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Transcript

The DEA Agent Who Broke Bad · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. When
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: we talk about the cartels down in Mexico, we talk
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a lot about the corruption that comes along with it.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: How they buy federal officers, how they buy politicians, and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: how they buy police officers. Well, here in America, every
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: now and then we have the same deal going on.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And in today's episode, we're going to be talking about
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a DEA agent who thought it would be a good
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: idea to accept bribes from a drug trafficker. Now, in
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: any scenario, that's not a good idea. And if you're
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: working for the DEA, and you think you're not going
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to get caught taking bribes and all the rest of it, well,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: you are wrong. You're dealing with criminals. And if those
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: criminals get caught, do you really think that they're not
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: going to dime you out And that's exactly what we
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: see here in this story. This article is from MSN.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: And the headline, guilty of accepting bribes from Kingpin, a
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: former DEA agent sentenced to 135 months. This article was
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: authored by Ashley Crockett. The Office of the United States
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Attorney announced Wednesday that a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: was sentenced for accepting bribes from a drug trafficker. Nathan Cohn, 45,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: now of Auburn, Illinois, was sentenced to 135 months in
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: federal prison by United States District Judge Brian S. Miller. So,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I hope it was worth it. 135 months, huh? Doesn't
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: sound like very much fun to me. Kind of smells like, oh,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know, 12 years or so. So he'll have
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: plenty of time to reevaluate his decisions. And it's not
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: like the officers here in America, these DEA agents, aren't
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: making good money. They are. And besides that, they have
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: great pensions to look forward to. So why would you
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: throw that all away for a little bit of dough
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: right now? I never understood that. These guys have incredible
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: retirement packages to look forward to. So you throw all
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: of that away to go into business with some drug
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: dealer who's going to dime you out the second he
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: gets caught? According to a press release, Cohn was charged
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: by a federal grand jury in November of 2019 with
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and methamphetamine and one count of bribery of a public official.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Sounds like quite the load, huh? And there's no way,
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  Speaker 1: as a DEA agent, how do you even argue for
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: your innocence over this stuff in a court of law, right?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, impossible. They have all of this evidence on you.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: They have a snitch who's ratting on you, who you
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: used to pay, or who used to pay you, I mean.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: And all you have is your word to say, oh, no,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I didn't do this. So this guy, they threw the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: book at him and they should. If you're a DEA
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: agent or a police officer or a politician and you
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: start taking money from drug dealers, well, you should go
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: to prison for the rest of your life because you
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: giving you taking that money and you enabling them. Well,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: how much death and devastation has that led to? In
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: August 2021, officials said he pleaded guilty to bribery in
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: exchange for dismissal of the drug-related charges. Oh, that's nice.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: We'll drop the drug-related charges and we'll just nail you
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: with bribery. How does that sound? During the sentencing hearing,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Judge Miller found that Cohn accepted bribes from a known
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: large-scale drug trafficker for the purpose of helping facilitate a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: drug conspiracy and that the conspiracy involved at least 15
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to 45 kilograms of methamphetamine. Now, think about that for
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: a minute. Roughly 90 pounds, 30 to 90 pounds of methamphetamine.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: And they get him off... Those drug charges he only
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: gets the other one. I mean he only gets bribery
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: instead of the drug charges, huh? He should have got
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: them drug charges and he should have been sent to
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: prison with those mandatories like anyone else would have been
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: The official document stated the drug trafficker Testified during the
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: hearing and explained that he believed cone provide what what
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: cone provided was a sensitive law enforcement information and which
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: helped the trafficker avoid detection by law enforcement and run
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: his drug organization. So, did anyone get hurt as a
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: result of this information? And if so, DEA agent Mr.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Cohen over here should be treated harshly and convicted as
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: someone involved in a criminal enterprise, not just somebody who
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: is involved in bribery. Seems like that's the easy way
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  Speaker 1: out for this guy. And don't get me wrong, you know,
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  Speaker 1: 12 years... It's not light work. It's a long bid.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: But if it was you or I, we'd be getting
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  Speaker 1: nailed with every single one of these charges. They wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: be pleading down for any of it. The drug trafficker,
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  Speaker 1: who was in federal custody, also stated that his organization
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  Speaker 1: was responsible for distributing kilogram quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: fentanyl and marijuana. So what more do you need to hear?
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  Speaker 1: If we're throwing the book at people for minor drug
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  Speaker 1: possession or being in possession of personal use amount of drugs,
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  Speaker 1: you mean to tell me that this guy doesn't get
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  Speaker 1: the whole ass book thrown at him? You're going to
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  Speaker 1: let him plea out and just get a bribery charge
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: when he was involved with kilos, I mean kilos of
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: not only heroin or coke, but fentanyl? So how much
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: of that drug, how much of the drugs that this
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: guy was helping bring in, led to overdoses, led to deaths?
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  Speaker 1: This defendant's actions are a disgrace to the thousands of
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  Speaker 1: dedicated law enforcement officers who work with integrity every day
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  Speaker 1: to protect and serve our communities, United States Attorney Jonathan D.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Ross said. His greed and deception have no place in
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: law enforcement, and we are pleased to see this case
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: come to its rightful conclusion. Well, I agree with that.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly no place for our police officers or DEA agents
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  Speaker 1: to be involved in shit like this. And then you
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: wonder why Mexico's president's like, yeah, nah, we don't want
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: you dudes in our country anymore. We're going to remove
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: the plane. We're going to destroy that task force. I mean, look,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the DEA doesn't have a great reputation as it is
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  Speaker 1: as far as their dealings with other countries. Now, don't
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: get me wrong. The, you know, rank and file DEA agents.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: These people are out here trying to do a good
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  Speaker 1: job and trying to get drugs off the street. They're
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: just doing what, you know, their job entails. It's the
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: people that make the decisions above them. Just like when
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: we talk about the CIA or the FBI, those are
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the people that need a mental evaluation, if we're being honest.
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  Speaker 1: Officials said in 2018, the FBI began investigating Cohen, who
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: had been working for DEA since 2002 and had transferred
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: in 2016 to work as a group supervisor in the
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Little Rock DEA office from Jacksonville, Florida. FBI agents interviewed
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  Speaker 1: the drug trafficker, who told law enforcement he had paid
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Cohen cash for information and protection related to his drug
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  Speaker 1: trafficking activities. Here's another uncomfortable question. Who else was involved?
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  Speaker 1: Any other FBI agents or police officers or, you know,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Cohen hasn't dimed anybody out, but do we really think
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: that it was only him doing this? He didn't have
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: like a whole Vic Mackey kind of shield task force
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  Speaker 1: working with him? I mean, I guess it's possible that
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: he didn't, but usually things like this aren't just pulled
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: off by one person. Court documents said the drug trafficker
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: told FBI agents he had been in custody on federal
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: charges in 2013 and 14 when another inmate told him
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  Speaker 1: he should contact Cohen and offer to work as an informant,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: which he did. After his case was resolved, the informant
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  Speaker 1: resumed distributing large amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, and cocaine
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  Speaker 1: in Florida, California, Arkansas, and elsewhere while making payments to
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Cohen for protection. And this is what our government does.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: our government will get these guys out of jail, they
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: get out of jail, bail out or whatever, do their bid,
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  Speaker 1: and then they'll work as informants for the government by
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: selling more drugs. And the government will say, well, you know,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: there's a method to our madness here. These guys are
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: just going to lead us to bigger fish. And then what?
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: You arrest them and then what happens? Oh, that's right, nothing.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: The drugs keep flowing. According to authorities, the informant paid
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: approximately $ 31, 500 dollars to Cohen before he began cooperating with
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the FBI the informant began working with the FBI and
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: he agreed to set up a controlled delivery of a
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  Speaker 1: bribe payment to Cohen Cohen and the informant agreed to
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  Speaker 1: meet in Las Vegas on December 3rd 2018 shocking all
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: these dudes love to come to Las Vegas to meet
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  Speaker 1: huh I'm guessing it's because they want to take some
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  Speaker 1: of their ill-gotten gains and go and enjoy a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of what the city has to offer FBI agents
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: said they equipped the informant with $ 9, 000 cash and multiple
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: audio recording devices. Cohen and the informant... met on the
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: sidewalk across from the Bellagio Hotel and walked together to
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: the Paris Las Vegas Hotel where they went inside a
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  Speaker 1: bathroom away from casino cameras. So, not that long of
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: a walk from the Bellagio over to the Paris. Hop
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  Speaker 1: across the street there and right down. Once inside, officials
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  Speaker 1: said the informant placed the cash in Cohen's backpack and
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: they left the hotel, each going in different directions. And
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  Speaker 1: Cohen thought he was so smooth here, right? Oh, we'll
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: go into the bathroom. We'll make this transaction. No one
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: will be the wiser. Little did he know he was
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  Speaker 1: in business with a rat. Recordings of the encounter revealed
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  Speaker 1: that Cohen asked the informant, did you make this worth it?
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  Speaker 1: The informant responded, come on, man. You know I always
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  Speaker 1: make it worth it for you. Cohen responded, I know.
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  Speaker 1: So it wasn't the first time, obviously. This guy was
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  Speaker 1: on the take, getting all kinds of dough from these
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  Speaker 1: drug dealers. And what kind of misery came in its wake?
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: How many people suffered? Officials said Cohen also advised the
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  Speaker 1: informant that he should get rid of all of his
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: phones and change his address because he expected a search
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  Speaker 1: warrant to be executed at his home soon. Cohen was
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  Speaker 1: arrested when he returned to Arkansas later that day, and
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  Speaker 1: he admitted to accepting bribes from the informant. By protecting
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a drug trafficking organization and accepting bribes from a kingpin,
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  Speaker 1: former group supervisor Nathan Cohen deceived and betrayed brothers and
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  Speaker 1: sisters in the DEA. FBI Little Rock Special Agent in
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Charge James A. Dawson said, Forget the DEA, what about
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the people that are paying his salary? What about the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: people like you and I out there who are working
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: to our bones to pay our taxes and do the
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: right thing? And then when we do pay our taxes,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: they pay a scumbag like this to go out and
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  Speaker 1: get involved with drug dealers? So forget how he betrayed
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: his brothers and sisters in the DEA. What about the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: way he betrayed the taxpayer of the United States of America?
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  Speaker 1: His disgraceful and corrupt conduct only strengthens our resolve to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: continue attacking corruption at all levels. We're grateful for the strong,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: ongoing partnerships we share with both the Drug Enforcement Administration
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: and U.S. Attorney's Office. Today's sentencing reflects DEA's commitment to
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: hold accountable any DEA employee who abuses the trust of
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the American people by violating their oath as a federal
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: enforcement officer. DEA Administrator Ann Milgram said, Nathan Cohen put
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: himself ahead of the principles he swore to protect. I
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: commend our federal law enforcement partners who investigated this case
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and the U.S. attorneys who prosecuted it. Well, me too,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: because a guy like this is dangerous. Obviously watched one
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: too many episodes of The Shield and thinks he's Vic Mackey.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Cohen turned his back on his duty to protect the public.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: As a DEA agent, Cohen was tasked with investigating drug traffickers. Instead,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: he accepted a cash bribe and provided a known drug
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: trafficker with sensitive law enforcement information. The Department of Justice
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Office of the Inspector General will continue to investigate those
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: who engage in this kind of conduct. Chloe C. Pierce,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Justice Office
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: of the Inspector General, Dallas Field Office said, Oh, I'm
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: confident now. The Inspector General's on the case, folks. Everybody
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: should just be very comfortable with what's going to happen. Meanwhile,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: we all know the Inspector General hasn't done shit. Looked
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: into Trump, how'd that work out? Looking into Biden, how's
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: that working out? Just another one of these stupid-ass internal investigations.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: In addition to the terms of imprisonment, Cohen was sentenced
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: to two years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: The investigation was conducted by the FBI, and the case
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: was prosecuted by the Assistant United States Attorneys Benicia Moore
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and Chris Givens. So, another scumbag off the street, except
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: this time he was getting paid from your tax dollars
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: as well. as the drug dealers. Fantastic fella, huh? Glad
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: to see that this guy has been caught and that
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: he won't be involved in any more scumbaggery. And let's
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: hope it sends a message to any of these other
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: corrupt-ass federal officials that they're not going to get away
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: with it either. If you'd like to contact me, you
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: can do that at bobbycapucci at protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I at protonmail.com.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: You can also find me on Twitter at B-O-B-B-Y underscore C-A-P-U-C-C-I.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: The link that we discussed can be found in the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: description box.