Miami Dade Police Lieutenant Arrested
Southern Florida is serious about interrupting the drug trafficking that comes into the ports from the Dominican Republic to be distributed across the United States. On April 9, undercover Miami-Dade police lieutenant Ralph Mata was discharged from duty, and the following day he appeared in court for participating in drug smuggling. Mata, who was 45 years old and had been a respected member of the Miami-Dade police department since 1992, was being held without bond in federal jail while waiting to be extradited to New Jersey on drug trafficking charges.
Mata, also known as “The Milk Man,” was arrested on three charges: 1) devising a plan to assassinate two drug rivals 2) protecting cocaine smugglers 3) releasing police intelligence while he was working as an undercover agent. There were also other smugglers working with the federal agents building a case against Mata.
In April 2012, Persio Nunez, Martin Nunez-Lora and Juan C. Arais were arrested and charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine with Mata was supposedly involved. The cocaine was neatly packed in two containers of bananas from Ecuador and the Dominican Republic both headed to New Jersey, and agents report that this process had been going on for years. When the three suspects were stopped, they had just sold one container for $400,000, which was found on their person in New Jersey. They immediately reported to other smugglers that this was an inside job.
A conspiracy of this magnitude requires a skilled Miami-Dade Drug Traffic Lawyer who knows the drug trade and can competently represent their clients. Drug trafficking has its own language, and here are five phrases that are commonly used.
• To distribute a controlled substance including cocaine means to transfer or deliver to another in exchange for money or valuables.
• To sell a drug means to actually receive payment for the drug.
• Manufacturing is the production, processing and can include growing the drug.
• Deliver y is the physical transfer of the drug.
• Possess means to have individual charge or ownership of at least four grams.
A Miami-Dade Dug Traffic Lawyer that has covered Fort Lauderdale, Broward County and Miami-Dade since 1991 is completely aware of the drug trafficking business, including the terms used because drug trafficking is a crime that often needs to go to court. Lieutenant Mata would have been fluent in these terms, since he had been in the police department for over 20 years and undercover for over five.
