Note To Drug Traffickers: Ditch Your 'Jesus'
SINNERS' SAINT
Note To Drug Traffickers: Ditch Your 'Jesus'
HERE'S A SUPERSECRET MESSAGE TO MEXICAN DRUG TRAFFICKERS: TIME TO DITCH JESUS MALVERDE as your savior.
Cook County Sheriff's officers popped two Chicagoland men after a search of their car turned up $19 million in cocaine, 50 kilograms.
Jose Ramirez-Rodriguez and Efrain Rodriguez-Juarez were questioned after deputies spotted them in a car parked the wrong way on the roadside. On the dash was a statue of Jesus Malverde, patron saint of drug traffickers.
"Clearly the narco saint doesn't protect everyone," a sheriff's spokeswoman told the Chicago Sun-Times.
In 2008, the FBI published a bulletin in 2008 tipping off law enforcment about the symbolism of the apocryphal Malverde, a Mexican Robin Hood "who stole from the rich to give to the poor" until he was captured and executed in 1909.
"Malverde’s influence does not stop at the Mexican border,'' the bulletin reads. "Law enforcement officers throughout the United States have ...located pendants, statues, cards, photos, tattoos, candles, aerosol sprays, and a host of other items with Malverde’s image printed on them....Officers have established links -- documented in incident reports, affidavits, court proceedings, and training courses -- between Malverde paraphernalia and drug-related criminal activity."
The report's concludes: "Law enforcement officers need to recognize Jesus Malverde and appreciate that paraphernalia containing his image could be an indicator of criminal activity or an imminent threat to their safety."
Tags: Chicago
