Oscar Danilo Blandn Reyes (born July 29, 1951[1]) is a Nicaraguan born drug trafficker who is best known as one of the main subjects of the 1996 newspaper series "Dark Alliance" by reporter Gary Webb.
Blandn was originally a director of agricultural markets in Nicaragua during the government of Anastasio Somoza. When the Somoza regime was overthrown in 1979, Blandn fled to the United States,[2] and then raised money for the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), a Contra group. As part of his fundraising activities Blandn began selling cocaine. Eventually Blandn became a major cocaine trafficker in the Los Angeles area.[3]
In May 1992, Blandn was arrested in San Diego on the federal charge of "conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute."[4] In prison awaiting trial, Blandn began cooperating with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in a number of drug cases. In a plea agreement, Blandn agreed to continue cooperating with the government in exchange for a substantial sentence reduction. Eventually Blandn was sentenced to 48 months.[4] In order to facilitate Blandn's work as an informant, the government further requested a reduction in Blandn's sentence to time served. Following his imprisonment, Blandn worked for the DEA as a confidential informant. He worked for the DEA to take down drug kingpin Rick Ross in a sting operation, for which Ross was convicted in 1997.[5][6]
The third count of the indictment separately charges Hernandez, Michael Caruso, and Raymer Ynoa with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) through a door-to-door drug delivery service. A separate criminal complaint was also unsealed today, charging Irvin Hernandez with being a member of the same door-to-door drug delivery conspiracy.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Ricky J. Patel, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI); and Daniel B. Brubaker, Inspector-in-Charge, New York Division, United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), announced the charges.
The internet contains online marketplaces for narcotics and other illegal items that exist on the dark web, a part of the internet located beyond the reach of traditional internet browsers and accessible only through the use of networks designed to conceal user identities. Silk Road, AlphaBay, Dream Market and Wall Street Market were some of these marketplaces that have since been taken down. All of these sites were large global dark web marketplaces that functioned like conventional e-commerce websites but were geared towards the trafficking of contraband. Vendors advertised the sale of illegal narcotics and other contraband; buyers purchased the illegal narcotics and contraband; buyers paid for the purchased goods using digital currency; and vendors shipped the goods through the United States mail and other means of delivery. These dark web marketplaces required users to trade in digital currencies, primarily Bitcoin, and the marketplaces did not allow for transactions in official, government-backed fiat currency.
Vendors and buyers on dark web marketplaces typically operated under anonymous monikers. However, vendors received ratings from buyers of narcotics based on, among other things, the quality of contraband, reliability of delivery and volume of traffic. In addition, vendors received rankings from the marketplace administrators based on user input.
As alleged, defendant Edison Hernandez was a highly rated vendor of illegal narcotics on Silk Road, AlphaBay, Dream Market and Wall Street Market. From January 2013 until April 2019, Hernandez advertised and sold heroin and cocaine to customers in the United States through these dark web marketplaces.
Today, Thompson was held accountable for the large quantities of fentanyl he distributed all over Suffolk County which had a devastating impact on the community, including the tragic poisoning death...
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, a three-count indictment was unsealed charging Devin Anthony Magarian with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and possessing oxycodone with intent to...
Since the result is usually black, it is generally smuggled as toner, fingerprint powder, fertilizer, pigment, metal moldings,[1] or charcoal.[2] The pure cocaine base can be recovered from the mixture by extraction (freebase) or acid-base extraction (hydrochloride) using common organic solvents such as methylene chloride[3] or acetone. A second process is required to convert cocaine base into powdered cocaine hydrochloride.[3]
It was reported that in the mid-1980s Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet ordered his army to build a clandestine cocaine laboratory in Chile where chemists mixed cocaine with other chemicals to produce what Pinochet's former top aide for intelligence Manuel Contreras described as a "black cocaine" capable of being smuggled past drug agents in the US and Europe.[4]
Black cocaine was detected in Bogota, Colombia in May 1998.[5][6] In 2008, a new type of black cocaine was discovered by police in Spain. It had been manufactured into rubber-like sheets and made into luggage.[7] In 2021, 860 kg (1,900 lb) of black cocaine disguised as charcoal, in 30 sacks among 1,364 sacks of charcoal, were seized in Spain, one of the biggest cocaine seizures recorded in Castilla y Len.[2]
When you were younger, you might have heard stories about how substance use affected the appearance of friends or family members. Maybe in school, you were shown pictures of people who had an addiction and were told that you could end up like that through drug use.
In the past decades, there have been a variety of campaigns in schools and in the public space to try and dissuade people from getting into drug use and prevent addiction. Sometimes, the messaging could be very aggressive and instead of helping people, making people feel inadequate or too ashamed to seek help for substance use disorders. We want to make you feel welcome in getting treatment.
Cocaine is used occasionally and in a very limited capacity in some medical operations. Sometimes it may be appropriate to use as local anesthesia in some surgeries. However, recreational cocaine use is illegal.
On the street, cocaine is sold in its powder form, but the illegal street drug trade can pose many dangers to users looking for their drug of choice. It has been observed that dealers often mix in other substances that look like cocaine into the cocaine powder mix. By charging a user the price for a pure bag of cocaine for something like a cocaine and kitchen flour mix, the dealer gets to keep the profits even though the bag would not be worth the price paid. The National Institute on Drug Abuse notes that common mixed substances besides flour include cornstarch and talcum powder.
Although a cornstarch mix might not sound all that dangerous, common kitchen and home items are not the only things that get cut with street cocaine. The National Institute on Drug Abuse also cautions that substances such as amphetamine, another kind of stimulant, or synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl can be used. These drugs cut with cocaine can make the chance of suffering an overdose more likely. Negative reactions to other drugs in a cocaine mix also pose a threat to the user who is unaware of the tempered cocaine.
Well, when you use cocaine, the drug increases the levels of dopamine, a natural chemical in the body, in the part of your brain that manages movement and rewards. Dopamine naturally exists in a certain amount and is produced by our bodies. It plays a big role in how we feel and is often associated with feelings of happiness of pleasure. You might have heard people suggest exercising can help you feel better because physical exercise can release hormones like endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin that can improve mood.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, dopamine is usually recycled back into the cell that it was released from, effectively shutting off that communication between cells. However, cocaine use prevents dopamine from being recycled back into the cell and causes it to build up. With lots of dopamine built up in the brain, the reward center of the brain will eventually become used to the excess dopamine and begin to reinforce the habit of using cocaine.
If you use cocaine for a long time, there are a variety of long-term effects that you could experience. As regular cocaine use continues for a long period of time, the toll on the body begins to show and you could suffer from poor health or complications.
As a stimulant, cocaine use can trigger chemical and endorphin releases in the brain. The result of this is that the pupils can dilate. This means that the pupils (the small black circle in the middle of your eyes) will grow larger. When your pupils are dilated, they will expand and take in more light. This is what causes many on a cocaine high to be sensitive to light.
You can observe pupil dilation yourself with just a mirror and a flashlight. If you shine a flashlight in one of your eyes, from the side so you can watch your pupil in the mirror, the pupil will shrink. When you move the light away, the pupil will grow back to its normal size. Be sure not to shine the flashlight into your eyes for more than a few moments! The growing and shrinking of your pupils is a sign of normal functioning eyes. This happens throughout the day in order to adjust your eyes to the level of light in a room so that you can see as best as you can.
Besides pupil dilation and light sensitivity, cocaine use can also cause blood vessels to expand. This can lead to redness and bloodshot eyes, which are commonly referred to as cocaine eyes. The redness occurs in the white part of your eye called the sclera.
Although this condition is colloquially called cocaine eyes, cocaine is not the only substance that is responsible for bloodshot eyes. The use of other substances such as marijuana, benzodiazepines, and depressants such as alcohol or sedatives can also contribute to redness in the eyes.
7fc3f7cf58