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Money Laundering, Mafia and Drug Cartel Accusations in Arizona’s Cattle Theft Scandal
The cattle ranching industry in Arizona is being torn apart due to corruption and crime. It has split longtime cowboys against each other. Much of it comes down to cattle rustling that has been allowed to thrive, with close to 3,000 heads of cattle stolen from at least 32 owners over the past few years. There may also be money laundering connected to the Mafia and Mexican drug cartels.
The corruption became so bad the Arizona Department of Agriculture tasked an investigator to look into it a few years ago. He gave the results of his investigation, known as “Operation Cow Posse,” to Judicial Watch in 2019 as the scandal escalated. Cattle ranchers told him the scandal went all the way to the Arizona Legislature. They claimed that a powerful lobbyist helped launder millions of dollars from Pinnacle West, the parent company of electric company Arizona Public Service, through cattle growers’ bank accounts. People working at the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association said they found files going back to 2006 showing the bank transfers.
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The investigator believes Pinnacle West wanted to pay off powerful people in the water industry, so they laundered the money through ACGA and its related entity, the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association, in order not to show the money coming directly from them. The investigator found over $10 million he says was laundered this way, and believes there were more incidents in the past.
So far, little has been done, in part due to fear that the Mafia and Mexican drug cartels are involved, and in part due to corruption in government and law enforcement.
But things may be changing, due to an email that Jacquelyn Hughes, the executive director of ACGA, sent to numerous people recently questioning the strange transfer of over $10 million. She said it was unusual that “ACGA, from 2016-2018 was taking in and spending anywhere from $60,000 – $100,000 per month. When you consider that ACGA’s primary source of revenue is membership dues and that our dues range from $75.00 – $450.00 per month, it is unclear both how ACGA came into this type of money and how it was spent. Even when considering annual convention revenue, the numbers do not add up.”
The scandal has resulted in multiple ongoing lawsuits, with ACGA in the middle of it. Under the leadership of Jay Whetton, who was elected president in 2018, the organization’s structure changed in order to give regular members the ability to vote on leadership. This was done in response to accusations that the ACGA was run like a fraternity by country club cowboys who had ties to the Mafia and Mexican drug cartels. The change caused a deep division in the organization, with the old guard splitting off and forming their own group. The new executive committee forged ahead, and last August, held a meeting to discuss how the Mafia and Mexican drug cartels launder money in the cattle industry.
Some of the cattle ranchers accused Emmett Sturgill, who was at the time first vice president of the ACGA and allegedly part of the old guard, of posting information from Operation Cow Posse, which included the names of 56 suspected cow thieves, on the internet in early November. At the same time, Sturgill accused them right back of posting the information and filed lawsuits against them.
The ADA lost interest in the case, which some cattle ranchers believe was due to corruption, and so the investigator continued on his own, unpaid, for Judicial Watch. Sturgill and his allies attempted to retake control of the ACGA in early November but failed. The old guard objected to the investigation, complaining that it was not done by law enforcement. But the new leadership defended the investigation, saying the government and law enforcement were not doing anything about it.
The Cattle Growers’ association in Mojave County resigned its affiliation with the ACGA in disgust at the continuous scandals, and prohibited Sturgil, who lives in the county, from being a member.
The ADA issued a statement a few days ago defending its poor record on investigating cattle rustling, dismissing media reports by saying official reports of thefts weren’t filed. Some of the old guard claim the accusations of cow theft are made up, because certain ranchers want to discredit the government from inspecting cattle and move to a system of private inspectors like they have in Mexico, where corruption is rampant.
But if this was true, then why did well-known Arizona cowboy Milo DeWitt, who lost over 400 head of cattle to theft, ask for assistance from the FBI, county sheriff, brand board and brand inspectors (who are under the ADA), the ADA’s top investigator, Judicial Watch, and meet with investigators several times? Or what about attorney and judge Tom Kelly in Yavapai County, who lost over 100 cows with calves, and complained to two brand inspectors? It sounds like the ADA is mincing words.
One cowboy characterized the problem this way, “Cattle growers in Arizona have no legitimate advocates in the state legislature because the industry is split down the middle; some people siding with the old guard, many of whom are corrupt, and some with the new guard, but the truth is most ranchers don’t really know the whole true story.”
After months of infighting and dealing with lawsuits, the immediate-past president and the first vice president, who was in line to be the next president, resigned their positions and also their membership. The ACGA will be holding its annual election of leaders in a few days. The future of the organization does not look hopeful. One longtime cattle rancher says the situation is impossible to fix, the FBI needs to step in and arrest the bad people. The longtime previous executive director of ACGA, Patrick Bray, a relative of the powerful lobbyist, had access to the bank accounts. Perhaps he can explain what went on with the money.
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“When those who are entrusted to enforce the law,” said author and Fox host Gregg Jarrett, “instead, abuse their power to pursue innocent people in the name of justice it is the worst kind of oppression.” The ongoing weaponization of government agencies and the courts in order to stop Donald Trump is the quintessence of such oppression.
The initial goal of this scheme was the protection from prosecution and the subsequent election of Hillary Clinton. We know from reading the emails of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that high-ranking members of the FBI were working behind the scenes to ensure Trump’s defeat in the 2016 election. When that failed, the Democrats launched the second step in their plan—the special counsel investigation run by Robert Mueller to prove Trump-Russia collusion.
When that failed, step three was put in motion—the assault on Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago and a nefarious barrage of phony indictments leveled against Trump and many of his supporters. The indictments are baseless. Questioning the outcome of an election is not a crime. “One of the election crimes Trump is charged with,” said Kurt Schlichter on Townhall, “is that he allegedly conspired to violate a civil right of American citizens. What right, you ask? Well, a convoluted version of the right to vote, which apparently he conspired to interfere with by insisting that elections be honest, transparent, and unrigged. No one else has ever been prosecuted for that.”
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If successful, the indictments would put Trump in a jail cell for the rest of his life. This campaign amounts to a criminal conspiracy by Democrats to destroy the leading Republican contender for the 2024 nomination. It is an overt attempt to interfere with the outcome of a presidential election. Ironically, this is precisely the charge that the Democrats want to hang on Trump.
The Democrats have not recovered from Trump’s 2016 victory. As a political outsider sworn to “drain the swamp,” Trump scares the pants off the Washington elite. They will do anything to protect their lucrative rackets, whether their tactics are legal or not. Meanwhile, Biden is getting away with the worst corruption ever perpetrated by an American president.
Along with Biden, a guilty cast of characters is going free—Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, James Comey, Susan Rice, John Brennan, Barack Obama, and others. Gregg Jarrett has spelled out their crimes in agonizing detail. Why haven’t they been investigated? The answer: the guilty parties are the same corrupt people who run the justice system. For justice to prevail, they would be required to investigate themselves.
One consequence of the anti-Trump cabal is the loss of confidence by the American public in our system of justice. The public understands that we have a double standard. Justice and fair play do not apply to conservatives and Trump supporters.
Let’s do a little pretending. You are living in East Germany in 1960. Stasi, the repressive secret police, have arrested you and threatened that if you don’t testify against someone they want to condemn, you will spend the next 40 years behind bars and the state will go after your spouse, your children, and your beloved dog Fido. Ah, but you say, “This is America. That could never happen here.” Well guess what, this used to be the land of the free. The quaint notion that we benefit from due process has evaporated along with Cinderella’s ball gown and fancy coach.
Thanks to our politicized justice system, General Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Dinesh D’Souza and now President Trump have seen their lives destroyed because of their political opposition to the corrupt Democratic Party. If the powers of government can be weaponized to sabotage a former president, what perversion of justice can be directed at you and me?
Former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, author of Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice, described a justice system consisting of out-of-control prosecutors who will do anything to get a conviction. She has been proven correct in a way she never anticipated. Powell is one of the Trump supporters targeted by the Democrat-fueled indictments. Goodbye USA, hello Stasi. If you refuse to support Biden, we will destroy you, your family, and your dog.
It’s the sort of thing we would expect to happen in North Korea. A venal gang of Obama alumni is getting away with a perversion of American justice. When a government doesn’t have a crime but starts a campaign to find one, that’s called a police state. Unless the anti-Trump indictments are quashed and we address the real scandal in our government—corruption in the Oval Office, DOJ, FBI, and IRS—we can kiss the American system of justice goodbye.
Ed Brodow (www.edbrodowpolitics.com) is a conservative political commentator and author of two No. 1 Amazon Best Sellers, AMERICA ON ITS KNEES: The Cost of Replacing Trump with Biden, and THE WAR ON WHITES: How Hating White People Became the New National Sport.
Do you feel like you wake up every day to a bad dream and then struggle with the fact that your nightmare is actually reality in America today? Thankfully, the polls of Democrats and Republicans alike are sending a clear message—we’ve had enough of dementia Joe. He is often incoherent with or without his teleprompter. After speaking, he consistently wanders waiting to be guided to an exit. He tries to kiss and grope women who fall into his meandering web. Heaven help him if he would actually have to handle an open press conference with unscripted questions. The man seldom even works; he majors in rest and vacations.
And yet, somehow, Biden manages to keep making executive orders and decisions that move America further into “progressive” darkness. Obviously, somebody other than the President is managing the puppet strings and moving America faster and further into institutionalizing leftist policies.
Fearful of Biden facing Trump in the 2024 election, the Democrats have managed to tie up the leading Republican candidate with 91 indictments. Their hope is that the legal quagmire and trials will restrict his ability to mount an effective campaign. Be clear. The Democrats have one goal—keep Trump out of office and hopefully in jail.
Speaking of jail, where are the investigative reporters unraveling the crimes of “the Big Guy” Biden. We have recorded statements by Joe bragging about bribing Ukrainian leaders with US funds conditional on firing the Ukrainian district attorney looking into prosecuting Burisma. Vice President Joe Biden stopped the man whose investigation could have implicated his son, Hunter Biden. The Democrats keep claiming that Hunter’s problems have nothing to do with the President.
Unfortunately for Joe, in spite of such claims more and more evidence is mounting that the President and the Biden family benefited from Hunter’s influence peddling. Hunter Biden’s email to his daughter Naomi Biden that recently became public makes clear the father’s involvement. The email has been verified by the Washington Post and is clearly damning.
According to Hunter’s statement in that email, President Joe Biden demanded and received payment for his influence. It reads, “I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years. It’s really hard. But don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary.”
This email and related information could have been made public two years ago. It could have impacted the 2020 election. If the House of Representatives initiates an impeachment inquiry, more of this information will be front and center and hard for the left-leaning media to avoid covering. With Joe Biden using aliases to send hundreds of additional incriminating emails, the evidence is just now coming to light.
If Biden is innocent of any wrongdoing, he should be cooperating and welcoming an investigation. Instead, he has already created a “war room” to be ready to fight any impeachment inquiry. Even with an inquiry, it’s unlikely that the Senate would have the votes to Impeach the President. But the more evidence that comes out, the more Democrats behind the scenes will likely be asking Biden to step down. Republicans did it with Nixon, and the Democrats would be wise to do it with Biden rather than risk him running again, losing, and taking their majority down with him.
The President’s future legal problems are not the only thing that is wreaking havoc on the American society. There is sexual confusion that is enraging many voters on the right and the left. In many states, biological men are claiming to be women and being allowed to compete in sporting events and winning against biological women. Politicians and even judges are refusing to define what a woman is. Most of us are pretty sure we know!
One meme that has been circulating makes the difference very clear. The world population is 8,030,610,062. People born from women: 8,030,610,062. People born from men: 0. They go on to suggest, “Feel free to fact check.” If men who call themselves women want to compete in sports, let them compete against other men instead of forcing their way into women’s locker rooms to live a lie.
In America today, they are not content limiting sexual confusion to adults. Many leftists are condoning trans surgery of young children to “change their sex” without parental approval. Schools can’t give an aspirin without parental approval, but in some states, children can decide to have irreversible surgery that mutilates their bodies. The parents are still responsible for caring for their children when they have to pick up the pieces from this child abuse.
Supporters call it “gender affirming care,” and it’s not all that rare. From 2016-2020, the American Medical Association reports 3,678 gender affirming surgeries done on children twelve to eighteen years of age. Columbia University has found that 3,315 children had breast surgery and 405 had genital surgery at a young age. This is not “care” of any kind! If anyone wants to do this to their body, wait until they are an adult and pay for it themselves.
If this is not enough, we have an administration claiming we have a secure border when millions continue to stream across our border in record numbers. Even sanctuary cities like New York have had enough. America takes pride in welcoming legal immigrants. It’s time to close down the flood of illegals.
Add to that the dismal performance in public schools around the country. Our kids are falling behind, and Democrats, coveting the support of teacher unions, refuse to even consider school choice. Minority parents want it, and Biden and his administration stand in the way.
It’s clear that America is hard to recognize as the country we once loved and cherished. It’s rapidly becoming a leftist loony bin in need of an intervention! Let’s hope that comes in November of 2024.
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