Uriel Patiño el obetivo de Rápido y Furioso

'Rápido y Furioso' buscaba capturar a un hombre, que hoy está libre

Uriel Patiño es uno de los 19 proveedores detectados por la ATF que abastecen de armas a los cárteles mexicanos

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Excélsior, on line, 9 de agosto de 2011

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, 9 de agosto.- La operación "Rápido y Furioso" tuvo como fin original capturar a un sólo hombre que proveyó armas al Cártel de Sinaloa, informa hoy el diario USA Today. (abajo)

De acuerdo con documentos de la Corte Federal e investigadores del Congreso citados por el rotativo, "Cuando Uriel Patiño entró en agosto pasado a una tienda de Glendale, Arizona, e hizo un pedido de 20 pistolas, agentes federales ya sabían que el hombre de 25 años era la figura más prolífica en el círculo del tráfico de armas que había proveído de cientos de ellas al Cártel de Sinaloa".

En los 10 meses previos, la Agencia de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos rastreó 673 comprobantes de compra de armas del residente de Phoenix. Ahora, Patiño regresaba por más. Y la ATF, deseosa de que el joven sospechoso los condujera con un pez más gordo del círculo del tráfico de armas, estaban felices de verlo de nuevo, a pesar de que la tienda temía por el tamaño del nuevo pedido de Patiño, y aún cuando la tienda estaba cooperando con las investigaciones de la ATF. La armería pidió un permiso especial para atender la petición.

"Nuestra orientación es nos gustaría seguir adelante con la orden de compra del señor Patiño" escribió el supervisor de la ATF David Voth el 25 de agosto en un correo electrónico. A pesar de que los agentes ya sabían que las armas compradas por Patiño habían aparecido en la escena del crimen en México y Estados Unidos, a Patiño se le permitió alejarse.

Antes de ser arrestado en enero, los investigadores del Congreso estiman que compró al menos 720 armas de fuego, 157 de los cuales cayeron en manos de integrantes de cárteles y otros delincuentes en ambos lados de la frontera.

Al final, las presuntas actividades de Patiño sumaron un tercio de las aproximadamente 2 mil armas adquiridas como parte del programa "Rápido y Furioso". Y mientras la ATF y el Departamento de Justicia luchan por explicar a una comisión del Congreso cómo la investigación no resultó tan mal, las grabaciones de Patiño en la Corte Federal narrando sus juergas de compras de armas dan una insólita visión de un operativo que varios críticos de la ATF dicen que destruyó las reglas de investigación y pudo haber costado la vida de un agente de la patrulla fronteriza.

La operación con sede en Phoenix fue cerrada en diciembre pasado, cuando dos armas compradas por el otro sospechoso fueron recuperadas en la escena de un tiroteo cerca de la frontera entre Arizona y México, donde el agente de la Patrulla Fronteriza Brian Terry fue asesinado.

Durante meses, durante la operación, que comenzó en 2009, el agente ATF John Dodson dijo al panel de la Cámara que él y compañeros recibieron la orden de abandonar la vigilancia regular de las compras de armas sospechosas", sabiendo que pocos días después de estas compras, las armas que hemos visto estas personas comprar comenzaría a aparecer en la escena del crimen en el Estados Unidos y México".

Gran parte de esa vigilancia, de acuerdo con los agentes y la Cámara de los informes del comité de investigación, se centró en Uriel Patiño.

De hecho, la actividad delictiva de Patiño fue tal luego de que se abiera la investigación, los agentes crearon un archivo especial para registrar sus compras, dijo el senador republicano Chuck Grassley, quien junto con el representante republicano Darrell Issa, presidente de el la Cámara, quienes lideran la investigación del Congreso sobre las actividades de la ATF.

"En los primeros 24 días (en 2009), Patiño compró 34 armas de fuego a los distribuidores que cooperan con la ATF," dijo Grassley.

Acusado de 22 cargos relacionados con armas, incluyendo comerciar ilícitamente con armas de fuego, falsedad en declaraciones falsas y blanqueo de dinero, Patiño espera su juicio en libertad. Su abogado, Eugenio Márquez, no respondió a solicitudes de comentarios.

La Corte Federal documenta que Patiño es uno de los más activos operadores del círculo de contrabandistas, que involucra a otros 19 compradores conocidos como "straw-buyers" ("compradores de paja").

En 12 días de marzo de 2010, Patiño compró 72 rifles de asalto AK-47.

A las sospechas de la compra, los fiscales señalaron que las ventas fueron realizadas por el mismo vendedor de armas, la compañía Lone Wolf Trading, en Glendale, Arizona, cuyo representante se negó a comentar la información.

Hasta ahora, 99 armas de fuego supuestamente adquiridas por Patiño se han recuperado en Estados Unidos y 58 en México, de acuerdo a los registros del comité.

**

ATF operation focused on man who bought more than 700 guns

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAYU 11h 7m ago

When Uriel Patino walked into a Glendale, Ariz., gun store last August and placed an order for 20 handguns, federal gun agents already knew the 25-year-old man as the most prolific figure in a trafficking ring that was supplying hundreds of guns to Mexico's brutal Sinoloa drug cartel, according to federal court documents and congressional investigators.

In the prior 10 months, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced 673 area gun purchases to the Phoenix resident, congressional investigators found.

Now, Patino was back for more. And the ATF, eager for the young suspect to lead them to a bigger fish in the rich trafficking ring, was more than happy to oblige, despite concerns raised by the local gun store. Alarmed by the size of Patino's August request, the dealer, who was cooperating with federal investigators, asked the ATF whether a special order for the weapons should be placed because there were only four in stock.

"Our guidance is that we would like you to go through with Mr. Patino's request and order the additional firearms," ATF Supervisor David Voth wrote the dealer in an Aug. 25 e-mail.

Even though agents knew then that guns allegedly purchased by Patino had been showing up at crime scenes in Mexico and the USA, Patino was allowed to walk away that day.

Before he was arrested in January, congressional investigators estimate that he purchased at least 720 firearms, 157 of which fell into the hands of Mexican drug cartel enforcers or other criminals on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.

Patino's alleged activities account for more than a third of an estimated 2,000 weapons purchased as part of the ATF's controversial gun-trafficking investigation, known as Operation Fast and Furious. And while top ATF and Justice Department officials now struggle to explain to a congressional committee how the failed investigation had gone so wrong, federal court records of Patino's alleged buying sprees provide an unusual view into an operation that several ATF whistle-blowers said shredded the agency's investigative rules and may have cost the life of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

The Phoenix-based operation was shut down last December when two weapons purchased by another suspect in the inquiry were recovered at the scene of a shootout near the Arizona-Mexico border where U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed. The gun involved in Terry's killing has not yet been identified.

"ATF agents allowed weapons to be provided to individuals whom they knew would traffic them to members of Mexican drug-trafficking organizations," ATF Supervisory Special Agent Peter Forcelli recently told members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

For months during the operation, which began in 2009, ATF Agent John Dodson told the House panel that he and fellow agents were regularly ordered to abandon surveillance of suspicious gun purchases, "knowing all the while that just days after these purchases, the guns that we saw these individuals buy would begin turning up at crime scenes in the United States and Mexico."

Much of that surveillance, according to the agents and House committee investigative reports, was centered on Uriel Patino.

Indeed, Patino was so active that within days after the ATF investigation was opened that agents created a special file to record his purchases, said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who with Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House panel, is leading the congressional inquiry into the ATF's activities.

"In the first 24 days (in 2009) that the ATF was on to him, Patino bought 34 guns from dealers cooperating with the ATF," Grassley recently told the House committee.

Charged with 22 weapons-related counts, including dealing firearms without a license, false statements and money laundering, Patino is free pending trial. His attorney, Eugene Marquez, did not respond to requests for comment.

Federal court documents describe Patino as the busiest operative in a smuggling ring that involved 19 other purchasers, known as "straw-buyers." Prized for clean criminal records that make them eligible to purchase weapons in the USA, the buyers are typically paid fees to purchase weapons on behalf of the traffickers.

In one 12-day stretch in March 2010, prosecutors allege, Patino purchased 72 AK-47 assault weapons.

Adding to the suspicious nature of the purchases, prosecutors noted that all of them were done at one gun dealer: the Lone Wolf Trading Company in Glendale, Ariz. A Lone Wolf representative declined to comment.

Within days of Patino's purchases, according to House committee records, the guns were showing up at crime scenes and in weapons caches seized in the U.S. and Mexico.

So far, 99 guns allegedly purchased by Patino have been recovered in the U.S., and 58 have been seized in Mexico, according to committee records.

As one of the agents assigned to the ATF's operation and who later helped expose its risky nature to the public, Dodson also was among the agents who detailed Patino's frequent visits to Arizona gun stores.

"ATF is supposed to be the sheepdog that protects against the wolves that prey on our southern border," Dodson told the committee in recent testimony, "but rather than meet the wolf head-on, we sharpened its teeth and added number to its claws. All the while, we sat idly by watching, tracking and noting as it became a more efficient killer."

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