Phuket hitman Rambo denies death squad charges

[BestBitterPhuket]

Lots of "sane" posts showing sympathy towards this scumbag. One would think he had friends posting here.

Anyway the Europeans are always "smarter" than the Americans. The Europeans wait until the bombs are exploded, people murdered and the drugs flowing in the vains if addicts, before making an arrest. I salute the entrapment of this guy and may he be jailed until he dies. Innocent until proven guilty? Haha, I am sure the US government would spend millions of dollars on his arrest and invoke the cooperation of the governments in several countries if they had weak evidence.

[sawadeeken]

Another instance where I CONDONE THE GOVT. AGENCIES INVADING MY PRIVACY. They're surely not interested in me (or many of you????), BUT you can see that it was an important tool for them in this case again.

You can't expect these agancies to do their job with their hands tied behind their back, let them use the tools they need (wire-tap / email survailance / etc.)................... They are ultra busy with these 'big guys' and not going to waste time with the little guys like us.................

I expect the US government to work in the US, then they can do whatever they want. It's already well established that there's no justice in the US these days and the bill of rights has been eroded to the point of irrelevancy.

My main issue is that an American team are working on the other side of the world in a foreign jurisdiction to entrap and send people for trial and almost guaranteed punishment in the US.

Why was this guy sent to the US ? If he comitted the supposed crime (conspiracy) in Thailand I would have thought the Thai police would be more than interested in prosecuting him.

I think the answer to this is that it was the American 'police' who did the investigation, they obviously regard Thailand as being under their jurisdiction otherwise he would have been prosecuted here in Thailand.

One day the Thais will wake up and wonder why there are teams of US government agents operating a shadow police force inside Thailand and sending people off to a foreign country for trial and imprisonment. I wonder if many of the Thais are even aware of this escalating situation.

You ask "why was this guy sent to the US?" The answer was in the article that you supposedly read (obviously not so well) and I quote from the story: "The indictment charges that Mr Hunter and his team acted as security for cocaine shipments originating in Asia and bound for the US." ----- NOW ,read it again (and again - until you get the picture)

So the US wants him for crimes committed against our nation and they went to great legnths to get him, entrapment wasn't necessary as he incriminated himself ( so cram the entrapment claim up to where the sun don't shine)

I am proud of all law enforcement involved - Thai/American/ any others involved.

The more of these guys off the streets, the better our lives and off-spring will be..............

[sawadeeken]

Ridiculous statement. Somebody from the UK should know we live in a global society now. The legal system in the US is one of the best and most transparent in the world. Same as in your country.

If the US pursued this, they had a good reason. I'm sure the family of the targeted people are glad they did so. How would you feel if the targeted person was part of your family and your government did nothing to stop this murder? I'm sure you would have a different opinion.

Did you even read it ?

There were no targeted people, the whole thing was a manufactured sting operation.

Nobody was ever going to get killed under any circumstances as it was a setup from start to finish and they threw some drugs into the mix to justify the DEA working on it.

UKrules, you are the one that needs to go back and reread the OP, appearently you still don't see the facts, and it sounds like some of your animosity toward the US is blinding you (or you just don't want to see anything else)......

Where did you get all your info - nobody getting killed under any circumstances AND setup from start to finish? Have you been smoking some of that stuff that this guy's associates left behind?

[ukrules]

Ridiculous statement. Somebody from the UK should know we live in a global society now. The legal system in the US is one of the best and most transparent in the world. Same as in your country.

If the US pursued this, they had a good reason. I'm sure the family of the targeted people are glad they did so. How would you feel if the targeted person was part of your family and your government did nothing to stop this murder? I'm sure you would have a different opinion.

Did you even read it ?

There were no targeted people, the whole thing was a manufactured sting operation.

Nobody was ever going to get killed under any circumstances as it was a setup from start to finish and they threw some drugs into the mix to justify the DEA working on it.

UKrules, you are the one that needs to go back and reread the OP, appearently you still don't see the facts, and it sounds like some of your animosity toward the US is blinding you (or you just don't want to see anything else)......

Where did you get all your info - nobody getting killed under any circumstances AND setup from start to finish? Have you been smoking some of that stuff that this guy's associates left behind?

I'm basing my comments on the full information. I read through the indictment as linked by someone else. It contains a lot more information that the article does.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/171572641/Hunter-Joseph-et-al-S7-Indictment

For example these guys were travelling throughout the world on the instructions of their new bosses at the DEA.

The whole thing was setup and initiated by the 'Confidential Sources' which I read to be employees of the DEA.

These guys did surveillance on a boat in Asia and a plane in the Caribbean, both of which apparently contained drugs. They're not alleged to have been in control of the boat or the plane but just watching them for their bosses at the DEA. Apparently this is enough to make them involved with whatever might have been on the vehicles. Who knows what was actually on the vehicles.

The DEA asked them to kill a 'snitch' and a DEA agent, they said they would do it and made plans to do it all under the supervision and guidance of the DEA. As in other cases like this which have been popping up at an alarming rate recently the DEA helped / promised to help provide them with the tools (various guns) to carry out the job.

They enticed them in with offers of large amounts of money for illegal acts, laid a trap and then sprung it.

So there was never a DEA agent at risk of being killed as the whole business was an elaborate fiction to entrap them from the beginning.

I'm not saying these guys are good by any means as they were offering some really dodgy services but the fact that the whole thing was a fiction makes me look at it in a different light.

[purrboat]

Well spoken UK rules. Generally I would not be agreeing with my friends across the pond but you are obviously well read and educated and not one of these hate fanatics

[ukrules]

Well spoken UK rules. Generally I would not be agreeing with my friends across the pond but you are obviously well read and educated and not one of these hate fanatics

Thanks, I'll add that if there is ever a real plot to kill a DEA agent / any other person (all equal under the law ?) then I would fully support taking any measures including international intervention required to prevent it.

It's just the current mindset / methodology that's used in these type of sting cases that I have a problem with.

[purrboat]

Couldnt agree more. If it prevented a murder fine but all of this international Dea is nothing more than a real bunch of trained killers with not much of a conscious

[ukrules]

Something else to note about this case is 'Hunter was deported after his passport and visa were revoked'.

This is not the normal procedure for an extradition.

Quote from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/27/joseph-manuel-hunter-deported_n_4002075.html

[Emdog]

I think it is in order to point out that a verdict of "innocent" does not happen in the USA. The verdict would be "not guilty", which may seem like splitting hairs, but let me explain. I was on a jury trial and the defendant was charged with driving while under the influence of pot. We on the jury all figured that he probably was guilty, his story was bogus. However we returned a verdict of "not guilty". Why? It is the governments job to prove his guilt, and they didn't do it. It is not our job to patch up the sloppy work the prosecutor did.

That said, I do wonder how the USA is able to ignore the facts in many instances where a person can be brought to trial in USA for crimes committed outside it's jurisdiction, and no harm (or threat of harm) has come to any US citizen or their properties. Guess USA = "World Police"

[A1Str8]

Lol his street name was Rambo. Another tough girl is down.

[craigt3365]

A few posts violating forum rules have been removed. Specifically these:

In using Thai Visa I agree:

1) To respect fellow members.

7) Not to post slurs or degrading comments directed towards any group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

[steelepulse]

That indictment is a good read, but the charges brought up seem over the top, but not the first time when the US Gov goes after someone they throw every charge possible at the defendant and then allow defendant to plead guilty to most of the charges, keeping their conviction rate at a ridiculous over 90% rate. ( 93% for 2010) http://www.justice.gov/usao/reading_room/reports/asr2010/10statrpt.pdf

[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....

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.

so its ok with you? and theres no accountability for their policies what so ever? what ever I'm sure you're the expert on psychology

[purrboat]

No for sure he is no expert on psychology but he is good at defending the Bush admin, Natzi Dea and everything else wrong with the way this guy is obviously being set up. Maybe when he was a special forces guy he pissed somebody off that had the power to turn his life upside down. We will probably know the real story here

[venturalaw]

No for sure he is no expert on psychology but he is good at defending the Bush admin, Natzi Dea and everything else wrong with the way this guy is obviously being set up. Maybe when he was a special forces guy he pissed somebody off that had the power to turn his life upside down. We will probably know the real story here

Where did I defend the "Bush admin"? Try reading posts before assigning moronic descriptions. I just refuse to fall into the lockstep blame game. If Rambo hired killers - no one 'made' him do it. If he didn't hire them and plan an assassination he should be exonerated. Either way it doesn't take a psychologist to realize how incredibly weak it is to blame past administrations for one's present actions. Only the weak whine and complain and blame, which is why inevitably they fail at everything they attempt to accomplish.

[asiamint]

You clearly said to freeze his assets before a trial, so they can be more easily taken if convicted.

I take objection to wanting to frezze his funds before conviction.

Only the court should decide to freeze funds or not.

The IRS and Inland revenue are becoming masters at your type of tactics.

[Phronesis]

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?

At least 800.000 THB if he was on a retirement visa.