1. Boston: Massachusetts Man Charged with Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Terrorists
Tarek
Mehanna was charged today in federal court with conspiracy to provide
material support to terrorists. The complaint alleges Mehanna conspired
with Ahmad Abousamra and others to provide material support and
resources for use in carrying out a conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or
injure persons or damage property in a foreign country and
extraterritorial homicide of a U.S. national. Full Story
2. El Paso: Ravelo Placed on FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List
Eduardo
Ravelo was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Ravelo is
being sought for his alleged involvement in the Barrio Azteca
transnational gang and their racketeering, money laundering, and
drug-related activities in the El Paso, Texas area. Full Story
3. Los Angeles: Man Wanted for Multiple Murders Named to FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List
A
Los Angeles man wanted by multiple agencies in connection with at least
four murders and various other crimes was added to the FBI’s list of
Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Jose Luis Saenz first came to the attention
of law enforcement when Los Angeles Police Department detectives
identified him as the suspect in the 1998 murder of two men in the
Hollenbeck area of Los Angeles. Less than two weeks later, Saenz is
believed to have kidnapped, raped, and murdered his girlfriend, who was
also the mother of his child. Full Story
4. Philadelphia: Semion Mogilevich Added to FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List
Semion
Mogilevich was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Mogilevich is wanted for his alleged participation in a multi-million
dollar scheme to defraud thousands of investors in the stock of a
public company incorporated in Canada, but headquartered in Newtown,
Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Investors lost more than $150 million
through the alleged scheme. Full Story
5. Washington Field: Maryland Scientist Charged with Attempted Espionage
Stewart
David Nozette, a Maryland scientist who once worked in varying
capacities for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was arrested for
attempted espionage. The complaint charges that Nozette knowingly and
willfully attempted to communicate, deliver, and transmit classified
information relating to the national defense of the United States to an
individual he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer. The
complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone
acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this
case. Full Story
6. FBI Headquarters: Alleged La Familia Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Nationwide Takedown
Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI
Director Robert S. Mueller III, DEA Acting Administrator Michele M.
Leonhart, and ATF Acting Director Kenneth E. Melson announced the
arrest of nearly 1,200 individuals on narcotics-related charges and the
seizure of more than 11.7 tons of narcotics as part of a 44-month
multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as Project Coronado.
Over the past two days, 303 individuals in 19 states were arrested as
part of Project Coronado, which targeted the distribution network of a
major Mexican drug trafficking organization known as La Familia,
through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement.
More than 3,000 agents and officers operated across the United States
to make the arrests during the two-day takedown. During the two-day
operation alone, $3.4 million in U.S. currency, 729 pounds of
methamphetamine, 62 kilograms of cocaine, 967 pounds of marijuana, 144
weapons and 109 vehicles were seized by law enforcement agents. Full Story
7. Cleveland: Three Sentenced for Conspiring to Commit Terrorist Acts Against Americans Overseas
Three
Ohio residents, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi, and Wassim
I. Mazloum were sentenced to prison terms ranging from more than 8
years to 20 years for conspiring to commit terrorist acts against
Americans overseas, including U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and
other terrorism-related violations. Full Story
8. San Diego: Leaders of Arellano-Felix Criminal Organization Plead Guilty
Jesus
“Chuy” Labra-Aviles, Efrain Perez, Jorge Aureliano Felix, and Armando
Martinez-Duarte pleaded guilty in United States District Court to
charges arising from their leadership of the Arellano-Felix drug
trafficking organization (AFO). According to court documents, the AFO
is a criminal enterprise based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
Over the course of two decades, the AFO has shipped hundreds of tons of
cocaine and marijuana to the United States; laundered hundreds of
millions of dollars in drug proceeds; kidnapped, tortured, and murdered
numerous persons, including informants and law enforcement personnel;
and paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials. All
four defendants had been extradited from Mexico to the United States in
December 2008 to stand trial. Full Story
9. Los Angeles: Twenty Charged in Connection with $26 Million Medicare Fraud Schemes
Twenty
defendants, most of them residing in the Los Angeles area, were charged
in seven cases with allegedly participating in Medicare fraud schemes
that resulted in more than $26 million in fraudulent bills to the
Medicare program. Full Story
10. Miami: Former Top Ten Fugitive Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison
One-time
Norte Valle Cartel kingpin and former FBI Top Ten fugitive Diego
Montoya Sanchez was sentenced to a 45-year term of imprisonment for
conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and obstruction of
justice by murder. He was also sentenced to a concurrent 45-year term
in prison for conspiring to participate in conducting the affairs of an
enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity. The prosecution
was a result of Operation Resurrection, an FBI investigation initiated
in the late 1990s that targeted leaders of Colombia’s Norte Valle
Cartel. Based upon FBI estimates, at its peak the Norte Valle Cartel
was responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine exported from Colombia to
the United States. Full Story