Five minutes ago he tweeted:
Those in Asheville, NC should watch movements of District Attorney Ron Moore at this time. #OpCartel
Brown may be no safer in Texas than he would be in Mexico. He seems indifferent to the numerous government reports claiming most of the major Mexican cartels have aligned with U.S. gangs, both for distribution of their wares and for enforcement. See the FBI's 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment.
US-based gangs have established strong working relationships with Central American and MDTOs [Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations] to perpetrate illicit cross-border activity, as well as with some organized crime groups in some regions of the United States. US-based gangs [are]... serving as enforcers for MDTO interests on the US side of the border....Law enforcement reporting indicates that gang-related drug distribution and trafficking has resulted in an increase of kidnappings, assaults, robberies and homicides along the US Southwest border region.
....MDTOs use street and prison gang members in Mexico, Texas, and California to protect smuggling routes, collect debts, transport illicit goods, including drugs and weapons, and execute rival traffickers. Assassins, the Mexican Mafia.
....In exchange for a consistent drug supply, US-based gangs ....serve as lookouts and enforcers on behalf of the MDTOs.
....Gang-related activity and violence has increased along the Southwest border region, as US-based gangs seek to prove their worth to the drug cartels, compete with other gangs for favor, and act as US-based enforcers for cartels which involves home invasions, robbery, kidnapping, and murder.
Hackers have no monopoly on the internet:
The proliferation of social networking websites has made gang activity more prevalent and lethal—moving gangs from the streets into cyber space. Gang members, criminals, and drug traffickers are using the Internet not only to recruit and build their social networks, but to expand and operate their criminal networks without the proximity once needed for communication...
Some of the cases pending in the U.S.:
In March 2011, 35 leaders, members, and associates of the Barrio Azteca gang in Texas were charged in a federal indictment for various counts of racketeering, murder, drug offenses, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. Ten subjects were charged with the March 2010 murders of a US Consulate employee, her husband, and the husband of another consulate employee, in Juarez, Mexico.
In February 2011, FBI, ATF, ICE, and DHS, and numerous state and local officials charged 41 gang members and associates from several different gangs in five districts with multiple offenses, including racketeering conspiracy, murder, drug and gun trafficking. The indictment involved members from... 13 Tri-City Bomber members and associates in the McAllen, Texas area.
According to the FBI, there are more than 150,000 gang members in Texas and Oklahoma, including 12,000 in Dallas, 18,000 in San Antonio, 8,000 in Houston and 6,000 in El Paso. These numbers don't include those currently in prison.
Authorities believe the El Paso-based Barrio Aztecas are working for the Juarez cartel, which includes its enforcement arm, La Linea, and that the Artistic Assassins are engaging in contract killings for the Sinaloa cartel. More here.
The Barrio Aztecas are believed to be aligned with the Juarez cartel against the Sinaloa drug cartel for control of the billion-dollar drug-trafficking routes through the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez corridor. Since 2008, the Aztecas have been rivals of the Artistic Assassins, or "Double A's," who serve as contract killers for the Sinaloa cartel, Cuthbertson said.
Back to Dead Flowers: Barrett Brown may have been safer when he spent his days with a needle and spoon rather than a computer. (He seems to like that article.)
I think it was smart of Anonymous to pull out of #OpCartel and I hope Barrett Brown isn't doing this just to publicize his book deal. He needs to remember that hearses don't have luggage racks. (h/t Don Henley.) Even the last will and testament he posted on Pastebin yesterday giving everything to small villages in Africa seems publicity-driven or a fantasy. He should leave that stuff to the pros, like Subcommandante Marcos.
Barrett Brown is very young and obviously quite media savvy. He has many of us hooked and refreshing our Twitter feeds every five minutes to see what happens next in his virtual fantasy. I just hope for him this doesn't cross over into reality.