Latest news with #Feuer
Sunday World
10-07-2025
- Sunday World
Europe repeatedly warned about Fentanyl dangers in bid to learn from US mistakes
It comes as the Sinaloa cartel have made a deadly alliance which threatens to flood the EU with the drug European law enforcement are being repeatedly warned about the dangers of Fentanyl by US federal agents. The number of deaths related to the synthetic drug, which is at least 80 times as potent as morphine, has been slowly rising, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Fentanyl was responsible for almost 45,000 deaths in the United States alone during 2024. There are no similar statistics available for Europe, with the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) stating that except for 'some Baltic countries, these drugs do not currently figure prominently in the routine data available at EU level.' Despite low use of the drug in Europe so far, New York Times journalist Alan Feuer said that America wants Europe to learn from their mistakes. 'When I talk to US federal agents who are posted in Europe, they often say one of the biggest things they try to tell their European counterparts is just how dangerous fentanyl is economically,' he told Crime World podcast host Nicola Tallant. 'Because the economic model, lower costs, higher profits, is just so enticing, and of course the, the just physical danger that it presents. 'They have been raising alarms in Europe for some time trying to use the American experience with fentanyl as a cautionary tale.' The European Council have said that while fentanyl is relatively niche, it is becoming increasingly available on the EU opioid market, with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GIATOC) adding that its arrival on the market has been 'gradual but mostly silent.' Feuer, who is a guest on Episode 1088: Deadly alliance in Sinaloa Cartel threatens flood of fentanyl to Europe, said that cartels such as the Sinaloa are copying a previous model which saw cocaine flood the global drug market. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman after being captured on February 22, 2014, in Mexico City, Mexico. Photo: Getty 'The previous model of how cocaine and how the cocaine traffic spread, it just makes sense. 'If the source of the cocaine was Colombia and to some degree, Bolivia, then there were intermediary companies that were transhipment countries. 'It gets to Mexico, it crosses the border into the United States, it is distributed and sold in the United States at great profit,' he continued. 'Why would they not replicate the same structure of the international distribution with a product that is easier to make and can be sold at much higher profit?' It comes as a civil war between two factions of the gang have led the 'El Chapitos' to create an alliance with sworn enemies in the Jalisco Cartel. It's a move Feuer says is risky, and could completely shake the underworld. 'One of the main factions of the Sinaloa cartel run by the sons of El Chapo, they call themselves El Chapitos, 'The Little Chapos',' he explains. 'They have struck up a remarkable alliance with one of their former sworn enemies, uh, in a rival cartel called the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 'It's run by a guy named El Mencho and these two groups have for years been engaged in, often bloody and murderous, competition over turf and profits in Mexico. 'The Chapitos have found themselves in a quite vulnerable position vis-a-vis not only other cartels but with warring factions within the Sinaloa cartel itself. 'So they decided to essentially get into bed with their former enemies,' he continued. 'And as one smart analyst put it: 'It would've been like during the height of the Cold War if the East Coast had seceded from the United States and struck up a strategic alliance with the Soviets.' 'That's how counterintuitive this very risky move by The Chapitos was so the Sinaloa cartel has essentially divided.' You can listen to Alan's full interview, 'Episode 1088: Deadly alliance in Sinaloa Cartel threatens flood of fentanyl to Europe', available now wherever you get your podcasts.
Los Angeles Times
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
As Los Angeles faces budget crisis, legal payouts skyrocket
The amount of money that the city of Los Angeles pays annually for police misconduct, trip and falls, and other lawsuits has ballooned, rising from $64 million a decade ago to $254 million last year and $289 million this fiscal year. The reasons are complicated, ranging from aging sidewalks to juries' tendency to award larger judgments to possible shifts in legal strategy at the city attorney's office to an increase in the sheer number of lawsuits against the city. The biggest chunk of payouts over the past five years were for 'dangerous conditions' — lawsuits singling out faulty city infrastructure, such as broken elevators — at 32%, followed by civil rights violations and unlawful uses of force at 18%, and traffic collisions involving city vehicles also at 18%. City officials have cited the legal payouts as a significant factor in a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall for fiscal year 2025-26 that was closed with layoffs and other spending cuts. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, who took office in December 2022, heads the office that defends the city against lawsuits. In an interview with The Times and public appearances throughout the city, Feldstein Soto cited a backlog of cases from the COVID-19 pandemic, when courts were barely moving, that were settled or went to trial in recent years. 'Structured settlements' negotiated by her predecessor, Mike Feuer, which are paid out annually rather than in one lump sum, have also contributed to the tab, she said. Feldstein Soto also said she believes juries are increasingly antagonistic to city governments, resulting in larger verdicts. Feuer said in an interview that the city was entering into structured settlements before he took office, and he does not believe he increased their use. To explain the rise in legal liability payouts during his tenure — from about $40 million in 2013 to about $91 million in 2022 — Feuer cited a lack of investment in city infrastructure like streets and sidewalks during the 2008 financial crisis. In public appearances, Feldstein Soto has sometimes blamed plaintiffs for trying to get financial compensation for what she characterized as risky behavior or interpersonal disputes. Speaking to the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association earlier this year, she said that two types of lawsuits — 'dangerous conditions' lawsuits and those brought by city employees over working conditions — are ripe for abuse. Some employees who sue the city simply don't like their bosses, Feldstein Soto said, citing a lawsuit by an LAPD captain, Stacey Vince, who alleged that higher-ups retaliated against her after she complained about her boss. Vince was awarded $10.1 million by a jury, and the city subsequently settled the case for just under $6 million. Feldstein Soto also described one man who sued the city as an 'idiot.' The man was riding his electric scooter without a helmet, Feldstein Soto said, when he crashed on an uneven sidewalk and into a nearby tree, suffering a traumatic brain injury. According to Feldstein Soto, taxpayers ultimately pay the price for these lawsuits. 'Please understand that every dollar you award is your money,' she said. The number of lawsuits filed against the city has risen each year since the pandemic, from 1,131 in 2021 to 1,560 in 2024. At the same time, the average amount the city pays per case has increased dramatically, from under $50,000 in 2022 to $132,180 in 2024. A contributing factor is the increase in payouts of least $1 million, with 17 such cases in 2022 and 39 in 2024. (The city counts settlements or jury verdicts in the fiscal year they are paid out, not when the dollar amount is decided.) From July 2024 to March 2025, the city paid $1 million or more in 51 lawsuits. Feldstein Soto said these 'nuclear verdicts' cut deep into the city budget and could raise payouts for similar cases in the future. Total annual payouts in police misconduct cases jumped from $15 million in 2020 to $50 million in 2024. Dangerous conditions cases rose from around $41 million in 2020 to about $84 million in 2024. Earlier this year, the city paid $21 million to plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits related to a botched LAPD bomb squad fireworks detonation that injured more than 20 people and displaced many residents. Also this year, the city paid out a $17.7-million verdict to the family of a man with mental health issues killed by an off-duty LAPD officer. This coming fiscal year, the city increased its allocation for liability payouts from about $87 million to $187 million — far less than what it has been paying in recent years — out of a $14-billion budget. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who chairs the council's public works committee, said the rising payouts stem in part from the city's long-term lack of investment in infrastructure. The city spent about 10% of its overall budget on streets and other public works last year — substantially less than it spent on police, said Hernandez, who favors a smaller LAPD. 'As a city, we don't invest in the maintenance of our city,' she said. 'I have felt like I've been screaming into the void about some of these things.' In one lawsuit paid out this year, the city agreed to give $3 million to a man who tripped over a slightly uneven sidewalk and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Last April, the city reached a $21-million settlement with a man whose skull was broken by a street lamp part that fell on him. The city had gone to trial, with a jury awarding the man $22 million, but the parties eventually settled for the slightly lower amount. 'I believe the driving force is the delays and lack of maintenance of the city that has caused an increase in such incidents,' said Arash Zabetian, a lawyer for the man hit by the streetlight. Some plaintiffs' attorneys say that Feldstein Soto's legal strategies are contributing to the rising liability costs. They assert that she is taking more cases to trial, resulting in larger verdicts than if she had settled. Matthew McNicholas, an attorney who often sues the city on behalf of police officers, said he recently went to trial in five cases and won all of them, for a total payout of more than $40 million. He would have been happy to settle all five cases for a total of less than $10 million, he said. One of the lawsuits, which ended with a $13-million verdict, was filed by two male officers accused of drawing a penis on a suspect's abdomen. The officers alleged that higher-ups did not cast the same suspicion on their female colleagues. In another of the lawsuits, a whistleblower alleged that he was punished for highlighting problems in the LAPD Bomb Detection K-9 Section. A jury also awarded him $13 million. 'It's not a tactic to say we're going to play hardball. It's just stupid,' McNicholas said. 'I am frustrated because she goes and blames my clients and runaway juries for her problems.' Greg Smith, another plaintiffs' attorney, said he has also noticed a tendency at Feldstein Soto's office to push cases to trial. 'Everything is a fight,' Smith said. 'I have been suing the city for 30 years, and this has been the worst administration with respect to trying to settle cases.' Feldstein Soto said her office settles 'every case we can.' 'It's in nobody's interest to go to trial. It's a waste of resources,' she said. 'But we will not settle cases where we don't think we're liable or where the demand is unreasonable.' To stem the flood of large payouts, Feldstein Soto is looking to Sacramento for help, proposing a bill that would cap lawsuits against California cities at $1 million or three times the economic losses caused by an incident, whichever is greater. Caps on damages exist already in 38 states, according to Feldstein Soto's office. She has yet to find a state legislator to sponsor the bill.
