Undercover Work

For two years Drug War Chronicle has tracked cases in the US of drug war carnage related to drug law enforcement. Here is a preliminary look at last year's.

An undercover heroin bust gone bad in Cincinnati has left one young man dead, one wounded, and one on the run.

A 31-year-old Louisville woman was killed when her car was hit during a high-speed pursuit in a drug investigation, and a St. Paul man was shot and killed by police as he tried to evade arrest with his vehicle.

A 21-year-old black man killed Wednesday by Alabama narcs is the 44th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

An Iowa City man was shot and killed by undercover members of a drug task force last Thursday after "an altercation ensued and shots were fired."

Scandal in the Pinellas County, Florida, Sheriff's Office over its efforts to bust indoor marijuana growers is providing plenty of fodder for the sheriff's challengers this campaign season.

There may be justice yet for Ramarley Graham, the Bronx teenager killed by police in his own bathroom as he tried to flush a baggie of weed. The cops said they thought he had a gun. He didn't, and now one narc has been indicted for manslaughter.

A South Carolina man was arrested for selling cocaine to undercover officers, then died in the police car. The suggestion is that he may have swallowed drugs, causing an overdose, but we have to wait on the toxicology report for that.

An attempt to take down a small-time crack dealer in Jacksonville has left one man dead after allegedly refusing to drop his weapon after police ordered him to do so.

A DEA sting in which agents portrayed themselves as members of the Zetas cartel and commissioned a group of men to raid a ranch, kill the owner, and seize 20 kilos of cocaine stolen by a rival cartel has ended with one man dead and three others in custody.