December 5, 2011
Hon. Thaddeus McCotter
2243 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Congressman McCotter:
I am writing to you as a private citizen and a resident of Texas. My background includes being a police office, broadcaster, business owner and Member of Congress.
I had the privilege to serve as ranking member and then Chairman of the old Treasury, Postal and General Government (TPS) sub-committee on Appropriations. Rebuilding ATF after Waco came under my watch. I have continued to be associated with law enforcement and ATF since leaving Congress and I can assure you that agency is badly broken.
The level of retaliation and harassment that is fostered upon good agents in the field is a disgrace and in many cases unlawful. However, a good-old-boy system that includes the lawyers at ATF continue the mistreatment, the law suits and general harassment of agents that want to do their jobs by the book, be honest and put bad guys in jail.
Many good agents have already left ATF and others are ready to go.
Recently, I had the honor to attend a memorial for murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. It was a humbling experience, but offered an opportunity to talk at length with Border Patrol Agents, ATF Agents and local law enforcement. They are living in a war zone and I came away with the determination to try and do something to make things better for them. They certainly are not getting the support and help they need from our DOJ. They cannot speak up for fear of retaliation.
I can.
Congressman, you are in a position to right the wrongs that the whistleblowers and other goods agents have had to suffer. I urge you to please work for a Special Counsel or whatever it takes to get the evidence dug out of ATF, DOJ, DEA, FBI and any other bad player involved with the disgrace and travesty we are now witnessing.
Tuesday
Roll Call is scheduled to print an op-ed I wrote asking for the indictment of Eric Holder, William Newell, William McMahon and anyone else that has played a role in the execution of Fast and Furious.
As a former soldier, police officer, Member of Congress and now a private citizen I urge you to continue your interest in bringing justice to those adversely effected by Fast and Furious and would support your efforts to seek indictment in any way I can.
Respectfully,
Member of Congress (ret)
James R Lightfoot
Member of Congress, ret.
(1984 – 1996)
Potential unlawful acts by ATF Agents related to Operation Fast and Furious
Keep in mind, NONE of this relates to potential STATE violations, such as negligent homicide, or some other reckless conduct statutes. Even if the Feds stepped in and snatched the state prosecutions into federal court as the law allows, they would still have to prosecute or answer why not.
Items in blue are referenced to the observation in red at the end of each paragraph.
18 U.S.C. § 922 : US Code - Section 922: Unlawful acts
(a) It shall be unlawful -
(1) for any person -
(A) except a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or
licensed dealer,
to engage in the business of importing,
manufacturing, or
dealing in firearms, or in the course of such
business to
ship, transport, or receive any firearm in
interstate or
foreign commerce; or
ATF and DOJ Attorneys clearly were engaged or conspiring to engage in the business
(B) except a
licensed importer or licensed manufacturer, to
engage in the business of importing or manufacturing
ammunition, or in the course of such business,
to ship,
transport, or receive any ammunition in interstate or foreign
commerce;
ATF and DOJ Attorneys ordered and directed this as well
(6) for any person in connection with the
acquisition or
attempted acquisition of any firearm or ammunition from a
licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or
licensed collector,
knowingly to make any false or fictitious
oral or written statement or to furnish or exhibit any false,
fictitious, or misrepresented identification, intended or likely
to deceive such importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector with
respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale or
other disposition of such firearm or ammunition under the
provisions of this chapter;
ATF Bosses, Agents and DOJ Attorneys did exactly this on multiple occasions. In order for some cop exemption to apply, They had to reasonably intend to disrupt and stop criminal activity. IE give some sample drugs to a kingpin to set him up for a large reverse. You cannot constantly provide an unending supply of drugs and just say "hey, we are working toward an arrest someday."
(2)
any firearm to any person in
any State where the purchase
or possession by such person of such firearm would be in
violation of any State law or any published ordinance applicable
at the place of sale, delivery or other disposition, unless the
licensee knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the
purchase or possession would not be in violation of such State
law or such published ordinance;
Mexico is a state and this WAS in violation of published Mexican law or ordinance. ATF and DOJ Attorneys directed and conspired this to happen.
(h) It shall be unlawful for any individual,
who to that individual's knowledge and while being employed for any person described in any paragraph of subsection (g) of this section, in the course of such employment -
(1)
to receive, possess, or transport any firearm or ammunition
in or affecting interstate or
foreign commerce; or
(2) to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
Illegal aliens, illegal users of narcotics and felons were employing these straw purchasers and ATF and DOJ attorneys DID conspire to violate this "the bodyguard" statute to be violated.
(m) It shall be unlawful for any licensed importer, licensed manufacturer,
licensed dealer, or licensed collector
knowingly to make any false entry in, to fail to make appropriate entry in, orto fail to properly maintain, any record which he is required to keep pursuant to section 923 of this chapter or regulations promulgated thereunder.
Occurred with each and every straw purchase, directed, facilitated or allowed by ATF and DOJ Attorneys. There are emails telling the FFL it is ok to break the law.
18 U.S.C. 371, CONSPIRACY
outlaws conspiracy to commit
any other
federal crime. The others outlaw conspiracy to commit some specific form of misconduct, ranging from civil rights violations to drug trafficking.7 Conspiracy is a separate offense under most of these statutes,8 regardless of whether conspiracy accomplishes its objective.9 every conspiracy has at least two elements: (1)
an agreement (2)
between two or more persons. Members of the conspiracy are also liable for the foreseeable crimes of their fellows committed in furtherance of the common plot.
There are no one-man conspiracies.31
Conviction under 18 U.S.C. 371 for conspiracy to commit a substantive offense requires proof
that one of the conspirators committed an
overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
You can commit a conspiracy with an unindicted co-conspirator. It appears this is the one that will kill them in relation to very act the cartel/straw purchasers committed, including murder. In order to avoid this, they have to admit they are acting under color of law for ANY Law Enforcement protections. SEE ABOVE, the problem with that is that acting under color of law requires you are within the scope of your duties and advancing legitimate law enforcement actions.
The elements of conspiracy to defraud the United States under 18 U.S.C. 371 are (1) an agreement of
two or more persons; (2) to
defraud the United States; and (3)
an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy committed by one of the conspirators.65 The "fraud covered by the statute reaches any conspiracy for the purpose
of impairing, obstructing or defeating the lawful functions of any department of the Government" by "
deceit, craft or trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest."67 The plot must be directed against the United States or some federal entity; a scheme to defraud the recipient of federal funds is not sufficient. The scheme may be designed to deprive the United States of money or property, but it need not be so; a plot calculated to
frustrate the functions of an entity of the United States will suffice.
Based on overt direction by ATF and DOJ Attorneys the above should be a slam dunk. You'll notice this is a willful NOT a knowing act. In other words, they meant to do it. They didn't need to know all the ins and outs.
Mail and wire fraud is a
federal crime in the
United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or
honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication.
18 U.S.C.§ 1341provides:
Whoever, having
devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to
defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or
fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, or to sell, dispose of, loan, exchange, alter, give away, distribute, supply, or furnish or procure for unlawful use any counterfeit or spurious coin, obligation, security, or other article, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be such counterfeit or spurious article, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice or attempting so to do, places in any post office or authorized depository for mail matter, any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by the Postal Service, or deposits or causes to be deposited any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by any private or commercial interstate carrier, or takes or receives therefrom, any such matter or thing, or knowingly causes to be delivered by mail or such carrier according to the direction thereon, or at the place at which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any such matter or thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation occurs in relation to, or involving any benefit authorized, transported, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, or paid in connection with, a presidentially declared major disaster or emergency (as those terms are defined in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)), or affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.
[2]
All Federal funding used in any case has been reported, transferred, accounted for through the U S Mail at some point. Clearly whatever was stated by the agents, bosses or U S Attorney justifying the expenditures was fraudulent.
Wire
18 U.S.C. §1343 provides:
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artific
e, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.
[3]
Huge wire fraud implications resulting from EVERY email, fax, Teletype that occurred with the intent to mislead the true actions of Fast and Furious.
42 U.S.C.§ 1983 now reads:[3]
Every person who
under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the
deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, Suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.
To be clear, Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata and every other cop and civilian harmed by a Fast and Furious gun has been deprived of their constitutional civil rights at the hands of ATF and DOJ Attorneys under the color of law. Example: An agent walks high-grade heroin with no safe guards, and no specific greater law enforcement future good that he/she can articulate, and someone's kid overdoses because of it, BINGO, same deal as Fast and Furious.
The
Supreme Court has interpreted the
United States Constitution to construct laws regulating the actions of the law enforcement community. Under "color of law",
it is a crime for one or more persons using power given to him or her by a governmental agency (local, state or federal),
to willfully deprive or conspire to deprive another person of any right protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Enforcement of "color of law" does not require that any racial, religious, or other discriminatory motive existed. Criminal acts under color of law include acts within and beyond the bounds or limits of lawful authority.
