pena was importing
more than 300
kilos -- 800 pounds -- of cocaine monthly. In the
murders, he admitted
carrying out or ordering the executions of five
partners he suspected of
double-crossing him, two police informants and a
suspected drug rival.
=======================
Perhaps THAT will slow down
the enemies of liberty,
detering folks from
giving true information
to the cops. Of course, cops
will just CLAIM to have a
confidential informant
instead. --Tom
========================
With the life sentence a foregone conclusion,
defense attorneys scored a
minor victory by obtaining a recommendation from
the U.S. Bureau of
Prisons to send Pena to the maximum security
compound in Beaumont,
Texas. For weeks, Pena's attorneys feared he would
be destined for
Florence, Colo., where the nation's most secure
prison holds such notorious
inmates as Oklahoma City, Okla., Federal Building
bomber Timothy
McVeigh and the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski.
"I can't tell you how happy I am that he's not
going to Colorado," attorney
Laurie White said.
Most of the hearing was taken up by objections
Pena's attorney lodged about
the presentence report. For example, Pena, who
immigrated from the
Dominican Republic, didn't want the court record
to refer to his street
nickname, "The Cuban." He wanted to make sure all
his co-defendants were
properly listed so he wouldn't cross paths with
them in the federal prison
system. Throughout the arguments, Pena spoke
animatedly to his attorneys.
When asked by Fallon if he wanted to address the
court, Pena delivered a
statement that held the courtroom in rapt silence.
"It's hard to regret something from a job you love
to do," Pena said with just
a trace of a Spanish accent. "It's the only job I
know how to do. But it never
should have risen to the level it did that
resulted in murder. God knows that
was the last thing I ever wanted to do."
The hearing included a brief recitation of the
murders, including the fact that
two of Pena's victims were bound and gagged when
they were killed. Fallon
also noted that two other victims were killed
after they were handcuffed and
kidnapped by two New Orleans police officers who
worked for Pena.
=====================
That's why so few dealers slaughter the cops.
Dealers NEED the cops to do some of their
dirty work. --Tom
=====================
Ex-cop David Singleton is serving a 14-year
sentence after pleading guilty to
his role in one of the abductions, while his
former partner, Renard Smith, is
expecting a life sentence after being convicted in
December as a lieutenant
in Pena's drug ring.
But the most shocking details from Pena's 27-page
confession were left
unspoken at the hearing, including instances of
torture that sometimes went
on for days. In his statement, however, Pena did
hint at a taste for bloodshed
in an oddly patriotic pronouncement.
"I want the court to know that I had the
opportunity to become a U.S. citizen
and when I took that oath, I meant every word of
it," he said. "If I ever had
the chance to fight for this country and die for
this country, I would have
gladly given my blood."
====================
So why didn't he blow away a bunch
of cops and keep slaughtering them
until he died for his country?
Lord knows, USA suffers from an
acute shortage of cop-killers. --Tom
====================
Pena also said he wanted to clear the air about
one element of his
confession, in which he admitted plotting to
"escape from jail and carry out a
series of retributory murders against several
individuals," including lead
prosecutor Mike Walther.
====================
Drug prosecutors deserve it. --Tom
====================
"None of that's true," Pena said of his so-called
hit list. "I would never have
done that."
The government's key witness to the escape plot
was the defense team
investigator, William Gassen, who said he grew so
alarmed he confided in
prosecutors and secretly recorded two jailhouse
conversations with Pena.
Pena attacked Gassen's credibility, saying, "He's
a book writer and he
wanted to hype that up."
=====================
So much for attorney-client
privilege. --Tom
=====================
U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan Jr., who earlier said
he agonized over whether
to drop his pursuit of the death penalty against
Pena, said he is satisfied with
the life sentence and relieved to put the case
behind him.
"I think it's evident from the defendant's
comments that he is not
remorseful," Jordan said. "He is a man who is
unwilling to take responsibility
for his monstrous and unspeakable deeds. I just
hope this will show other
would-be drug lords that even someone as powerful
and ruthless and cruel
as Pena can be brought to his knees by the
government."
======================
Only the meanest survive when drugs are
illegal...so legalize drugs and let
respectable cashiers sell them
same as other legal drugs. --Tom
======================
But Pena's wife, Amy St. Pierre, said there is
more to her husband than the
violent drug-dealer portrayed in court and in
media accounts.
"The papers have portrayed him as a monster and
there really is another side
to him," said Pierre, the mother of Pena's three
children. Pierre is awaiting
sentencing after pleading guilty in the case to
two counts of concealing
information about two of the murders.
--
- OFR -
The Opium Wars
In the mid 19th Century, China and the European countries
were not on good terms at all. At the root of all this conflict
was economics. Due to the lack of interest in European goods,
all of the European countries, specifically Britain were
running a trade deficit with China. In order to reverse this
trend, the British started exporting opium from India and into
China. This had the desired effect as soon China began to run
a trade deficit with the British. In order to stem the outflow of
silver from China, Chinese officials began aggressively
enforcing its laws against opium use and distribution. The
actions of Chinese authorities against this lucrative trade
infuriated British politicians despite the fact opium was illegal
in Britain as well. This conflict resulted in two wars
(1839-1842, 1856-1860) between the British and Chinese and
would result in much hardship for the Chinese people in
subsequent events. The Opium Wars would end up having
lasting effects on China that are evident even in the present
day.
The purchases made by British and >>>American<<< firms in Canton
were multiplying. Both countries paid for everything with
silver instead of the barter system because China had little it
wanted from the West. This system was getting costly for the
US and Great Britain. As a direct result the smuggling of
opium (which was relatively cheap to produce) began. Opium
was forbidden in China except for medicinal use. Even though
Canton was the only port legally open smuggling of opium
occurred all along the southern coast of China, the figures
were as follows:
Years
# of crates smuggled
1820-1825
9,708 crates per year
1825-1830
18,712 crates per year
1830-1835
35,445 crates per year
The first group to take opium were young men
from rich families. Although it soon spread to urban
workers and even low ranking officials and
from there opium worked it's way up the ranks. As a
result business slowed down and the standard of
living fell which resulted in a collapse of public
services. What the Western countries wanted had
finally happened China was in utter disarray. The
sale of Chinese goods to westerners no longer
balanced Chinese purchases. The tension that
resulted in the first Opium War. The war lasted
from 1839 to 1842. This war (and the second
Opium War) were fought to determine the relations
between China and the West, and as a result
China was forced to reevaluate her position as
the center of the world
--
- Outlaw Frog Raper -
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