Cele Castillo
 Cele Castillo    (whistleblower) | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1949 |
Celerino Castillo is a DEA employee who spoke up to defend the revelations of Gary Webb.
Contents
Career
In 1979, he joined the DEA as an enforcement agent fighting in the front-line trenches of America's so called "War on Drugs", and is best known for blowing the whistle on the CIA-backed arms-for-drugs trade (Spearheaded by Colonel Oliver North) that was used to prop up the 1980s Contra counter-insurgency in Nicaragua, and for the book that he published on that subject, entitled "'Powder Burns: Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War'"
Fast and Furious
In 2008 (three years before Operation Fast and Furious came into the public light) Castillo made the revelation to reporter Bill Conroy that ATF agents were participating in the smuggling of high powered weapons into Mexico. According to Castillo the source of that information was a government informer who was later murdered.
Arrest
In March 2008, Celerino Castillo was arrested for selling firearms without a permit (selling legally-purchased weapons without a firearms-dealer permit). He expressed his belief at that time that he was being targeted by the government in retaliation for his long-standing efforts to hold government agencies responsible for their felonious activities. He pled guilty on the advice of his attorney and was sentenced to 37 months in prison.
