The Spanish Untouchables
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[image: Busto del Rey Juan Carlos I de España en su vi...]
A new tell-all book that details what led to Spanish king Juan Carlos
giving up the throne woul...
Saturday 26 July 2014
Colombian cocaine smuggler gets 15 years
A federal judge in Tampa sentenced a cocaine smuggler on Friday to more than 15 years in prison. U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. sentenced Luis Alberto Urrego-Contreras to 15 years and six months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. In January 2005, Urrego-Contreras, who was known by the nickname “Bacon,” bought a Beechcraft King Air airplane from a St. Petersburg business. He bought the plane on behalf of Colombian cocaine trafficker Fabio Enrique Ochoa-Vasco, according to the federal court. In June 2005, the plan was for the plane to fly from Venezuela to Colombia to retrieve 2,000 kilograms of cocaine. But when the pilot saw the Colombian Air Force was monitoring the Colombian airstrip, the pilot flew back to Venezuela where the pilot and co-pilot were arrested, according to the federal court. In October 2010, Urrego-Contreras was arrested at the American Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, according to the federal court. He agreed to speak to agents where he identified Ochoa-Vasco in several photographs and others involved in the smuggling conspiracy, according to the federal court. Urrego-Contreras told investigators that he was paid $50,000 to $100,000 for each cocaine load. He admitted to investigators that he was responsible for 1,000 kilograms of cocaine that was flown from Colombia to Mexico and later distributed in the United States by Ochoa-Vasco, according to the federal court.
Sunday 20 July 2014
The photographer used a special filtering technique to highlight the bloodstains
These chilling crime scenes pictures show the inside of houses where family members have been killed, from an artist's point of view.
They were taken by American photographer Angela Strassheim as part of a series called Evidence, and show how the traces of violence remain long after the crime has taken place.
Many of the images are named after the murder weapons used, such as 12 inch stiletto knife and two Mossberg twelve-gauge shotguns.
The pictures come from 140 locations across the US, using a special solution called Blue Star to reveal traces of blood on the walls despite the cleaning, repainting and subsequent re-habitation of these homes.
Spatters of various sizes are found against walls, skirting boards and shelving throughout otherwise normal, every day households. No other information is given about the crimes or what took place, instead leaving it to the viewer's imagination.
The black and white images are long exposures – from ten minutes to one hour – with small amounts of night light pouring in from the cracks of windows and doors, showing the blood as a lurid glow.
In her description of the work, Angela said: "Perhaps we have all processed a question in certain love relationships.
"Could we be a victim of violence or perform an act of violence against a loved one out of our immense capacity to feel jealousy, anger, rage, and desperation in a moment of extreme emotion?
"These photographs allow for the viewer to entertain the idea that this situation could involve anyone of us."
Angela has previous experience working in forensic photography, including taking pictures of crime-scenes.
She lives in Connecticut but works in New York and Israel and has already won a $3,000 grant for the Evidence project.
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