Majors organization
also: the majors, Majors 1, Majors 2, Majors 3, Majors, Majors 2 crew
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Related entities (most co-mentioned)
Tom Gordonperson · 5Danielle Ganserperson · 5Blanton Raidevent · 4Riverside County Sheriff's Departmentorganization · 4Ron Listerperson · 3Harlan Braunperson · 3Medellin Cartelorganization · 2Crack Epidemicevent · 2Blanton familyorganization · 2Nicaraguacountry · 2Contrasorganization · 2Giuseppe Gazzettaperson · 2Los Angelesplace · 2Edward Hoffmanperson · 2Project Signoperation · 2Daniel Blantonperson · 2Sherman Blockperson · 1Freeway Ricky Task Forceorganization · 1Robert Sobelperson · 1Big Spender scandalevent · 1CIAintelligence service · 1Coloradocountry · 1FBIintelligence service · 1United Statescountry · 1
Claims (4)
Robert Sobel headed
Majors documented
“The lion's share of that booty had been produced by Majors 2 crew, which was now under the command of Sergeant Robert Sobel. After Freeway Ricky Task Force disbanded in 87, Sobel was handpicked to lead Majors 2, and he had driven his squad …”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 21 @ 38:17
Danielle Ganser member_of
Majors documented
“there were more indictments to come. One of the first to be charged was Deputy Danielle Garner, a hard-nosed detective who had been one of the quote-unquote spiritual leaders of Majors 2. Garner decided that if he was going down, he was tak…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 21 @ 42:34
Edward Hoffman headed
Majors book_quoted
“Danielle Garner, regarded the best drug detective in the department, relieved himself on the pants leg of a narcotics officer that he didn't like. The squad called Majors 1, Majors 2, and Majors 3 worked out of trailers at the Whittier Leno…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 15 @ 38:52
Majors laundered_money_for
Contras host_asserted
“They were accused of stealing from drug dealers had been laundered by the CIA to buy weapons for the Contras. Braun's startling claims were mentioned in the 17th paragraph of the L.A. Times trial story the next day. But the Justice Departme…”
▶ The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 21 @ 45:52
Mentions (23)
▶ 37:21
I told the chief it's bigger than I can handle. These guys are talking about millions of dollars in cocaine. They're talking about a Nicaraguan leader named Calero. They're involved in this. Colombian families. They strike the fear into the…
▶ 37:48
Guzetta didn't mind at all. In fact, he was thrilled at the prospect. The majors are hot shit, he said. They had all the resources. They had all the funding and had all the manpower. They had their surveillance equipment, night vision goggl…
▶ 38:22
The L.A. defense attorney, Jay Lichtman, put it, quote, this was really the cream of the crop, the elite, the top officers of the sheriff's department, unquote. They were considered the best drug detectives in the nation. They also won noto…
▶ 38:52
Danielle Garner, regarded the best drug detective in the department, relieved himself on the pants leg of a narcotics officer that he didn't like. The squad called Majors 1, Majors 2, and Majors 3 worked out of trailers at the Whittier Leno…
▶ 39:22
headed by Sergeant Edward Hoffman, whose brother was a friend of Guzetta. Guzetta gathered up his Project Sierra reports and delivered them to the majors, where they landed on the desk of Detective Thomas Gordon. In 1986, Tom Gordon had bec…
▶ 41:58
What looked to be an independent street cottage industry was actually the bottom rung of a carefully managed organization. That came as a revelation. Analyzing the information provided by the Torres brothers, the majors reached some frighte…
▶ 42:54
The majors now had the names and addresses of everyone at the top of the distribution chain, from the Colombian importers to the Nicaraguan middlemen to the black wholesalers who controlled South Central Market and everything that went with…
▶ 12:52
There was going to be basically a 30-day prep culminating in executing the search warrants that were going to be served at 14 locations in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Bernardino counties. The briefing books outlined the entire plan.…
▶ 13:19
The DEA, the IRF, the ATF, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's and Bell Police. Gordon split the officers into seven groups, each responsible for searching two different locations. Gordon's briefing left no doubt about who and what the poli…
▶ 14:16
He was considered to be extremely dangerous. Several of the officers distinctly recall being warned that the federal government was unhappy that the Majors was going ahead with the raids. Deputy Wolfbrand said Gordon reported that he had be…
▶ 17:11
Four big cars roared up to Blanton's elegant home, and 11 heavily armed men wearing flak jackets bailed out. They quickly surrounded the house and banged on the front door, telling the occupant that they had a search warrant. We'd certainly…
▶ 32:49
Unquote. In a case chronology prepared in late 1986, Majors II supervisor Sergeant Ed Hoffman noted that the item seized, such as the scales, weights, cocaine cutting agents, indicated cocaine activity. The small amount of cocaine seized is…
▶ 37:21
dangling a pork chop in front of a dog. Seizing cash had become the majors' specialty by the end of the 80s. They were no longer real narcotic detectives anymore. Thanks to expanded asset forfeitures, the majors had become a sin tax collect…
▶ 37:50
and another $33 million the following year, along with 66 houses, 110 vehicles, four airplanes, and two businesses. Of the 33 million seized in 1988, the majors had brought in 13.6 million of it all by themselves, along with 4,470 pounds of…
▶ 38:17
The lion's share of that booty had been produced by Majors 2 crew, which was now under the command of Sergeant Robert Sobel. After Freeway Ricky Task Force disbanded in 87, Sobel was handpicked to lead Majors 2, and he had driven his squad …
▶ 41:09
The task force had routinely beaten suspects, a practice known as giving someone a quote-unquote tune-up. Planted dope called flaking a suspect, lied in court, falsified search warrants, affidavits, and had stolen drug money, hundreds of th…
▶ 41:36
With their ill-gotten gains, the Majors had gone on spending sprees, buying vacation homes in Colorado, big screen TVs, jewelry, fancy cars, boats, helicopters, Hawaiian vacations. The FBI discovered that LAPD Detective Pollack had liposuct…
▶ 42:06
Champagne-drenched parties, officers were dabbling in stocks and bonds and starting side businesses. Remarkably, considering their line of work, the detectives had left a huge paper trail. In February of 1990, a grand jury indicted 10 deput…
▶ 42:34
there were more indictments to come. One of the first to be charged was Deputy Danielle Garner, a hard-nosed detective who had been one of the quote-unquote spiritual leaders of Majors 2. Garner decided that if he was going down, he was tak…
▶ 43:28
And he gave me these papers he said he had seized in a drug raid several years earlier. They were documents the majors had taken from Ron Lister's house, which Garner had secreted away as insurance. Though Braun privately doubted the record…
▶ 46:52
Braun responded in an inflammatory motion opposing the gag order in which he exposed a long hidden detail of the Major's 1986 raid on Ron Lister's house. Lister, who wasn't identified by name, was referred to as a money launderer who the Ma…
▶ 55:56
54 months. And in 1996, he was released from prison. He emerged defiant. I didn't dump 500 tons of cocaine into a ghetto, Garner said. I stole American money and spent it in America. The U.S. government can't say the same. Before the big sp…
▶ 57:20
He filed a lawsuit against the city, which was later settled out of court, and he retired. He remains convinced that he and the majors were targeted for destruction because of their investigation of Blanton. Every policeman who ever got clo…