From: jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala)
Newsgroups: misc.legal,alt.society.civil-liberty,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Noriega and the U.S. government
Keywords: Noriega, Panama, Racketeering, Drugs
Date: 14 Apr 92 07:43:47 GMT
Reply-To: jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

Reposted from alt.drugs as data points into the Noriega discussion.

From: wix@west.darkside.com (Doktor Avalanche)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: FRAMED (or, "How Manny Spent His Summer Vacation")
Keywords: Noriega, Panama, Racketeering, Drugs
Date: 12 Apr 92 04:49:17 GMT

Whew! Looks like I got some lively discussion from the last post I
sent from my friend Elliott...

Anyway, he wanted me to send this one up here, too.
 
To Brad Baillod: I'll get back to you in short order.

========================================================================

FRAMED
by Elliott Finesse
-----------------------------

"Dear General Noriega 
 
"Your long standing support of the Drug Enforcement Administration is 
greatly appreciated. Country Attache Bramble has advised me of no small 
number of instances in which you have lent your personal support. Thank 
you very much for the autographed photograph. I have had it framed, and 
it is proudly displayed in my office. 
 
                                Signed, 
 
                        Francis Mullen Jr.   Chief 
 
                       Drug Enforcement Administration" 
 
 
The above letter is dated March 16, 1984 
 
 
There are also photos taken in happier times, warmly autographed to Manny, 
by Peter Bensinger and John C. Lawn, Both former DEA chiefs during the 
Carter and Reagan administrations respectively.(SF Chronicle, 6-2-88, 
pg. 1 section B) 
 
You think maybe they were all duped by this "low life"?  
 
Think again.  
 
Mullen, who headed the DEA from 1981-1985, was a willing defense witness 
and testified on Noriega's behalf on March 5, 1992. That shocking little 
bit of news made page 10 of the March 6 issue of the SF Chronicle. 
 
Doesn't that disturb you .... just a little?   
 
No?  Ok. Do you have a copy of the Bill of Rights handy? Check out the 6th 
Amendment. Can't find your copy? Ok I'll read it.  
 
Amendment VI 
 
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy
and public trial, by an impartial jury OF THE STATE AND DISTRICT WHEREIN 
THE CRIME SHALL HAVE BEEN COMMITTED........"  
 
Noriega was kidnapped from Panama and tried in Miami -  unconstitutionally. 
 
More? How about this:
  
Birch Bayh, CHAIRMAN of the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1978 told a 
closed session of the Senate at the time that, "...there was just a 
TREMENDOUS amount ..." of evidence, allegedly showing both Panama 
and Noriega's involvement in drug trafficking, as far back as the early 
70's. (9-28-88 NEW YORK TIMES) 
 
George Bush was head of the CIA in 1976. He was also in Panama that year, knew Noriega, and had 
contact.  
 
Do you suppose his CIA operatives - his EMPLOYEES - forgot to tell him 
about this "drug felon" and soon to be dictator? 
 
This conviction stinks to high heaven.  
 
I was not prepared to believe that jury "tampering" was in the realm of 
possibility for loyal American's no matter how "misguided" I think some 
serving the criminal justice system may be. 
 
Now I'm not so sure. 
 
Look at the Government witnesses:  
Former Panama Defense Force officer Luis Del Cid, now serving time and 
trading testimony for sentence reduction - And Money. 
 
Servants  of the Medellin and the Escobar drug families, trading testimony 
for promised sentence reduction.  
 
Gabriel Taboda, another jail bird serving 21 years for cocaine smuggling, 
trading testimony for sentence reduction. And Money. The prosecution 
refered to Gabriel as a "key witness." Perhaps they meant "kilo 
witness." 
 
Floyd Carlton Caceres, former cartel pilot, currently serving a long 
sentence for smuggling, trading testimony for possible sentence reduction -
and Money. 
 
And the big daddy 
 
Carlos Ledher, serving a life sentence PLUS one hundred and thirty years(!).
Carlos was actually captured with the help of Noriega and extradited to 
the US for prosecution, testifying in return for specially treatment in 
prison and for giving his family prominent resident (green card) status in 
the US. I'd guess that Carlos would have done it for nothing, though. 
 
U.S. Attorney, Robert Merkel who put Ledher away told The Washington  
Post, "I don't think the government should be in the business of dealing  
with Carlos Ledher. The guy is a liar from beginning to end."   
 
The Government's case rested almost entirely on ORAL testimony. This seems 
strange when you consider that  hundreds of U.S. soldiers search Noriega's 
place of business and residence, and those of his close aides, turning up 
nothing except a fifty-pound bag of ............. tortilla flour. This was 
mistakenly identified as cocaine at the time.  The U.S. military publicly 
corrected the error a few days later. It appears that the "Justice" 
Department was forced to purchase the testimony of convicted and 
incarcerated drug felons ( hand picked by Fbi agents from only the best 
Florida prisons) because out of the hundreds of thousands of documents 
taken during the illegal invasion of Panama, and subsequent illegal search,
none linking Noriega to drug trafficking were ever found.  
 
The flow of drugs through Panama has not ceased or even diminished. Only 
the attention paid to it has.  
 
But Hey. Maybe I'm just paranoid. 
 
Elliott Finesse