How two American kids became big-time weapons traders - "Working with nothing but an Internet connection, a couple of cellphones and a steady supply of weed, the two friends — one with a few college credits, the other a high school dropout — had beaten out Fortune 500 giants like General Dynamics to score the huge arms contract. With a single deal, two stoners from Miami Beach had turned themselves into the least likely merchants of death in history." (
via; previously on
arms contractors)
posted by kliuless
on Mar 21, 2011 -
69 comments
As Americans raise a glass today to family and absent friends they do not have to worry if they are drinking
The Real McCoy.*
"Bill" McCoy,
was an American sea captain and
rum runner during Prohibition.
Originally from Daytona,
he cut his ties and moved North when
My mom passed away, my wife left me, and my bulldog died.
The foe was the
Coastguard; the smugglers normally had
sail.
The Halifax Historical Museum is now running
an exhibition about him; and here is
a preview of a documentary with an interesting
review
and some
publications about Rum Running.
(*
your interpretation may vary).
posted by adamvasco
on Nov 25, 2010 -
4 comments
Smuggler's Britain tells "the fascinating story of smuggling in 18th and 19th century Britain, when high taxes led to an dramatic increase in illegal imports. As the 'free trade'" grew, smugglers openly landed contraband in full view of the customs authorities: columns of heavily-armed thugs protected the cargoes." Includes a gazetteer with Google maps links so you can scope out some lonely
cove to land contraband of your own in the footsteps of your forefathers and introduces you to
famous smugglers like
Isaac Gulliver, who never killed a man in a long career. Though of course, it was an enterprise where things often would turn
ugly.
posted by Abiezer
on Oct 9, 2008 -
7 comments
Federal and state government officials and border activists say the garbage dumped in the
Sonoran Desert by illegal immigrants and their smugglers is staggering. The cleanup is costing taxpayers millions. The
Southern Arizona Project(pdf) is a multi-year program setup by the Bureau of Land Management to mitigate the impacts to the ecology by illegal immigration and smuggling. In 2006 alone, more than 1.18 million pounds of trash was collected along the southern Arizona border.
posted by netbros
on May 7, 2008 -
22 comments
The Idol Thief "Vaman Ghiya operated one of the most extensive and sophisticated clandestine antiquities rings in history, and he had grown rich in the past three decades by smuggling thousands of Indian antiques to auction houses and private collectors in the West."
posted by dhruva
on May 14, 2007 -
15 comments
The Swiss are investigating an international smuggling ring suspected of providing nuclear program components to Libya. There's just one
problem. Meanwhile, the United States is opening full diplomatic relations with
Libya and removing it from its list of nations that sponsor terrorism.
posted by EarBucket
on Jun 2, 2006 -
16 comments
If you're not Cheney's friend, be careful what you sell overseas - While residing in Poland, British citizen Ali Manzarpour was arrested for the export of a
Berkut 360, a small kit plane manufactured in the United States, to Iran. The issues surrounding this application of American law overseas on foreign nationals notwithstanding, the US Department of Justice Attorney's office could not explain what sensitive technologies were in the plane, which could motivate the arrest. Coincidentally, Halliburton's use of a Cayman Islands subsidiary to
trade with Iran without restrictions remains
unresolved, and, with the help of the Department of State, the United States remains the
largest arms dealer in the world.
posted by AlexReynolds
on May 30, 2005 -
14 comments
Speaking of bibles, a man gets
2 years in prison in China for smuggling them to an underground Christian organization. Nothing like religious tolerance.
posted by catatonic
on Jan 28, 2002 -
85 comments
Israel Captures 50 tons of weapons smuggled from Iran on a Palestinian ship. Palestinians claim the ship has nothing to do with them, even though Israel asserts that the ship's captain and officers are all Palestinian Naval officers. Palestine says it is an Israeli attempt to ruin the mission of the American, Zinni. I think Palestinians are lying here (similar to what they have always done) ... What do you think?
posted by yevge
on Jan 4, 2002 -
23 comments
Perry Wacker gets a 14 year sentence. For killing attempting to smuggle 60 people into the UK, he was sentenced to 8 years in prison. For killing 58 of them he was sentenced to a further 6 years.
He should have gotten the death sentence, or at least life-without-parole. Why was he charged with manslaughter instead of murder?
posted by Steven Den Beste
on Apr 5, 2001 -
18 comments
Hizbollah supporters arrested for Cigarette smuggling. The men may have netted up to $10,000, and according to an "confidential Canadian source" were under orders to buy night vision goggles for Hizbollah, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel and the United States. Their leader is said by another(?) source as being "very comfortable around weapons."
I don't think it's a coincidence that this story is coming to our attention during the peace talks at Camp David. There's nothing in any article I have read on this story giving any substantial proof that these people and their arrest were really front-page events. Does anyone else feel that reportage of the Middle East, and indeed US policy, is clouded and indeed skewed, perhaps in much the same way as the States' Cuba policy?
posted by chaz
on Jul 21, 2000 -
11 comments
