Mexican Drug Cartel Allegedly Puts a Price on Arizona Sheriff's Head

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 5:57 AM

PHOENIX - He's been at the center of the discussions and controversies surrounding illegal immigration enforcement in Arizona for quite a while. On the day parts of Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, went into effect, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is in the news for another reason: there's a price on his head - allegedly offered by a Mexican drug cartel. The audio message in Spanish is a bit garbled, but the text is clear. It's offering $1 million for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head and $10,000 for anyone who wants to join the Mexican cartel. A man who wants to remain anonymous says his wife received the text message Tuesday evening. It also included an international phone number and instructions to pass the message along. "She showed it to me..I was kind of disgusted..I reported it to the Sheriff's department yesterday..they said they were going to direct the threat squad on it." Lisa Allen of the Sheriff's office says they believe the message originated in Mexico. Although the Sheriff has received numerous death threats in the past, they believe this threat is credible because of its timing. "Arpaio gets threats pretty routinely, but obviously with this heightened awareness of his role in the immigration issue we've got to take this one a little bit more seriously with a million dollar contract out on him," said Allen. But she says what really concerns investigators is how quickly the message may have been spread. "It's going so many different places that our folks are looking at it and thinking well at any given point in time it could land in front of some crazy person who thinks I can do that." As for Arpaio's reaction to the threat, "It's a little bit like water off a duck's back for him, but you never know if it's that sense of false bravado with him..you just can't read it, I'm sure he's concerned, I'm sure he's concerned for his family more than anything else," said Allen. The Sheriff's office says investigators are trying to trace exactly where the text message came from, but because it did originate from an international number, that will be difficult too

18 comments

txtittyfan
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14 years ago
This just gives him more reason to clamp down on illegal aliens. Or should we now refer to them as undocumented democrats?
troop
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14 years ago
sheriff joe has been a controversial guy for alot of years. all i know about him is what i've seen/read in the news but it does seem like he gets results. the fact that there's a contract on his life is proof of that.
how
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14 years ago
As in the last Batman movie: You're Gotham's D.A., Harvey. People shooting at you just mean you're doing your job... [paraphrased]
Dudester
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14 years ago
And the dems wonder why they're going to take a beating this November. Geez.
RicksFan
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14 years ago
Why is there a high correlation between patronizing strip clubs and being a racist Republican? I guess the kind of people who don't just visit strip clubs because they like naked chicks or sex, but because they want to demean and degrade people, will also vote Republican for the same reason. In any case "Sheriff Joe" is a shit stain on the Constitution, a sociopath who is likely in league with cartels already.. and if he gets killed, well, good riddance to bad rubbish.
how
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14 years ago
RicksFan, conservatives are not the racists, leftists are. Your lies are tired. You will leave this country you despise, one way or another. And soon.
troop
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14 years ago
RicksFan says: Posted: 12/29/09 Gee, what a shock! The ignorant goombahs who are balls-deep in the strip club business- ------------------------------------ who's racist? nuff said!
SnakePlissken
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14 years ago
"Or should we now refer to them as undocumented democrats?" Haha, good one. "Why is there a high correlation between patronizing strip clubs and being a racist Republican? I guess the kind of people who don't just visit strip clubs because they like naked chicks or sex, but because they want to demean and degrade people, will also vote Republican for the same reason." Republicans are racist just because we don't like giving people money to people who didn't earn it? Honestly, I think the correlation goes like this. Strip clubs are expensive, so people who make a lot of money are more likely to go to them. People who make a lot of money also don't like it being stolen from them and used in the Democrats' massive vote buying scheme also known as social welfare spending. Furthermore, Republicans as far as I've noticed tend to not make the pretense of overflowing with misguided compassion for their own personal emotional gratification and vanity. That means that unlike liberal men (if they can truly be called men) they're probably not going to be the ones who fall for the feminazi lies about strippers being oppressed by capitalistic masculine hegemony (or some other big term they heard from some dyke professor) which prevents them from getting gainful employment working at a recycling center or making "green" cars that no one want to buy or whatever it is the Democrats think a good job is.
SnakePlissken
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14 years ago
Correction: Republicans are racist just because we don't like giving money to people who didn't earn it?
harrydave
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14 years ago
"Although the Sheriff has received numerous death threats in the past, they believe this threat is credible because of its timing." It's not a credible threat. The drug cartels are not going to pay that kind of money, ever. And I highly doubt the Sheriff of Maricopa County, AZ is that big a threat to the cartels. For now, they seem to be much more concerned with offing their competitors. Disclaimer: I live in Sheriff Joe's jurisdiction, and I think the guy is a jail-happy, egotistical windbag.
potheadpl
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14 years ago
Arpaio is an egotistical windbag. He also craves publicity. That being said, I like his style. Being against illegal immigration isn't racist. It's just that we don't have a huge illegal Caucasian immigration problem. We have a Mexican and Central/South American problem. You will notice that the illegals we get from those areas are of the same basic ethnic makeup. There are LOTS of white people in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. It just happens they are the elites and have all the money. They're offloading their unwanted peasant population on us. I would have no problem with a mass influx of Salma Hayek and Gisele Bundchen lookalikes...
troop
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14 years ago
harrydave says: Posted: 08/03/10 It's not a credible threat. The drug cartels are not going to pay that kind of money, ever. ------------------------------------------------------- well harry, it's not because they don't have the money.. [view link]
arbeeguy
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14 years ago
Justice Department is investigating Arpaio for civil rights violations, and is hinting they might sue if he doesn't start cooperating with the investigation. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TUSCL, BUT... It's interesting and I say - keep the comments going -- especially the third-grade level insults between hardore adherents to one viewpoint or another. Immigration and violence are hot topics right now. I love it all.
how
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14 years ago
"Justice" department under Holder continues to attack anyone who enforces "their" laws, but won't prosecute certain voter intimidation crimes because of racial considerations. Perverse, or just? You say...
bumrubber
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14 years ago
Archie Bunker lives.
arbeeguy
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14 years ago
Hi How Perverse or just? Probably. Maybe. But "maybe" means "maybe not", so... Take care, stay cool.
Clubber
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14 years ago
RicksFan makes the village idiot look like a right winger!
samsung1
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14 years ago
anyone see Cheech and Chong Up in Smoke movie? There was a mexican couple that got married in USA and invited all their mexican friends and family to attend. After the wedding they called Immigration services on themselves so their family and friends would get a free bus ride back to Mexico and they even get a free lunch lol

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