Two
Other Defendants, Former Members of the Armed Forces of Germany and Poland, Are
Also Charged with Conspiracy to Import Cocaine
SEPT
27, 2013 New York – Michele M. Leonhart, the Administrator of the United States
Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) and Preet Bharara, the United States
Attorney for the Southern District of New York, today announced the arrests of
three defendants – JOSEPH MANUEL HUNTER and TIMOTHY VAMVAKIAS, both citizens of
the United States, and DENNIS GOGEL, a citizen of Germany. HUNTER is expected
to arrive in the Southern District of New York this evening and will be
presented before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Manhattan federal court tomorrow.
VAMVAKIAS and GOGEL arrived in the Southern District of New York yesterday and
were presented in U.S. Magistrate Court yesterday afternoon. As part of the
same case, SLAWOMIR SOBORSKI and MICHAEL FILTER, citizens of Poland and
Germany, respectively, were arrested in Estonia at the request of the United
States on September 25, 2013.
HUNTER,
VAMVAKIAS, and GOGEL are charged in five separate counts with conspiracy to
import cocaine into the United States; conspiracy to murder a law enforcement
agent and a person assisting a law enforcement agent; conspiracy to kill a
person to prevent communications to law enforcement agents; conspiracy to
possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence; and conspiracy to
distribute cocaine on board an aircraft. SOBORSKI and FILTER are charged with
conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and conspiracy to
distribute cocaine on board an aircraft. On September 25, 2013, the DEA’s
Special Operations Division (SOD), Bilateral Investigative Unit (BIU)
Narco-Terrorism Group (NTG), concluded a long-standing undercover operation
conducted in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and elsewhere.
HUNTER
was arrested in Thailand; VAMVAKIAS and GOGEL were arrested in Liberia and all
three subsequently were expelled to the United States. SOBORSKI and FILTER were
arrested in Estonia, where they remain, pending extradition to the United
States.
DEA
Administrator Michele M. Leonhart said: “The targets of this investigation were
hardened global criminals involved in everything from drug and arms trafficking
to contract assassinations. Besides being international cocaine traffickers,
members of this criminal organization conspired in an elaborate scheme to
murder a DEA Special Agent and an informant for a six figure payday. Their
intent was to commit the most serious and ruthless crime that can be directed
against any law enforcement officer, and one that has our highest investigative
priority. I wish to thank our foreign law enforcement partners for their
outstanding efforts and partnership in completely dismantling this
sophisticated and dangerous international criminal enterprise.”
Manhattan
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “The bone-chilling allegations in today's
Indictment read like they were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel. The
charges tell a tale of an international band of mercenary marksmen who enlisted
their elite military training to serve as hired guns for evil ends. Three of
the defendants were ready, willing and eager to take cold hard cash to commit
the cold-blooded murders of a DEA agent and an informant. Thanks to the
determined, skillful and intrepid efforts of the DEA's Special Operations
Division, an international hit team has been neutralized by agents working on four
continents.”
According
to the Indictment against HUNTER, VAMVAKIAS, GOGEL, SOBORSKI, and FILTER
unsealed today:
All
five defendants have previously served in the armed forces of their respective
nations. HUNTER and VAMVAKIAS served in the U.S. Army until 2004; GOGEL and
FILTER served in the German armed forces until 2010 and 2009, respectively, and
SOBORSKI served in the Polish armed forces until 2011. HUNTER served as a
sniper instructor and a senior drill sergeant, training other soldiers in
marksmanship and tactics; VAMVAKIAS attained the rank of sergeant and served
both as an infantryman and a military police officer; GOGEL, SOBORSKI and
FILTER were trained as snipers.
Since
leaving the U.S. Army in 2004, HUNTER has acted as a “contract killer” and successfully
arranged for the murder of a number of people.
During
meetings in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, beginning in January 2013 and
continuing through late September 2013, HUNTER communicated with two
confidential sources (the “CSs”) working with the DEA, who purported to be
Colombian narcotics traffickers. HUNTER agreed to serve as the head of security
for the CSs’ purported narcotics trafficking organization, and assembled a
“security team” consisting of VAMVAKIAS, GOGEL, FILTER, and SOBORSKI. HUNTER
also told the CSs that he had previously been involved in contract killings –
referred to as “bonus jobs” – and that some team members wanted to do as much
“bonus work” as possible.
HUNTER
and his co-defendants thereafter agreed, in meetings and communications with
the CSs, to provide security and surveillance services to the narcotics
trafficking organization. Furthermore, HUNTER, VAMVAKIS, and GOGEL agreed to
commit murder-for-hire in Liberia by assassinating both a Special Agent of the
DEA and a person who purportedly was providing information to the DEA about the
CSs’ narcotics trafficking organization. In exchange for themurders, HUNTER,
VAMVAKIAS, and GOGEL were together to be paid approximately $700,000, and
HUNTER was to receive an additional $100,000 for his leadership role.
Communications between the defendants and the CSs occurred by telephone, over
e-mail, and in a series of surreptitiously audio-recorded and videotaped
meetings over an approximately nine-month period.
HUNTER
and his four co-defendants provided a variety of services to the CSs’ purported
narcotics organization. In late March 2013, in Thailand, at HUNTER’s direction,
GOGEL, FILTER, and SOBORSKI surveilled a vessel on behalf of the CSs’ purported
narcotics trafficking organization. In April 2013, in Mauritius, at the
direction of the CSs, GOGEL, FILTER, and SOBORSKI provided security for a
meeting at which the participants discussed the distribution of illegal
narcotics to the United States. In late June 2013, in the Bahamas, VAMVAKIAS,
GOGEL, FILTER, and SOBORSKI conducted surveillance of a purported
U.S.-registered aircraft at the direction of a third CS (“CS-3”) working with
the DEA, who posed as a member of the CSs’ narcotics trafficking organization.
CS-3 informed the defendants that the aircraft was to be loaded with 300
kilograms of cocaine to be shipped to New York.
With
respect to the murder-for-hire scheme, in mid-May 2013, at a meeting with the
three CSs in Thailand, HUNTER, VAMVAKIAS, GOGEL, and SOBORSKI were told that a
“bonus job” – that is, a contract killing – was in the offing, due to a leak
within the CSs’ narcotics trafficking organization. In late May 2013, in e-mail
communications, HUNTER confirmed that his team would be willing to murder both
a U.S. law enforcement agent and a source (a boat captain) who was providing
information to U.S. law enforcement authorities. HUNTER confirmed by e-mail
that his team would kill both the DEA agent and the informant who was providing
information to law enforcement about the CSs’ narcotics trafficking
organization. At a meeting in late June 2013, in the Bahamas, CS-3 explained to
VAMVAKIAS and GOGEL that “the job is to kill a U.S. DEA agent and a source with
the DEA,” who would be located in Liberia. VAMVAKIAS and GOGEL discussed the
weapons that could be used and masks to be worn for the murders, and VAMVAKIAS
stated that it would be better to “hit the agent first” and then “the snitch.”
In early July 2013, HUNTER sent via e-mail a list of the items needed for the
murders, including “[t]wo Submachine Guns with silencers . . .[t]wo .22 pistols
with Silencers.”
In
mid-August 2013, at a meeting in Thailand, HUNTER told CS-3 that VAMVAKIAS and
GOGEL would commit the murders. HUNTER, VAMVAKIS, and GOGEL discussed in detail
the weapons that would be used and the possibility of entering Liberia without
having their passports stamped. They suggested that CS-3 fly them out of the
country via private plane following the murders. VAMVAKIAS stated that among
other weapons, a sub-machine gun and two .22 caliber pistols would be needed
for the murders, and CS-3 agreed to deliver the weapons to Liberia. The next
day, at a meeting with GOGEL, CS-3 confirmed that an order for the requested
weapons had been made. Later that same day, GOGEL met again with CS-3 and
provided CS-3 with two highly sophisticated latex facemasks, which can make the
wearer appear to be of another race, for CS-3 to transport to Liberia.
In
late September 2013, GOGEL and VAMVAKIAS arrived in Liberia to commit the
planned murders-for-hire.
HUNTER,
48, VAMVAKIAS, 42, GOGEL, 27, FILTER, 29, and SOBORSKI, 40, have each been
charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States (Count One).
HUNTER, VAMVAKIAS, and GOGEL are also charged with conspiracy to murder a law
enforcement agent and a person assisting a law enforcement agent (Count Two);
conspiracy to kill a person to prevent communications to law enforcement agents
(Count Three); and conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of
violence (Count Four). VAMVAKIAS, GOGEL, FILTER, and SOBORSKI are also charged
with conspiracy to distribute cocaine on board an aircraft (Count Five). Each
count carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The case is assigned to
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
The
arrests and transfers of the defendants were the result of the close
cooperative efforts of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern
District of New York; DEA’s SOD; DEA’s Bangkok, Ghana, Pretoria, Bucharest,
Manila, Nassau and Copenhagen Offices; the Royal Thai Police Narcotics
Suppression Bureau and Crime Suppression Division; Royal Thai Immigration; the
Royal Thai Attorney General's Office; Republic of Liberia’s National Security
Agency; the Republic of Liberia’s Attorney General's Office; the Estonian Police
and Border Guard; the Estonian National Criminal Police, Investigative Bureau;
the Estonian State Prosecutor’s Office; the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Drug
Enforcement Unit; the Romanian National Police; Interpol; and the U.S.
Department of Justice Office of International Affairs.
This
prosecution is being handled by the Office's Terrorism and International
Narcotics Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Lockard, Aimee Hector
and Anna Skotko are in charge of the prosecution.
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