Drug Crimes

Cover of Darkness: S.F. Police Turned a Blind Eye to Some of the City's Most Dangerous Criminals — Who Were Also Some of Their Most Trusted Sources

Drug NAFTA: More Mexican Cartels in the United States, but Americans Are Doing the Smuggling

It can be hard to figure out exactly what to make of the evil, ugly specter known as Mexican drug cartels. A pair of investigative reports, conducted by the Associated Press and the Center for Investigative Reporting, have given us some conclusions to chew on -- and together, they paint an odd pictu ... More >>

Southern Dude Arrested at Oakland Airport With 67 Pounds of Marijuana in His Bag

Never mind a change of shirts, apparently, all you need for a trip to the south is a luggage full of weed. A South Carolina-bound man was busted yesterday morning allegedly trying to travel with 67 pounds of pot in his bag, police said. According to KTVU, the marijuana was found when TSA agents ... More >>

Peter Acworth, CEO of Kink.com, Arrested for Cocaine Possession

Peter Acworth, CEO of our neighborhood BDSM porn production company Kink.com, was arrested Feb. 1 on charges of cocaine possession and delaying arrest. Police visited the Armory, Kink.com's Mission District fortress, after a video surfaced on Facebook depicting Acworth and others firing guns in the ... More >>

Baby Alligator Found Possibly Guarding Marijuana Stash in Bay Area Home

There's nothing we enjoy more than a good drug bust, especially if it involves alligators and other marijuana-loving reptiles. For the second time this year, police in the Bay Area came across agitated reptiles that were apparently in charge of guarding drugs. We read the latest story on CBS Ne ... More >>

East Bay Man Relies on Tupac-Loving Alligator to Guard His Marijuana Stash

Alameda County Sheriff's deputies say they arrested a Castro Valley man earlier this week after they discovered two alarming things: 1. 34 pounds of marijuana, and 2. a five-foot long alligator guarding the stash. Curious sheriff deputies dropped by 32-year-old Assif Mayar on Mount Jasper Dr. aroun ... More >>

Feds Admit There's No Proof Mexican Drug Cartels Link to California Marijuana Grows

A while back, a medical cannabis grower told us this story: Needing help on his pot farm, a young entrepreneur drove down Cesar Chavez Avenue, convinced some day laborers to become season-long laborers, and headed north. All went well until the helicopters overhead turned into boots on the ground, a ... More >>

Feds Bust 11 Suspects Linked to Largest Meth Seizure in U.S. History

A San Francisco federal grand jury has indicted 11 people on suspicion of possessing and distributing large quantities of narcotics. And when police say "large," they're talking more than 570 pounds of crystal methamphetamine. Federal prosecutors announced the arrests today after cops seized the i ... More >>

Marijuana Legalization in Two States Has Mexico, Costa Rica Questioning U.S. Role in Drug War

On Nov. 6, the country watched closely as voters legalized small amounts of marijuana for adults in Colorado and Washington. And now those votes are resonating south of the border.This week, the president of Costa Rica said that increased demand for marijuana will impact Drug War-torn countries. And ... More >>

Mexican Study: Marijuana Legalization Would Hurt Cartels -- Badly

Backers of marijuana legalization measures on the ballot next week in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon -- sorry, California, but nobody ponied up the cash to give us the choice -- have an enemy with means: Mexican drug cartels, whose profits might dip as a result of legalization, according to a new ... More >>

Drugs and Marijuana Dominate Nation's Arrests -- As Usual

Yes, America is the world's most incarcerating nation. But take solace in this: Fewer people are arrested in America every year, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Reporting data. They just keep getting arrested for the same few things. Exactly 9,536,787 people made up the 12.4 million ... More >>

Pusher Men

S.F Cops Bust a Bunch of Drug Dealers Near Local Schools

This is how the San Francisco Police Department welcomed students back to school this year: Putting drug dealers behind bars. Just in time for school to start,police  wrapped up its two-week program called "Operation Safe Schools," where they successfully plucked 25 accused drug dealers off the ... More >>

Endorse the Federal Narcotics Price Support Program and Other Drug War Euphemisms

To win a war, one must win the minds of the people (unless one chooses to vaporize said minds with a superweapon instead).So the next time you step over a crack-addled soul sprawled out on a Tenderloin sidewalk or dodge a gang of teenagers trying to sell you weed at the Stanyan Street entrance to Go ... More >>

South San Francisco Man Who Stole Fish to Buy Crack Gets Rehab

Byron Bates, a South San Francisco seafood deliveryman who stole $10,000 worth of fish to acquire $400 worth of crack, has dodged prison and instead was sentenced to rehab, a San Mateo Superior Court judge ruled today.His three-year prison sentence will be suspended as long as he enters a drug treat ... More >>

Huy Trinh, Berkeley Pot Grower and Electricity Thief, Gets 15 Years Behind Bars

Federal prosecutors put 45-year-old Huy Trinh in the slammer for 15 years for his role in masterminding a large-scale marijuana cultivation conspiracy over in the hippie hub of Berkeley. The sentence, which was handed down by United States District Court Judge Susan Illston,  included five year ... More >>

Thizzin' Sensation: DEA Calls Mac Dre's Label an Ecstasy Front, But Insiders Are Skeptical

Bay Area Rap Mogul Stretch on the DEA Tying Mac Dre's Label to an Ecstasy Bust

[Editor's note: This week's music feature looks at a recent DEA drug bust that claimed a substantial connection between late Vallejo rap legend Mac Dre's record label and a large-scale Ecstasy trafficking ring, of which 25 alleged members were arrested last month. One source for our story was East B ... More >>

Ron Paul Won't Legalize Marijuana -- Because He Can't

​As if the promise to dismantle most of the Washington-based government wasn't enough, Texas Congressman Ron Paul has also made waves in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination with his maverick stance on drug policy.During his 30 years in the House of Representatives, Paul has authored ... More >>

Report: Misdemeanor Marijuana Arrests Skyrocketing in California

Doubling Up​It's a fine time to be a criminal in California. Arrests in every category of crime are down -- way down: Arrests for rape, murder, and theft have all decreased by two-thirds since 1990, according to a study published last week by the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice. Every cri ... More >>

Feds: Drug Cartels Are Here, and They're Taking Our Jobs

Gone the way of UAW​The Drug War is going the way of the "evildoers," according to a federal report released last week. Two years ago, foreign drug cartels were in 230 American cities. Today, the cartels -- from Mexico, East Asia, and, presumably, Canada -- have infiltrated more than 1,000 America ... More >>

Francisco Carrillo-Beltran, Mexican National, Accused of Smuggling Meth Through Airport

Great for massages, not so great for drug smuggling​Border Patrol agents seized about 11 pounds of methamphetamine from Francisco Carillo-Beltran's luggage as he traveled through the Fresno/Yosemite International Airport on Sept. 11. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested 42-year-old Carr ... More >>

AG's Office Warns of Gang-and-Drug Armageddon If State Budget Passes

Kamala Harris​As lawmakers prepare to finalize the state budget today, another government agency has joined the chorus of groups declaring that spending cuts in the plan will be disastrous: the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris.Harris, who has been on the job in Sacramento for si ... More >>

Pot Bust Yields 1,400 Marijuana Plants

Busted!​A group of San Francisco men was arrested as part of a major marijuana bust in San Mateo County, dubbed the "mighty mites" pot grow. Authorities seized more than 1,400 pot plants and more than $450,000 worth of marijuana, according to media outlets. The bust was the culmination of a nine-m ... More >>

CoCo Private Investigator Admits He Helped Run a Brothel

Everyone breaks the law, but someone has to enforce it ... even with cops​The crazy story of two former Contra Costa County cops who are at the center of a major drug scandal just got crazier.A private investigator admitted to the Chronicle that he and a drug task force commander were responsible ... More >>

Busted: San Francisco's Biggest Marijuana Grow to Date

Moonlighting for techies ​Aside from a January raid of a licensed growhouse -- and a very angry law professor's threats to sue the SFPD -- it's been a quiet year for marijuana busts in San Francisco. Until now.Police said today they arrested three people and seized 1,400 marijuana plants on April ... More >>

DA George Gascón Says Probe of Alleged SFPD Perjury Isn't Conflict of Interest

Independent of what?​Update: KGO reports this morning that the FBI is launching its own investigation into the allegations over the police misconduct during a drug bust earlier this year. The agency will look into possible civil rights violations among other violations.Original story, Thursday, Ma ... More >>

Cops Suspended While FBI Investigates Drug Bust

It's like an a TV episode​San Francisco's Chief of Police has decided to suspend the police department's plainclothes unit at the southern station while the city investigates accusations of perjury and police misconduct during a drug bust earlier this year. The officers involved have been reassign ... More >>

Dennis Peron, Pot Guru, Arraigned on Child Porn, Drug Charges

​Dennis Peron, the author of the medical marijuana-creating Proposition 215 and a revered figure in the cannabis community, was arraigned today in San Francisco on drug and child porn charges. The charges stem from a police raid on Peron's "Castro Castle" in August. The "matter depicting a minor e ... More >>

Pinalcchio: Renowned Forensics Experts Say a Pinal County Deputy's High-Profile Tale About Getting Shot After Encountering Drug Smugglers Doesn't Add Up

Cops Announce Meth Bust -- Via Twitter

justice.govTweet this...​In an interesting confluence of tweeting and tweaking, cops at the SFPD Northern Station announced a meth bust -- via Twitter. "plainclothes officers made a great drug bust, got a half-pound of meth and over 5 grand off of two dealers, on the 100 block of fell," reads th ... More >>

Asylum Denied

Only a fraction of Mexicans get U.S. asylum.

List: What S.F. students will learn from new school standards

Held Captive

Coyotes who smuggle immigrants torture and extort their victims, helped by out government's failure to enact immigration reform.

San Francisco Police Seize Hundreds of Pounds of Pot in Series of Raids

​Cops' haul: 175 pounds of marijuana, 222 plants. The San Francisco Police Department busted a growhouse in Laurel Heights, and trucked away more than 100 pounds of marijuana. Following that raid, police also hit a home on 43rd Avenue in the Richmond in what may be a related growing operation. Two ... More >>

'Secure Communities' Program Nails 29 Illegal Immigrants In S.F. Jail

After all, now we have finger prints...​ICE touts success stories of new program -- but San Francisco sheriff's department would have reported "criminal aliens" anyways under old sanctuary city policyIn the first nine days after the San Francisco Sheriff's Department begrudgingly implemented the f ... More >>

The Killer of His Daughter's Mother

A cunning American boy becomes a Mexican Cartel soldier and East L.A. executioner.

Cowboy Down: Rob Krentz's Family Talks About the Life and Death of the Murdered Arizona Rancher

Badlands: From Ground Zero of the Immigration Crisis Along the Mexican Border

List: How to Fix S.F.'s Crime Lab

Chronic City: Marijuana Arrests Drop For First Time Since 2002

The November CoalitionDrug War protester at Huntington Beach, Calif.​Marijuana arrests in the United States declined in 2008 -- the first such drop since 2002 -- according to figures released by the FBI today.According to the just-released Uniform Crime Reports, U.S. law enforcement made 847,863 a ... More >>

Chronic City: Marijuana, Money, and the Media

Compassion Family MinistriesYes, Grasshopper... Money grows on killa trees.Things are smoking on the marijuana front, and I'm not just talking about the ringing cash registers at newly emboldened dispensaries statewide. Time after time this week, the media brought together money and marijuana in pub ... More >>

Gay porn star Michael Brandon vows comeback

Get Out of Jail Free

In the process of taking down the city's baddest gangsters, prosecutors and cops set some very scary people free.