corruption in the USA–– are we becoming a narco-republic?

Are Southerners still enduring ongoing interstate corruption from the late 1970's and early 1980's?
Are we at the mercy of wealthy, powerful, underground organized criminals who escaped conviction long ago?

Amy Frink was from the "Colcor" area of North Carolina where we vacationed from 1986 - 1993. It's where my son had met her during summer vacations.

"Many people in local media were either not living in this area or are not old enough to remember the Federal Government undercover investigation into COLCOR (Columbus County Corruption) or the huge drug arrests made during the same time by another Federal and State Government investigation called Operation Gateway. SBI Director Haywood Starling said at a press conference in Raleigh back in 1983 that the operation involved seizures of 68 tons of marijuana and methaqualone worth an estimated 37 million dollars."
http://crime.blogs.com/tre/2007/06/colcor-redux.html

Former Governor Mike Easley was working the district attorney's office during that period. He went on to become Attorney General for the state of North Carolina and then Governor, participating in North Carolina politics for nearly thirty years.

Police officer Davina Buff Jones was killed in the same district of N.C. where Amy Frink had died a few years before. Officer Jones's death was ruled suicide, like my son's was ruled in Alabama. Davina's parents fought the ruling at great expense knowing her daughter would not have killed herself. Her family has set up a website to better explain the circumstances of her death.

After fleeing from Georgia to avoid further harassment, and in Kentucky after some of the initial terror and sabotage to my property, I found more North Carolina connections. I received three offers to buy my farm––for $25,000 less cash than I'd paid. The terror I'd endured was surely a tactic to encourage me to sell at a loss.

One potential buyer was friends of the original seller; one was what the DEA agents described as a member of a drug dealing family posing as a DEA agent; and the third, curiously was a couple from Gastonia, North Carolina. "My father was on the county commission in Gastonia," one of them said. I curiously asked my neighbor, Jerry Jones. who'd brought them to potentially purchase my home, "Where did you find these NC people?" He said, "Oh, at a car lot."
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Although the Alabama forensics reports do not match his body, my son allegedly killed himself in Baldwin County, Alabama. It's the same area another police officer, the late Patrick Swiney, discovered a corrupt police department and found himself destroyed. Not as lucky as Kentucky's Ralph Ross, he went to prison on what many argue was clearly a frame arrangement to keep Swiney silent. Swiney died in prison, just last year and fought for justice until the very end of his life.

jul 13, 2006
Joe B wrote:
I do not know Patrick Swiney, and I'm not familiar with his conviction. He states that he was employed by the Gulf Shores Police Department from 1973 until 1977 and was instrumental in exposing a drug smuggling operation that resulted in the conviction of a District Attorney and Chief Investigator with the Sheriff's Department. It was years after Swinney left Gulf Shores that these arrests and convictions came. To set the record straight it involved a former District Attorney. I was employed in law enforcement in Baldwin County, AL from 1979 until 1986 and was there when these drug arrest and convictions occurred. I don't remember Swiney and can't locate anyone that does. He certainly wasn't there when these drug cases were made. I say he's just another lying convict who's full of bullshit and wants out of prison.

We are in the process of gathering information on the drug arrests and convictions in Gulf Shores. We would appreciate any and all information you may have. Yes, he was there. The fact that the setup for his own wrongful arrest took place years afterwards does not belie the fact of his actual innocence in this case. We encourage you to visit the facts and see that for yourself.
Sherry Swiney
www.patrickswiney.com
http://www.topix.com/forum/state/al/THPEL56KFPGEMAR8P/p7

So the same year Ralph Ross died in Kentucky, 2002 George P. Moore of Virginia was hit and killed by a locomotive. In 1982, corruption was preoccupying several counties involved in this current-day story, and in 1982 I was listening to neighbor, George Moore's tales of the condominium he owned in Colombia, South America and how easy it was to pay off Colombian police when pulled over. George had race horses, car lots, and airplanes and being little more than a kid, I had no idea to suspect George was anything other than a powerful millionaire who'd known my Dad. And just last year Baldwin County deputy Mike Malone was hit and killed by a locomotive. Time moves on as does the aftermath, underworld, and dark side of drugs and the Iran-Contra era. Will it ever end?

"....and the judge said guilty in a make-believe trial...."

- from the song, The Night the Lights went out in Georgia
Bobby Russell, Vicki Lawrence