Federal Police in Brazil Crackdown on Death Squad of Active-duty Law Enforcement Officers

Brazil’s Federal Police arrested 18 people Tuesday in a crackdown on an extermination squad that operated in Natal, capital of the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The suspects, who include 11 state and municipal police officers, have been linked to 22 homicides and five attempted homicides, Federal Police spokespersons said.

Besides targeting drug dealers, the death squad engaged in murder-for-hire and killings of witnesses, according to federal authorities. More than 200 Federal Police took part in Tuesday’s arrests.

The suspects will be charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and with membership in an extermination squad, Federal Police said in a statement. The leaders of the group could face prison sentences of up to 395 years.

This is the third time in two years that Federal Police have moved against a death squad comprising active-duty law enforcement officers.

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Will Legalized Pot Mellow Out Chicago's Murder Rate?

Illinois became the twentieth state in the Union Friday to legalize the medical use of marijuana. The law sets up state-run pot dispensaries statewide. They think it might cut down on the murder rate in Chicago if no one can remember where they left their gun.

Thanks to Argus Hamilton.

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Feds Use Spyware & Hacking Tools Including Remote Activation Recordings Via Cell Phone Microphones to Target Suspects

Law-enforcement officials in the U.S. are expanding the use of tools routinely used by computer hackers to gather information on suspects, bringing the criminal wiretap into the cyber age.

Federal agencies have largely kept quiet about these capabilities, but court documents and interviews with people involved in the programs provide new details about the hacking tools, including spyware delivered to computers and phones through email or Web links—techniques more commonly associated with attacks by criminals.

People familiar with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's programs say that the use of hacking tools under court orders has grown as agents seek to keep up with suspects who use new communications technology, including some types of online chat and encryption tools. The use of such communications, which can't be wiretapped like a phone, is called "going dark" among law enforcement.

A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment.

The FBI develops some hacking tools internally and purchases others from the private sector. With such technology, the bureau can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google Inc.'s GOOG +0.26% Android software to record conversations, one former U.S. official said. It can do the same to microphones in laptops without the user knowing, the person said. Google declined to comment.

The bureau typically uses hacking in cases involving organized crime, child pornography or counterterrorism, a former U.S. official said. It is loath to use these tools when investigating hackers, out of fear the suspect will discover and publicize the technique, the person said.

The FBI has been developing hacking tools for more than a decade, but rarely discloses its techniques publicly in legal cases.

Earlier this year, a federal warrant application in a Texas identity-theft case sought to use software to extract files and covertly take photos using a computer's camera, according to court documents. The judge denied the application, saying, among other things, that he wanted more information on how data collected from the computer would be minimized to remove information on innocent people.

Since at least 2005, the FBI has been using "web bugs" that can gather a computer's Internet address, lists of programs running and other data, according to documents disclosed in 2011. The FBI used that type of tool in 2007 to trace a person who was eventually convicted of emailing bomb threats in Washington state, for example.

The FBI "hires people who have hacking skill, and they purchase tools that are capable of doing these things," said a former official in the agency's cyber division. The tools are used when other surveillance methods won't work: "When you do, it's because you don't have any other choice," the official said.

Surveillance technologies are coming under increased scrutiny after disclosures about data collection by the National Security Agency. The NSA gathers bulk data on millions of Americans, but former U.S. officials say law-enforcement hacking is targeted at very specific cases and used sparingly.

Still, civil-liberties advocates say there should be clear legal guidelines to ensure hacking tools aren't misused. "People should understand that local cops are going to be hacking into surveillance targets," said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union. "We should have a debate about that."

Mr. Soghoian, who is presenting on the topic Friday at the DefCon hacking conference in Las Vegas, said information about the practice is slipping out as a small industry has emerged to sell hacking tools to law enforcement. He has found posts and resumes on social networks in which people discuss their work at private companies helping the FBI with surveillance.

A search warrant would be required to get content such as files from a suspect's computer, said Mark Eckenwiler, a senior counsel at Perkins Coie LLP who until December was the Justice Department's primary authority on federal criminal surveillance law. Continuing surveillance would necessitate an even stricter standard, the kind used to grant wiretaps. But if the software gathers only communications-routing "metadata"—like Internet protocol addresses or the "to" and "from" lines in emails—a court order under a lower standard might suffice if the program is delivered remotely, such as through an Internet link, he said. That is because nobody is physically touching the suspect's property, he added.

An official at the Justice Department said it determines what legal authority to seek for such surveillance "on a case-by-case basis." But the official added that the department's approach is exemplified by the 2007 Washington bomb-threat case, in which the government sought a warrant even though no agents touched the computer and the spyware gathered only metadata.

In 2001, the FBI faced criticism from civil-liberties advocates for declining to disclose how it installed a program to record the keystrokes on the computer of mobster Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. to capture a password he was using to encrypt a document. He was eventually convicted.

A group at the FBI called the Remote Operations Unit takes a leading role in the bureau's hacking efforts, according to former officials.

Officers often install surveillance tools on computers remotely, using a document or link that loads software when the person clicks or views it. In some cases, the government has secretly gained physical access to suspects' machines and installed malicious software using a thumb drive, a former U.S. official said.

The bureau has controls to ensure only "relevant data" are scooped up, the person said. A screening team goes through all of the data pulled from the hack to determine what is relevant, then hands off that material to the case team and stops working on the case.

The FBI employs a number of hackers who write custom surveillance software, and also buys software from the private sector, former U.S. officials said.

Italian company HackingTeam SRL opened a sales office in Annapolis, Md., more than a year ago to target North and South America. HackingTeam provides software that can extract information from phones and computers and send it back to a monitoring system. The company declined to disclose its clients or say whether any are in the U.S.

U.K.-based Gamma International offers computer exploits, which take advantage of holes in software to deliver spying tools, according to people familiar with the company. Gamma has marketed "0 day exploits"—meaning that the software maker doesn't yet know about the security hole—for software including Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, those people said. Gamma, which has marketed its products in the U.S., didn't respond to requests for comment, nor did Microsoft.

Thanks to JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES and DANNY YADRON.

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John Whitehead Discusses "A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State" on #CrimeBeatRadio

On August 8th, Mr. John Whitehead discusses his book "A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State" on Crime Beat Radio.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

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Three Somali Pirates Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murders of Four Americans Aboard SV Quest

Somali nationals Ahmed Muse Salad, a/k/a “Afmagalo,” 25; Abukar Osman Beyle, 20; and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar, 29, who were previously found guilty by jury of all 26 counts charged, to include piracy, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, hostage taking resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death, and multiple firearms offenses, were sentenced by a federal jury. The three defendants were sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the February 22, 2011 murders of four Americans aboard the sailing vessel Quest. The victims included Scott Underwood Adam, Jean Savage Adam, Phyllis Patricia Macay, and Robert Campbell Riggle.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge (ADIC) of the FBI’s New York Field Office; Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Michael Monroe, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), made the announcement after the sentence was accepted by Chief United States District Court Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

“Four Americans were taken hostage, terrorized, and then murdered. Life in prison is reserved for those who commit heinous crimes—and the jury today decided the execution of four innocent Americans on the high seas meets that high bar,” said United States Attorney Neil H. MacBride. “Scott Adam, Jean Adam, Phyllis Macay, and Robert Riggle lost their lives, and their families lost their loved ones. Nothing can make this right; nothing can make their families whole again—but we hope today’s verdict and sentences will bring some closure to their nightmare that began two years ago on the Indian Ocean.”

“This case exemplifies the ongoing, outstanding cooperation between federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors,” said Norfolk SAC Royce Curtin. “Today’s sentencings should send a clear message to anyone committing acts of criminal violence against American citizens at sea that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Assistant Director in Charge Venizelos stated, “Pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades took four innocent Americans hostage aboard their own vessel. When negotiations reached an impasse, one pirate launched a grenade at a nearby U.S. Navy ship while others murdered four Americans aboard the Quest. Today’s life sentences provide a vigorous deterrent for armed bandits roaming our seas. The FBI’s commitment to stopping this scourge of violence is unwavering.”

The defendants were previously indicted on July 8, 2011, by a federal grand jury on 26 counts, which included conspiracy to commit hostage taking, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death, conspiracy to commit violence against maritime navigation resulting in death, piracy, and firearms offenses. The defendants were convicted on all 26 counts on July 8, 2013. According to court records and evidence at trial, Salad, Beyle, Abrar, and others—armed with firearms and a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG)—boarded the Quest while the four Americans slept on February 18, 2011. They gained control of the vessel and took the four American citizens as hostages. Their plan was to take the hostages to Somalia, where they and their additional co-conspirators in Somalia could commence ransom negotiations. While they sailed toward Somalia, the three defendants and their co-conspirators were taking turns standing armed guard over the hostages; at the same time, United States Navy ships headed towards the Quest to aid the hostages and prevent the Quest from proceeding to Somalia.

Beginning on February 19, 2011, communications had been established, and the United States Navy and the FBI began negotiating with the pirates to secure the safe release of the hostages. On February 21, 2011, two co-conspirators representing the pirates onboard the Q, were transferred to the USS Sterett to negotiate. The negotiations reached an impasse when the co-conspirators were told that they were not going to be allowed to take the hostages ashore in Somalia. The decision was made to detain the co-conspirators after they refused to release the hostages and threatened to kill them if they were not allowed to return to Somalia.

Testimony revealed that Abrar fired a shot over the head of Scott Adam and instructed Adam to tell the U.S. Navy that if the military came any closer, the conspirators would kill the hostages.

On February 22, 2011, without provocation and before the hostages could be rescued by members of the military, a co-conspirator fired an RPG in the general direction of the USS Sterett. Witnesses testified that sustained firing came from the Quest and that glass could be seen breaking on the starboard side of the Quest. Witnesses also testified that Salad, Beyle, and Abrar were the shooters and responsible for the deaths of Scott Adam, Jean Adam, Phyllis Macay, and Robert Riggle. After the gun fire died down, the navy dispatched SEALS to the Quest. The pirates aboard the Quest began surrendering, and some were seen throwing AK-47 rifles into the water.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph DePadilla, Brian J. Samuels, and Benjamin L. Hatch prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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