Michele Leonhart/dea photo

WASHINGTON — Despite all the speculation and rumor as to who will be the next chief of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, word has it that the acting chief Michele Leonhart is still on track to get the nod from the White House for the top post.

Leonhart, whose title is acting administrator, was one of four people being considered for the job as the permanent administrator. Several months back, the FBI’s deputy director John Pistole, by all accounts,  seemed to be the front runner.

But for some reason,  sources said Leonhart had stepped to the front of the line. Still, because nothing has happened, speculation as to who will be the chief continues to circulate inside and outside the agency.

But a source says that Leonhart is  on track to get the job, but it’s still not a done deal. DEA spokesman Rusty Payne declined to comment Wednesday on the matter.

By Allan Lengel

A reputed Chicago gang member was charged Tuesday with killing an ATF informant in 2006, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Spencer Martin, 32, a member of the Vice Lords, is accused of fatally shooting Earl Willis, 26. Willis’ body was found in a van on the city’s South side.

The paper reports that Martin and Willis allegedly robbed a North Side gas station and Martin shot someone.  Tests indicate the same gun was used to shoot Willis.

To read more click here.

John Gotti Jr./youtube

One juror in the John “Junior” Gotti racketeering trial put it succinctly on Tuesday after the jury was hopelessly deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial.

“The evidence was just not there to prosecute the guy,” said one of the jurors, who remained anonymous, according to the New York Times.

A group of jurors also said the government should not try to prosecute Gotti again.

The government said Tuesday that it had not yet decided whether to go for a fifth trial. This was Gotti’s fourth. The other three, just like this one, ended in mistrials after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision.

Four jurors met with reporters Tuesday after the mistrial was declared and talked about the flaws in the government’s case.

The four jurors said they seemed to buy  Gotti’s defense that he had withdrawn from the mob long ago, according to the New York Times.

“The jurors said that of the 12 people on the panel, 6 did not believe that Mr. Gotti quit the mob, 5 did believe him and one remained undecided,” the Times reported.

The group also said they did believe John Alite, the government’s key witness, who is a “confessed hit man and a former member of Mr. Gotti’s crew,” the Times reported.

The jurors  said the government should quit trying to put Gotti behind bars.

“They should stop this now — it’s ridiculous,” said one of the jurors, a middle-aged man, according to the Times. Another juror, a woman, said of the prosecution: “It’s abusive. It’s almost become a mockery.”

To read more click here.

By Allan Lengel

WASHINGTON — An undercover FBI employee posing as an inmate’s brother, helped bust two D.C. corrections officers and a Maryland woman on federal bribery charges for allegedly smuggling cellphones and iPods to prisoners in exchange for cash payments, the Washington Post reported.

Authorities on Tuesday arrested corrections officers Thomas Ford, 35, and Quincy Hayes, 32, who were placed on administrative leave, the Post’s Del Quentin Wilber reported. Both work at the D.C. Correction Treatment Facility, which is run by the Corrections Corporation of America.

Authorities also charged Renee Braxton, 44, a security guard at a museum, the Post reported.

The paper reported that an inmate tipped off the FBI to the contraband smuggling. Subsequently, an undercover FBI employee, posing as an inmate’s brother, “met with Braxton and Ford in 2008 and early this year and gave them several hundred dollars to smuggle a phone, an iPod and a charger to inmates at the CTF,” the Post reported.

Christopher Christie/campaign photo

Now that the election is over, New Jersey’s Gov.-elect Christopher Christie doesn’t have to deal with this as a potential campaign issue.

Nonetheless, it’s probably a situation the former New Jersey U.S. Attorney would rather not deal with at all.

The Herald News reported that Christie, who stepped down as Newark’s U.S. Attorney late last year, was subpoenaed Tuesday to testify as a defense witness for Hal Turner, a New Jersey right-wing blogger, shock jock and ex-FBI informant former who is on federal trial in Brooklyn on charges of threatening the lives of appeals court judges in Chicago.

The paper reported that Turner’s defense attorney, Michael Orozco, said “he hopes to question Christie about whether federal prosecutors in Newark made a blanket decision not to file charges against Turner after previous threatening statements on the radio or on his blog.”

A Christie spokesman confirmed the existence of the subpoena, but did not comment further, the paper reported.

To Read More click here.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Kingston Mayor Wants FBI to Reimburse City for Expenses Incurred During Turner’s 2005 White Supremacist Rally (The Daily Freeman)
• Ex-ICE Agent to Plead Guilty in Graft Inquiry (Arizona Republic)
• Read Emails from Couple Who Crashed White House Party (Today Show)
• Documents Show Ex-Bishop Downplayed Abuse (AP)
• Colorado Feds Look at Link Between Ft. Hood and Cleric (AP)
• NY Undercover Cops Regularly Mistaken As Suspects (AP)
• Feds Say Woman Embezzled $42 Million from Union (Courthouse News Service)
• Report Cites Top Challenges to Justice Dept. (Main Justice)
• IG Report Says SEC Official Aided Ponzi Scheme (Washington Post)
• Salahi’s Charity Under Scrutiny (Washington Post)
• FBI Moves to Seize CAIR Records from Author (Under the Radar)
• Justice Dept. Pays $4 Million a Year to Read Public Documents (WIRED)