On September 9, 2011, federal prosecutors filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Chicago seeking to invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), in the trial of Sinaloa cartel operative, Vicente Zambada-Niebla who alleges an agreement exists between the U.S. government and his bosses.
The CIPA was enacted over 30 years ago to prevent public disclosure in criminal cases of classified information.
The motion reads: “The government hereby requests that the Court conduct a pretrial conference … pursuant to CIPA … at which time, the government will be prepared to report to the Court and defendant [Zambada Niebla] regarding the approximate size of the universe of classified material that may possibly be implicated in the discovery and trial of this case.”
In August, attorneys for Vicente Zambada-Niebla filed documents with the court claiming that the U.S. government allowed him to bring cocaine into the U.S. in exchange for information on rival cartels.
Under the alleged deal, U.S. law enforcement agents reportedly allowed the Sinaloa Cartel to traffic several tons of cocaine into this country over a period of five years.
Zambada-Niebla says that the man who acted as an intermediary in the alleged conspiracy between the cartel and the U.S government was Mexican lawyer, Humberto Loya Castro.
The documents filed by U.S. prosecutors do confirm that Loya Castro was a DEA informant for at least 10 years while also working for the Sinaloa cartel.
The court recently released the following complaint filed by Zambada-Niebla:
“This strategy, which he calls “Divide & Conquer,” using one drug organization to help against others, is exactly what the Justice Department and its various agencies have implemented in Mexico. In this case, they entered into an agreement with the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel through, among others, Humberto Loya-Castro, to receive their help in the United States government’s efforts to destroy other cartels. Under that agreement, the Sinaloa Cartel under the leadership of defendant’s father, Ismael Zambada-Niebla and “Chapo” Guzman, were given carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States and were also protected by the United States government from arrest and prosecution in return for providing information against rival cartels which helped Mexican and United States authorities capture or kill thousands of rival cartel members. Indeed, United States government agents aided the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel.”
“Among other benefits received by the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel was that United States government agents did not share any of the information they received relating to the Sinaloa Cartel with the Mexican government and the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel was kept informed of both Mexican and United States government operations in areas near their location. Indeed, Mr. Loya-Castro was permitted to be present while government agents were discussing strategies regarding operations they were conducting in Mexico. Moreover, no effort was made
by United States government agents to apprehend Ismael Zambada-Niebla or “Chapo” Guzman, who had been indicted several times in the United States and were subjects of extradition requests by the United States government.”
In September, the website Narco News reported on the case and spoke with a former federal agent on the condition of anonymity who went so far as to suggest a possible CIA connection to the drug trafficker’s case.
The Narco News article reads: “The former federal agent who spoke with Narco News about the Zambada Niebla case, and who asked not to be named, says that in CIPA cases, individuals are often brought in by the government who have ‘particular specialties, like defending CIA interests.’”
Not surprisingly, while reporting the government’s denial of any collusion with the drug cartel, the mainstream press has remained thoroughly silent on the CIPA filing.
This case has at least the potential to rival and overshadow the Iran/Contra, the Watergate and the ongoing DEA-run Fast and Furious scandals. So, why isn’t the press giving it at least as much attention as it did to the juvenile yet rather meaningless antics of former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner?
We now know that the ATF oversaw a gun-running scheme which sent thousands of assault rifles over the border and into the hands of the cartels.
So, is it so hard to believe that the U.S. government knowingly allowed drugs to be brought into this country?
The video at left alleges just that and the explosive claims are not made by an anonymous blogger nor by someone with a political axe to grind…they are made by former LAPD narcotics officer Mike Ruppert.
(Source: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. VICENTE JESUS ZAMBADA-NIEBLA, Case No. 09 CR 383, pgs. 6-8)
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