DEA arrests suspects in early morning drug raid in Colorado, weapons and ammunition seized
"There is a renewed sense of purpose in our mission which is removing violent criminals who are trafficking dangerous drugs like fentanyl into our communities," said Assistant Special Agent in Charge, DEA Rocky Mountain Division David Olesky.
Olesky said this is part of the operation that is removing members of the criminal Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and two other cartels he mentioned by name.
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NBC News
7 hours ago
- NBC News
Migrants returning to Venezuela face debt and harsh living conditions
She, her husband and five children returned to their South American country in March. COVID-19 pandemic pushed migrants to the U.S. More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have migrated since 2013, when their country's oil-dependent economy unraveled. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, migrants saw the U.S. as their best chance to improve their living conditions. Many Venezuelans entered the U.S. under programs that allowed them to obtain work permits and shielded them from deportation. But since January, the White House has ended immigrants' protections and aggressively sought their deportations as U.S. President Donald Trump fulfills his campaign promise to limit immigration to the U.S. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had long refused to take back deported Venezuelans but changed course earlier this year under pressure from the White House. Immigrants now arrive regularly at the airport outside the capital, Caracas, on flights operated by either a U.S. government contractor or Venezuela's state-owned airline. The U.S. government has defended its bold moves, including sending more than 200 Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador for four months, arguing that many of the immigrants belonged to the violent Tren de Aragua street gang. The administration did not provide evidence to back up the blanket accusation. However, several recently deported immigrants have said U.S. authorities wrongly judged their tattoos and used them as an excuse to deport them. Maduro declared 'economic emergency' Many of those returning home, like Pérez and her family, are finding harsher living conditions than when they left as a currency crisis, triple-digit inflation and meager wages have made food and other necessities unaffordable, let alone the vehicle, home and electronics they sold before migrating. The monthly minimum wage of 130 bolivars, or $1.02 as of Monday, has not increased in Venezuela since 2022. People typically have two, three or more jobs to cobble together money. This latest chapter in the 12-year crisis even prompted Maduro to declare an 'economic emergency' in April. David Rodriguez migrated twice each to Colombia and Peru before he decided to try to get to the U.S. He left Venezuela last year, crossed the treacherous Darien Gap on foot, made it across Central America and walked, hopped on a train and took buses all over Mexico. He then turned himself in to U.S. immigration authorities in December, but he was detained for 15 days and deported to Mexico. Broke, the 33-year-old Rodriguez worked as a mototaxi driver in Mexico City until he saved enough money to buy his airplane ticket back to Venezuela in March. 'Going to the United States ... was a total setback,' he said while sitting at a relative's home in Caracas. 'Right now, I don't know what to do except get out of debt first.' He must pay $50 a week for a motorcycle he bought to work as a mototaxi driver. In a good week, he said, he can earn $150, but there are others when he only makes enough to meet the $50 payment. Migrants seek loan sharks Some migrants enrolled in beauty and pastry schools or became food delivery drivers after being deported. Others already immigrated to Spain. Many sought loan sharks. Pérez's brother-in-law, who also made aluminum cookware before migrating last year, is allowing her to use the oven and other equipment he left at his home in Maracaibo so that the family can make a living. But most of her earnings go to cover the 40% monthly interest fee of a $1,000 loan. If the debt was not enough of a concern, Pérez is also having to worry about the exact reason that drove her away: extortion. Pérez said she and her family fled Maracaibo after she spent several hours in police custody in June 2024 for refusing to pay an officer $1,000. The officer, Pérez said, knocked on her door and demanded the money in exchange for letting her keep operating her unpermitted cookware business in her backyard. She said officers tracked her down upon her return and already demanded money. 'I work to make a living from one day to the next ... Last week, some guardsmen came. 'Look, you must support me,'' Pérez said she was told in early July. 'So, if I don't give them any (money), others show up, too. I transferred him $5. It has to be more than $5 because otherwise, they'll fight you.'
Buzz Feed
7 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
16 Celeb Facts That Sound Fake But Are 100% True
Heath Ledger memorably and sadly died in 2008 after being found unresponsive by his masseuse — and, it was originally reported, his housekeeper. However, bizarre details about the moment he was found were later revealed. The masseuse, Diana Lee Wolozin, actually made three calls before calling the police: and all were to Mary-Kate Olsen. Later reports say that Wolozin was let in by the housekeeper, and found Ledger on his bed. She began to set up, believing Ledger was sleeping, before realizing he was unresponsive. Olsen's number was on speed dial in Ledger's phone, and Wolozin apparently called her for help and advice, as she knew the two were friends — Olsen had her private security sent over. There were later reports Olsen and Ledger had been dating, though they were unconfirmed. Police believe Ledger was already dead when Wolozin found him. It was later reported that Olsen was refusing to cooperate with investigators, though through a lawyer, Olsen denied knowing about the drugs that killed Ledger. The DEA later closed the case — they had not spoken to Olsen. In another weird celebrity connection I wasn't expecting, Marlon Brando once confronted Michael Jackson about his child sex abuse allegations at his ranch Neverland. "I had asked him if he was a virgin and he sort of laughed and giggled. He said, 'Oh, Brando.' I said, 'Well, what do you do for sex?' And he was acting fussy and embarrassed." Brando reportedly told prosecutors during Jackson's 1994 abuse trial, "He said he hated his father and started to cry. And I said, 'Well, who are your friends?' He said, 'I don't know anybody my own age. I don't like anybody my own age.' I said, 'Why not?' He said, 'I don't know, I don't know.' He was crying hard enough that...I tried to assuage him. I tried to help him all I could." Brando also said it was "pretty reasonable to conclude that he may have had something to do with kids." Guillermo del Toro's father was kidnapped for 72 days in 1997, with a $1 million was initially reported to have been paid by director James Cameron, a friend of del Toro. Del Toro later clarified that he had paid the ransom, but Cameron had offered, and that Cameron "came in and took charge" of the situation, paying for a hostage negotiator to come in. Del Toro also said that the police in Guadalajara "had two proposals" for him. 'The first was: For 5K, they would give us a room with the kidnappers, tied to a chair. They would provide a lead pipe and 15 minutes alone. The second one: For 10K they would make sure that — when the raid happened — all kidnappers would get killed and we'd get Polaroids. We said no. Absolutely no to both. We felt hatred and pain but could not be a part of the cycle of violence.' Jack Nicholson was raised by his grandmother, who he believed to be his mother — turns out, the much older "sister" he'd had was his real mother. His mother was only 18 when she had him, as a result of a relationship with a married man. To avoid scandal, Nicholson's grandmother claimed him as her own. His "sister" (really his mother) June ended up trying to make it in Hollywood, and when Nicholson moved there to do the same, she was the only family member close by. He didn't find out the truth until after his mother died when Time magazine did a profile on him in 1974 (directly before the release of Chinatown) and discovered the truth in their research. The most eerie part? Nicholson's character finds out the truth about another character — namely, that her "sister" is actually her daughter — in the film. Nicholson isn't the only celeb to discover something through a magazine profile, though, in these two sad examples, the stories were already published when the stars realized the truth. First, Anthony Perkins found out he had HIV from a tabloid magazine. He had no idea he'd even been tested for it. Perkins had received blood tests for a palsy on his face. His wife Berry Berenson said after his death that she thought someone must've tested his blood for HIV without telling him and then leaked the story to the press. His diagnosis couldn't even be confirmed — he had to go back and test again. Jane Fonda also discovered the true way her mother had died — by suicide, and not a heart attack, as her father claimed — through a magazine. Paula Abdul has made multiple remarks about being in a plane crash in the '90s, suffering injuries that led to her retreating from the spotlight for some time. There's just one problem: there is no record of the crash ever happening. Abdul's description doesn't match any crashes at the time, though it is possible it was not reported and the wreckage was not found. Still, as the Jezebell article points out, this would mean Abdul and the other passengers just left the burned-out plane in a field and never reported it. It's also possible it was not reported because it was so minor, but this does not at all match Abdul's story, where she claims the aircraft was on fire. Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman made waves when he married 18-year-old Mandy Smith, whom he had been dating since she was 13. Wyman was in his fifties. But the scandal didn't end there — Wyman's son Stephen ended up marrying Mandy's mother. The two were closer in age than Wyman and Mandy. As this Grunge article points out, if Bill and Mandy had still been together when the second Wyman and Smith got married, Stephen would've been his own step-grandfather. Sean Penn was once in jail with the infamous Night Stalker serial killer. In fact, the murderer, Richard Ramirez, essentially sent Penn fan mail asking for an autograph. Penn, who was spending 60 days in jail at the time for reckless driving and punching an extra — said Ramirez wrote, "Hey, Sean, stay tough and hit them again — Richard Ramirez, 666." Penn replied with a note saying he felt "absolutely no kinship" with Ramirez, despite both being inmates, and said, "I hope gas descends upon you before sanity does, you know? It would be a kinder way out." Ashton Kutcher once narrowly escaped a serial killer. In 2001, when Kutcher was 23, he planned a date with 22-year-old fashion student Ashley Ellerin. He was supposed to meet her at 8 p.m. for dinner and drinks but ended up getting there around 10:30 or 10:45, having gotten distracted watching the Grammy Awards at Kristy Swanson's house. When he arrived at Ellerin's house, she did not come to the door, which was locked — he assumed she'd gotten angry with him for being late and left. Since the lights were on, Kutcher looked through the window and saw 'what [he] thought was a red wine spilled on the carpet." But he said, "That wasn't alarming because I went to her house party [days before] and it was like a college party. I didn't think much about it.' He left, and Ellerin was found stabbed to death the next day. The 'Hollywood Ripper," Michael Gargiulo, was found guilty for her murder. When Kutcher heard the news of the murder, he called the police because he was worried his fingerprints were on the doorknob. He did not become a suspect, but he did testify in Gargiulo's trial. Another celebrity connected to a murderer is Woody Harrelson, who is the son of hitman Charles Harrelson, who murdered Judge John Howland Wood in 1979. This fact would become much stranger in light of Harrelson's starring in No Country for Old Men. Though the film did not include it, the No Country for Old Men novel featured the line, 'Here a while back in San Antonio they shot and killed a federal judge," which was likely referring to the murder perpetrated by Woody's father. This one has got a lot of *if*s in it, but it's still wild to me. *If* O. J. Simpson did murder his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman (he was notably acquitted after a highly publicized trial, but found liable for the deaths in a civil suit), it's possible he learned how while shooting the pilot for Frogmen, a failed TV series he was meant to star in shortly before the murders. Simpson continues to maintain his innocence. Footage from the pilot was actually submitted as evidence in his trial (though it didn't end up being used), as it could have proved O. J.'s proficiency with a knife. Simpson had reportedly received military training for the role. Also, Simpson's costar Todd Allen had once gone with O. J. to Ross Cutlery — the suspected source of the murder weapon, which was never found — between shooting. In a less dark celebrity fact that I nonetheless find strange, Meghan Markle did the calligraphy for Robin Thicke's 2005 wedding invitations — not because the two were friends, but because the then-23-year-old was doing calligraphy before making it in Hollywood to make ends meet. You probably already know Jane Fonda comes from a famous family, but you likely didn't know she also comes from royalty. Fonda is related to Jane Seymour, one of Henry VIII's six wives (which include Anne Boleyn — notably, the wives are the subject of the musical Six.) In fact, she was named after Jane — and says she went by Lady until the fourth grade in reference to Seymour. Martin Luther King Jr. paid the hospital bill when Julia Roberts was born. Why? Roberts' parents ran a theater school that let in the Kings' children at a time when few programs would admit Black children. When her parents couldn't pay the hospital bill, Martin and Coretta stepped in. And finally, the rumors are true — Harry Styles really does have four nipples. What's a wild celebrity fact you know? Let us know in the comments. Correction: Coretta Scott King was incorrectly referred to as "Lorette" in an earlier version of this post. Our sincerest apologies.
Washington Post
9 hours ago
- Washington Post
Who is Terry Cole, the DEA boss now tasked with overseeing D.C. police?
The man tasked with leading the federal law enforcement takeover of Washington's police force is the newly sworn-in head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. He spent more than two decades at the DEA busting drug traffickers and most recently served as Virginia's top public safety official. President Donald Trump named Terry Cole to oversee D.C. police, an unprecedented measure sparked by what the administration described as lawlessness in the nation's capital — despite crime hitting a three-decade low.
