Federal indictment tossed after ex-DEA supervisor says Latinos ‘typically’ supply drugs in Chicago | Chicago Sun-Times

Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 S. Dearborn St. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 S. Dearborn St. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Federal prosecutors have made the rare move of seeking dismissal of a three-year-old drug indictment following testimony from a former Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor who said drugs in Chicago are “typically trafficked by Latino people.”

The comments seemed to stun defense attorneys and catch the attention of U.S. District Judge John Blakey, who on Friday agreed to toss charges pending since 2019 against Leonel Hernandez-Rodriguez, Feliberto Flores-Ramos, Charlie Dotson and Francisco Carranza-Rosales.

The unusual move came more than a month after Keith Billiot, who is now retired but worked as a supervisory special agent for the DEA, testified about his role in the case during a March evidentiary hearing. He later walked back his comment following intense cross-examination, telling the judge race was “irrelevant” to the DEA’s work.

Billiot explained during the hearing what had led him to believe Flores-Ramos and Dotson had been involved in a drug deal Jan. 31, 2019. After naming other factors, including the behavior of the suspects, Billiot went further, according to a court transcript.

“In the city of Chicago for the five-and-a-half years that I worked here, typically — not always, but typically it is people of Latino descent are the ones that are supplying people of African American descent or Caucasians, or whatever,” Billiot said, according to the transcript. “But it’s the — the fact of the matter is that the drugs come up from Mexico or come in from Colombia but they come through Latino countries into the cities throughout the U.S. and therefore they’re typically trafficked by Latino people. So all of that, when you put all of that together, it indicated a narcotics transaction to me.”

Defense attorneys in the case — Thomas Anthony Durkin, Gal Pissetzky, Michael Leonard and Robert Rascia — all moved to strike Billiot’s testimony. Blakey said he’d strike the comment about race and added, “I’m going to permit vigorous cross examination on the issue, so fire away.”

Billiot could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney John Lausch, said that, “after reviewing the matter internally, we decided that moving to dismiss the indictment was the best course of action in this case.”

A criminal complaint in the case said law enforcement saw Flores-Ramos leave a home in the 6500 block of South Kenneth the afternoon of Jan. 31, 2019, holding his hand against the left side of his jacket in a way that suggested he was hiding something.

It said Flores-Ramos then got in a Dodge Caliber and traveled to 63rd and Kilbourn while investigators followed. The Dodge parked behind a white Buick sedan, Flores-Ramos got out and climbed into the Buick’s passenger seat with his hand still pressed against his jacket, according to the complaint.

Dotson was allegedly in the Buick’s driver’s seat.

Investigators soon drove toward the Buick and parked next to it, records show. After ordering Dotson and Flores-Ramos out of the car, authorities said they spotted an open bag filled with what turned out to be $34,000 cash on the front passenger floorboard. The feds also said a closed backpack in the back seat later turned out to contain a kilogram of cocaine.

The other defendants were found at the home on South Kenneth, where the feds say they also found eight kilograms of cocaine and $600,000 cash in a dishwasher.

Flores-Ramos admitted after his arrest that he’d gone to sell cocaine to Dotson, according to the complaint.

Still, during the March hearing, Billiot found himself defending his comments about the ethnicity of typical drug suppliers in Chicago. He noted he’d also pointed out other key factors in the investigation.

“So it was not the mere fact — and to be quite honest with you, I’m offended by the whole racism thing,” Billiot told Durkin. “It was not the fact that a Latino person met with a Black person. Absolutely not. Is that clear enough, sir, please? Can we get beyond that please?”

“I started with the probable cause that we developed upon your client and went all the way through the chain of events, sir,” Billiot continued. “That’s including the car, the car is running, the lights are off. Why would that be, sir? So I painted the picture of the entire probable cause that we saw, all the — the things that we saw. We didn’t generate those things. The client — the defendants here did but I simply testified as to what we saw. There is no racism involved in this.”

Blakey also questioned him about the comment, asking whether the ethnicity of the defendants played any role in his decision-making.

“It’s irrelevant,” Billiot eventually told the judge. “Someone’s ethnicity — the clearest way for me to say this is someone’s ethnicity is irrelevant to us in all respects.”

But Billiot pushed back once more against Durkin, telling the defense attorney, “this inference of racism is so phony.”

“You know nothing about me,” Billiot said. “Nothing. For you to infer that I’m a racist, I’m the godfather of an African-American child. She is — she is the daughter of a police officer and soldier who is one of my closest friends.

“There is nothing racist about what we do or how we do it. Nothing.”

Read More

Skip The Scoop | Seek Understanding

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2221 | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded October 12, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2220 | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded October 12, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

The Democrat Party Establishment Once Again Rolls Over And Shows It’s Ugly Underbelly | “Racist remarks in leaked audio of L.A. council members spark outrage, disgust” | The Los Angeles Times

Show Me

William Shatner: My Trip to Space Filled Me With ‘Overwhelming Sadness’ (EXCLUSIVE) | Variety

Show Me

Could Jupiter’s Icy Moon Harbor Life? | The Atlantic

Show Me

Nightly News Rebroadcast | October 11, 2022 | Video: 26 Minutes 13 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2219 | Evening Edition | Recorded October 11, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds

Show Me

Cuba: Tactics of repression must not be repeated | Amnesty International

Show Me

Peer Reviewed Study: 94 Percent of Vaccinated Patients With Subsequent Health Issues Have Abnormal Blood | National File

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2218 | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded October 11, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2217 | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded October 11, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2216 | Evening Edition | Recorded October 10, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Nightly News Rebroadcast | October 10, 2022 | Video: 25 Minutes 46 Seconds

Show Me

Why Democrats are Switching Sides – Kari Lake | Awaken With JP

Show Me

‘Waking Up the Sheep’: Texas Siblings Sound Alarm on Hospital COVID Treatment Protocols After Death of Mother

Show Me

FDA Approves First COVID Treatment for Young Children Despite Alarming Risks | Epoch Times

Show Me

Minnesota doctor embattled with state board over COVID treatment gets Johnson backing for governor | Just The News

Show Me

Wanton War on Early Covid Treatment | Townhall

Show Me

What You Need to Know About Early At-Home COVID Treatment | Dr. Mercola

Show Me

Joe Rogan’s ‘Emergency Podcast’ Questions YouTube’s Censorship of Content Showing Ivermectin as an Effective COVID Treatment

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2215 | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded October 10, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2214 | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded October 10, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Dr. Paul Marik Speaks About The Silencing of Doctors Who Want to Speak Out About the COVID Vaccines | Video: 48 Minutes 54 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2213 | Saturday Edition Hour 2 | Recorded October 8, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Episode 2212 | Saturday Edition Hour 1 | Recorded October 8, 2022 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Ron DeSantis says Biden should get ‘honorary’ drug cartel membership for border policies | New York Post

Show Me

Vancouver’s safe drug-use sites are wrenching to see. California should open them anyway | Los Angeles Times

Show Me

Federal indictment tossed after ex-DEA supervisor says Latinos ‘typically’ supply drugs in Chicago | Chicago Sun-Times

Show Me

Feds find major drug-smuggling tunnel at US-Mexican border | New York Post

Show Me

Homeland Security memo: Drug cartels control human trafficking corridors to Biden border | Just The News

Show Me

China and Mexican Drug Cartels Helped Murder 339,849 Americans and Most Politcians Do Not Care | The Gateway Pundit

Show Me

Horrific moment TV journalist sobs over body of her anti-drug prosecutor husband after he was gunned down on their HONEYMOON in Colombia just hours after she revealed she was pregnant | Daily Mail UK

Show Me

DEA Quietly Removes Narco-Busting Aircraft From Mexico As Drug Overdoses Skyrocket | Daily Caller

Show Me

Texas mom who laced baby’s milk with drugs will only serve probation | New York Post

Show Me

Drug Overdose Deaths Rise Nearly 15% in Joe Biden’s First Year as President | Breitbart

Show Me

Former Honduran President Hernandez Pleads Not Guilty to US Drug Charges

Show Me

Denise Francine ‘Fran’ Boyd Andrews, a drug counselor whose battle with addiction inspired a book and HBO miniseries, dies

Show Me

Utah Was Warned Racial Rationing of COVID Drugs Was Illegal. It Did It Anyway. | The Washington Free Beacon

Show Me

BORDER TOWN USA: Nashville Trio Moved Mexican Cartel Drugs Across Nation | Breitbart

Show Me

Nightly News Rebroadcast | October 7, 2022 | Video: 27 Minutes 06 Seconds

Show Me