Feds slammed for targeting blacks in phony drug stings

A judge on Monday urged federal law enforcement officials across the country to stop conducting stings in which undercover agents talk suspects into agreeing to steal nonexistent drugs from nonexistent stash houses, saying they overwhelmingly target blacks, are deeply flawed and should become a relic of the past.

Reading from his 73-page written ruling during a Chicago hearing, Chief U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo questioned the overall fairness of the phony stash-house stings, which involve Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents posing as disgruntled Mexican cartel couriers who dangle the prospect of lucrative payouts to the would-be thieves.

Nearly 80 percent of all defendants charged in phony stash-house sting cases in northern Illinois between 2006 and 2013 were black, while blacks made up just 18 percent of the adult population in the region, Castillo said, adding that “these numbers generate great disrespect for law enforcement efforts.”