Phuket hitman Rambo denies death squad charges

[webfact]

Phuket hitman Rambo denies death squad charges
Phuket Gazette


Phuket hitman Joseph ‘Rambo’ Hunter has denied charges of operating an international death squad of ex-servicemen. Photo: Reuters

PHUKET: -- Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48 – nicknamed “Rambo” and arrested at his rented Phuket home last Thursday, as originally reported by the Phuket Gazette (story here) – has denied charges of recruiting a team of former military snipers to commit murders on behalf of two Colombian drug cartel leaders.

The cartel leaders were, in fact, Drug Enforcement Administration informants posing as druglords.

After his arrest in Phuket, Mr Hunter was quickly dispatched to Bangkok, where he was deported by DEA officers directly to New York to face charges of conspiracy, attempting to import cocaine and plotting to kill a law enforcement agent (video report here).

Testifying in a New District court on Saturday, Mr Hunter denied hiring ex-servicemen, including a former US Army sergeant and several ex-soldiers from other countries, and plotting to murder a US federal drug agent and informant as part of an international drug smuggling operation.

Asked by US Magistrate Judge Frank Haas to enter his plea, Mr Hunter responded: “Not guilty, sir.”

Mr Hunter and Timothy Vamvakias, both former US Army sergeants, and several other suspects were arrested and transported to New York to face charges that include murder and drug conspiracy, as well as illegal weapons possession.

“The bone-chilling allegations in today’s indictment read like they were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel,” said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement on Friday.

“The charges tell a tale of an international band of mercenary marksmen who enlisted their elite military training to serve as hired guns for evil ends,” he said.

The DEA informants agreed to pay Mr Hunter and two others US$700,000 for the two killings, as well as an additional $100,000 to Mr Hunter “for his leadership role”, according to an indictment filed in New York.

The killings were to take place in Liberia, Mr Bharara told the press conference on Friday.

Mr Hunter and his alleged accomplices – who include Vamvakias, Dennis Gogel and Michael Filter of Germany, and Slawomir Soborski of Poland – were rounded up in a US Drug Enforcement Administration sting.

While Hunter was arrested in Phuket, Vamvakias and Gogel were apprehended in Liberia, where they had travelled to commit the murders.

Mr Filter and Mr Soborski were arrested in Estonia, where they had gone to “provide other services” to the DEA informants posing as Colombians, Mr Bharara said.

Mr Bharara declined to identify the DEA agent and informant targeted for murder as part of the sting operation.

The indictment charges that Mr Hunter and his team acted as security for cocaine shipments originating in Asia and bound for the US.

In late 2012, according to the indictment, Mr Hunter “collected resumes via email for prospective members of the security team”.

Earlier this year, Mr Hunter and his team allegedly travelled to an undisclosed Asian country to discuss the drug-trafficking security work with the two informants they believed to be part of the cartel.

Mr Hunter, Mr Vamvakias and Mr Gogel were recorded discussing plans to commit the contract killings in Liberia, authorities said.

Mr Hunter told the DEA informants that “he himself had previously done ‘bonus jobs’” – code for contract killings, and that his team “wanted to do as much ‘bonus work’ as possible”, according to the indictment.

Mr Bharara said that since leaving the US military in 2004, Mr Hunter “has allegedly worked as a contract killer, arranging successfully for the murder of numerous people”.

He declined to reveal who Mr Hunter is believed to have murdered, but said he “leapt at the chance to serve the purported drug traffickers” as a hired killer.

“Thanks to the determined, skillful and intrepid efforts of the DEA’s Special Operations Division, an international hit team has been neutralized by agents working on four continents,” he said.

The DEA’s Special Operations Division is a secretive unit within the US Department of Justice that includes representatives of the DEA, FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security.

In a series of stories published earlier this year, Reuters reported that the DEA’s Special Operations Division funneled information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.

Reuters reviewed internal government documents which showed that law enforcement agents have been trained to conceal how such investigations truly begin – to “recreate” the investigative trail to effectively cover up the original source of the information.

DEA officials said the practice is legal and has been in almost daily use since the 1990s. They have said its purpose is to protect sources and methods, not to withhold evidence.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-hitman-Rambo-denies-death-squad-charges-22378.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-09-30

[NomadJoe]

I really hate when media misrepresents the story like this. The guy has simply been arraigned (charges officially read to him) in which, in the US legal system, a plea of "not guilty" is always made. He has not given "testimony" as the article incorrectly states. To claim he is making some declarative statement about the charges is very misleading, but makes very nice headlines.

[uty6543]

I hope the Americans have frozen all his assets already so they can be seized if he is convicted. Anyone know how much Hunter is/was worth?

[epicstuff]

shiver !!!!! this tells me more about the police state in america than how bad this guy is..

Is it actually legal to tempt someone into doing an illegal activity for the promise of hugh amounts of money then bust them when they say OK ?????

I'm sure we could find away to put 95% of the worlds polulation inside if this is the case....

At least in Phuket I sure many people would have said 'I'll do it' just so they could run away with any upfront payment.

Edited September 30, 2013 by epicstuff

[asdecas]

$700,000? Don't the DEA know that a pillion drive-by shooter costs about 1500 Baht a pop? No wonder the US is bankrupt.

[purrboat]

shiver !!!!! this tells me more about the police state in america than how bad this guy is..

Is it actually legal to tempt someone into doing an illegal activity for the promise of hugh amounts of money then bust them when they say OK ?????

I'm sure we could find away to put 95% of the worlds polulation inside if this is the case....

At least in Phuket I sure many people would have said 'I'll do it' just so they could run away with any upfront payment.

Thank goodness for one sane reply:)

[haybilly]

$700,000? Don't the DEA know that a pillion drive-by shooter costs about 1500 Baht a pop? No wonder the US is bankrupt.

I believe that, if you want the job done properly--it is somewhat more than that.

EDIT--Even in Phuket.

[epicstuff]

shiver !!!!! this tells me more about the police state in america than how bad this guy is..

Is it actually legal to tempt someone into doing an illegal activity for the promise of hugh amounts of money then bust them when they say OK ?????

I'm sure we could find away to put 95% of the worlds polulation inside if this is the case....

At least in Phuket I sure many people would have said 'I'll do it' just so they could run away with any upfront payment.

I'll go on ... and the U.S goverment programmed this guy in the 1st place to be a cold blodded killer & to go in and murder who he was ordered to without question or emotion for low pay Then when he is in the real world and faced with the pressures to be wealthly capitalist he is exected to see a difference when it comes to accepting orders from a better paying source.. Go kill innocent Iraqies who happen to wear a uniform for Uncle Sam, or go kill some drug dealers for a shit load of money. theres not much of a moral question here really....

I am not saying I would like to get on the wrong side of this fellow , but something don't seem to right about the whole thing....

[asiamint]

I hope the Americans have frozen all his assets already so they can be seized if he is convicted. Anyone know how much Hunter is/was worth?

Innocent till proven guilty in a court of law, what don't you understand about that?

Or would you like to live in a country without the rule of law?

Grandstanding and blacking someone's character before he has the chance to be judged in a court of law is a tactic totalitarian governments use. It should be totally outlawed. Using words like BONECHILLING,RAMBO before a trail has taken place is scandalous in a free and democratic country.

These types of forward statements before a trail are for the dumb and gullible which sadly make up the majority.

[purrboat]

More sane replies

[jmccarty]

Wonder how this started? Bored and broke in Phuket and offered services to the world on Craigs List?

[Zumteufel]

...

At least in Phuket I sure many people would have said 'I'll do it' just so they could run away with any upfront payment.

Absolutely. I get tempted like this often here in this godforsaken hellhole called Phuket. I meet people looking for contract killers almost every goddamn day.

[/irony]

[itchybum]

shiver !!!!! this tells me more about the police state in america than how bad this guy is..

Is it actually legal to tempt someone into doing an illegal activity for the promise of hugh amounts of money then bust them when they say OK ?????

I'm sure we could find away to put 95% of the worlds polulation inside if this is the case....

At least in Phuket I sure many people would have said 'I'll do it' just so they could run away with any upfront payment.

I'll go on ... and the U.S goverment programmed this guy in the 1st place to be a cold blodded killer & to go in and murder who he was ordered to without question or emotion for low pay Then when he is in the real world and faced with the pressures to be wealthly capitalist he is exected to see a difference when it comes to accepting orders from a better paying source.. Go kill innocent Iraqies who happen to wear a uniform for Uncle Sam, or go kill some drug dealers for a shit load of money. theres not much of a moral question here really....

I am not saying I would like to get on the wrong side of this fellow , but something don't seem to right about the whole thing....

Dont forget he was planning and by the looks of it, had put in place steps to kill a cop.

Edited September 30, 2013 by itchybum

[itchybum]

...

At least in Phuket I sure many people would have said 'I'll do it' just so they could run away with any upfront payment.

Absolutely. I get tempted like this often here in this godforsaken hellhole called Phuket. I meet people looking for contract killers almost every goddamn day.

[/irony]

If that is you in the av, then no wonder.

How much by the way ?

[Maggusoil]

I hope the Americans have frozen all his assets already so they can be seized if he is convicted. Anyone know how much Hunter is/was worth?

Innocent till proven guilty in a court of law, what don't you understand about that?

Or would you like to live in a country without the rule of law?

Grandstanding and blacking someone's character before he has the chance to be judged in a court of law is a tactic totalitarian governments use. It should be totally outlawed. Using words like BONECHILLING,RAMBO before a trail has taken place is scandalous in a free and democratic country.

These types of forward statements before a trail are for the dumb and gullible which sadly make up the majority.

The TV hang'em high brigade always come out in force at this point.

One would suspect that law enforcement at this level, probably would not have wasted those resources, without convincing evidence, however that is a presumption, as correctly pointed out in the "sane" replies.

[uty6543]

I hope the Americans have frozen all his assets already so they can be seized if he is convicted. Anyone know how much Hunter is/was worth?

Innocent till proven guilty in a court of law, what don't you understand about that?

Or would you like to live in a country without the rule of law?

Grandstanding and blacking someone's character before he has the chance to be judged in a court of law is a tactic totalitarian governments use. It should be totally outlawed. Using words like BONECHILLING,RAMBO before a trail has taken place is scandalous in a free and democratic country.

These types of forward statements before a trail are for the dumb and gullible which sadly make up the majority.

If you read my post again you will see I stated "if he is convicted". because i do believe in innocent until proven guilty. I also believe in common sense. It is odds on that he will be convicted and if his assets are not frozen by the end of the trial where do you think any illegally obtained money will be?

I do hope this gentleman is given a fair trial.

Edited September 30, 2013 by uty6543

[Equalizer]

Attempting to import cocaine.

Plotting to kill a law enforcement agent.

They must have some concrete evidence of other serious crimes. The ones above that they have arrested him for have not actually been committed yet!!

[ukrules]

Another case of blatent entrapment by the US Government operating in Thailand.

I noticed from a picture in one of the Thai newspapers that this guy was being escorted onto what looked like a private jet.

This is how they catch terrorists / high pofile criminals these days. They approach some deadbeat, offer him anything he wants and offer to fund them in a way which would not have been possible before FBI interference. Then they move in and 'save the world' with their headline making arrests which were a complete setup from the start.

I guess the green light for Thailand operations was the Victor Bout incident and his subsequent loss of appeal, now they're expanding this program to go after anyone they can reign in.

While the USG are very busy running their entrapment ops two idiots easily go out and build a bomb destined for the Boston marathon....

[ukrules]

Attempting to import cocaine.

Plotting to kill a law enforcement agent.

They must have some concrete evidence of other serious crimes. The ones above that they have arrested him for have not actually been committed yet!!

Conspiracy alone is treated as a very serious crime.

[khunken]

This is very similar to the Viktor Bout 'sting' by the same mob around 5 years ago. Pretend to be a Colombian cartel (same modus operandi), offer large sums of money, record the conversations & ergo they're guilty.

It is a travesty of justice that this sort of entrapment is regarded as legal in the US.

[newermonkey]

Entrapment wont stand up, but getting him arrested and questioned, he might be persuaded to do a deal... hell end up on the US witness protection program and will probably be back in Thailand by the beginning of next year with a brand new id.

[NoBrainer]

From what I have read, he was not involved in Cocaine Importation, prior to the U.S. Government's sting operation.

It is unlikely that any cocaine was actually transported by the DEA as part of this charade, and it was all just a plot

to be seen as doing something, to keep the massive budget flowing, while the real drug traffickers were moving

thousand of tons of drugs into the USA unimpeded.

They basically threw him a rope, and then kept pushing the boundaries, to see how long it would take him to hang himself.

It would not be surprising to find out later that this was payback for something he did while he was serving the U.S. Government.

I suppose we will have to wait for the trial (if they don't gag the proceedings under the guise of National Security) to find out the truth.

It reminds me a lot of the Victor Bout case.

[ukrules]

A pattern has been emerging over the past few years and that is that the US Government via it's 'expat cops' are allowed to do pretty much what they want in Thailand with very little oversight.

I wonder just how high will the Thai government jump when instructed to do so by their US masters ?

Things are becoming clearer now.

[purrboat]

To make the charges even more hard to believe is the charge of attempting tosmuggle COCAINE from Asia to Western countries. Presumably the US. Only problem Cocaine does not get smuggled out of Asia but into it. To make such a rediculous charge gives us all a much clearer view of how jacked up these charges are. Dont forget these DEA criminals are under pressure to show results for the insane amounts of money wasted in the US's outdated, extremely expensive and ineffective War On Drugs that covers the entire planet. Hence the dubiously named : The World's Policemen. These so called agents are also all traind killers and kill innocent people every day in their "War". They take money in the end from the same people they arrest to either bodyguard or change testimony or not testify at all. They are a disgrace to the real police that go after the real more dangerous criminals the child rapists, murderers, pedophiles, armed robbers and men that like to beat on their wives and gf's. however these pose a way more serious threat that they would rather avoid. Much easier to bring a full combat platoon to arrest one guy at his country club home. Pathetic bunch. How do they sleep at night? Breaking up families and making orphans out of the poor victims kids. They didnt mention anything about the guys family

[venturalaw]

shiver !!!!! this tells me more about the police state in america than how bad this guy is..

Is it actually legal to tempt someone into doing an illegal activity for the promise of hugh amounts of money then bust them when they say OK ?????

I'm sure we could find away to put 95% of the worlds polulation inside if this is the case....

At least in Phuket I sure many people would have said 'I'll do it' just so they could run away with any upfront payment.

I'll go on ... and the U.S goverment programmed this guy in the 1st place to be a cold blodded killer & to go in and murder who he was ordered to without question or emotion for low pay Then when he is in the real world and faced with the pressures to be wealthly capitalist he is exected to see a difference when it comes to accepting orders from a better paying source.. Go kill innocent Iraqies who happen to wear a uniform for Uncle Sam, or go kill some drug dealers for a shit load of money. theres not much of a moral question here really....

I am not saying I would like to get on the wrong side of this fellow , but something don't seem to right about the whole thing....

Are you serious? It's all the government's fault? Anyone would have helplessly been made to assemble a pack of killers and plan the execution of a government official because they just have no self-control when the big bad U.S. government offers them money. Next it will all be Bush's fault. What a joke.

Edited September 30, 2013 by venturalaw

[purrboat]

Wow I so impressed today by all the sane and logical replies to this topic. Usually I would be reading some idiotic thing asking for mandatory life sentences regardless of guilt but to be acussed more than adequate for "Little Mary Sunshine" and the other Reagan/Bush era mentality to fey this guy as hard and fast as possible. Anyone with even a little intelligence should be able to see through the DEA's illgal operation. Yes they spen millions and millions creating crimes with their use of informants and then arresting the poor victim needingoney probably to pay for baby food and diapers. This is their so called "Drug Lords". What a joke!!

[Malthus101]

"DEA, FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security"

The real criminals.

[gemini81]

Wonder how this started? Bored and broke in Phuket and offered services to the world on Craigs List?

Try reading the article- this guy was a professional, trained. The sums of payment indicate a demand for him, certainly not broke.

If he is in fact found guilty, like the other instances that are coming out more and more of tales like this, then they medicate these guys and hire them, then set them up when something goes wrong.

There is a lot going on here we don't know about, and some real gangsters we'd probably rather not know about.

This is almost standard business as usual in the US, Honduras, mexico and an ever growing slew of other places into epidemic proportions.

[purrboat]

Did most of all of you wake up with brains today? Lmao and cheers to intelligence over hate

[technologybytes]

Personally I hope he is acquitted and gets compensation from the US government.

Entrapment is a nasty business, it appears to what the police do when they know they can't get a conviction any other way due to total lack of a case.

Look at John Delorean, it looked like an open and shut case and he beat it.