In United States v. Alvarez-Machain, a citizen of Mexico was kidnapped from his home and flown to Texas, where he was arrested for “his participation in the kidnaping and murder of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent and the agent’s pilot.” The Supreme Court held in the 1992 case that “forcible abduction does not prohibit his trial in a United States court for violations of this country’s criminal laws.” “The profits of that illegal activity flow to corrupt rank-and-file civilian, military, and intelligence officials, who operate in a patronage system run by those at the top-referred to as the Cartel de Los Soles or Cartel of the Suns, a reference to the sun insignia affixed to the uniforms of high-ranking Venezuelan military officials,” the indictment signed by U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton states. While Hellerstein “may raise eyebrows both in terms of the judge’s advanced age and perceived hostility to President Trump’s past efforts to have his own case moved from state to federal court,” juries in New York “are long accustomed to hearing and deciding on high-profile drug, organized crime, and white collar cases and are unlikely to give a defendant a pass even in these highly polarized times,” Moreno said.
Author: Katelynn Richardson
Published at: 2026-01-10 19:27:51
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