The DEA “quietly booted” their top official in Mexico, Nicholas Palmeri, last March, without actually going out of their way to tell anyone what he did to deserve it. He had “ties to Miami-based defense attorneys representing accused narcotraffickers.” With Mexico’s top cop on trial, questions are starting to swirl.
DEA covered up corruption
The DEA picked veteran agent Nicholas Palmeri to serve as Regional Director of North and Central Americas Region, which is based in Mexico City. After only 14 months, they yanked him to Washington HQ to keep an eye on him.
Fox reports, “He was abruptly transferred to Washington headquarters in May 2021 before he was forced to retire last March.” The federal career spanning two decades was over but he doesn’t seem to be facing any charges. He also gets to collect his retirement pay.
Associated Press got their hands on some “confidential records” and told the public about it on Friday, January 27. They note that “Palmeri’s socializing and vacationing with Miami drug lawyers” was the big mistake which “brought his ultimate downfall.” All it took was one weekend getaway.
"Drug War Fail: Top DEA Official in Mexico Ousted Over Corruption"
After only a short stint of 14 months as DEA's top dog in Mexico, Nicholas Palmeri has been removed from his position after he was involved with attorneys representing narco bosses.https://t.co/O39KjyCSnV— Gray Wolf (@graywolf442) January 30, 2023
DEA has some “internal investigative records” that show “Miami defense attorney David Macey hosted Palmeri and his Mexican-born wife for two days at his home in the Florida Keys.” Macy is the kind of guy they used to show Crockett and Tubbs chasing around on Miami Vice. Only in real life.
The thing which flagged Palmeri’s little holiday was the trip “served no useful work purpose.” On top of that, it “violated rules governing interactions with attorneys that are designed to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.” The DEA frowns on living the vida loca and hobnobbing with drug kingpins. This case is just another one for the growing pile.
Fox notes the “growing litany of misconduct roiling the nation’s premier narcotics law enforcement agency at a time when its sprawling foreign operations — spanning 69 countries — are under scrutiny from an external review.” Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram started that one, personally.
Response to Jose Irizarry
Milgram’s review “came in response to the case of Jose Irizarry, a disgraced former agent now serving a 12-year federal prison sentence after confessing to laundering money for Colombian drug cartels.”
He’s supposed to be one of the good guys but spent his day working for the DEA “skimming millions from seizures to fund an international joyride of jet-setting, parties and prostitutes.”
The thing about Palmeri’s case which makes it so interesting is that it’s the second in just a few months to “shine a light on the often-cozy interactions between DEA officials and Miami attorneys representing some of Latin America’s biggest narcotraffickers and money launderers.” Most people call that “sleeping with the enemy.”
The DEA quietly ousted its former top official in Mexico last year (Nicholas Palmeri) over improper contact with lawyers for narcotraffickers, an embarrassing end to a brief tenure marked by deteriorating cooperation and a record flow of drugs https://t.co/WJUFOazp7n
— Sanho Tree (@SanhoTree) January 28, 2023
Palmeri had his crew zeroed in like a laser on catching Rafael Caro Quintero. Meanwhile, “Chinese precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl” flowed into the United States easier than water.
In the other case, “federal prosecutors charged a DEA agent and a former supervisor with leaking confidential law enforcement information to two unnamed Miami defense attorneys in exchange for $70,000 in cash.” Some of AP’s insider contacts told them “one of those lawyers” is Macey.
Palmeri admitted under interrogation that “he stayed at Macey’s getaway home,” along with his wife, who “worked as a translator for another prominent attorney, Ruben Oliva.” When AP gave Oliva a jingle he insisted “the translation work Palmeri’s wife did for him” was “totally unrelated” to Palmeri and that he’s “never met a more ethical, hard-working and highly effective drug enforcement agent.” How many does he know? They must be shady, if Palmeri is the most ethical.
