Return to the House of Death

The Washington Times picks up the House of Death story, first blogged here last December, and doggedly reported by Texas investigative journalist Bill Conroy.

Sandalio "Sandy" Gonzalez, a now-retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) senior executive service supervisor, and other high-ranking DEA officials are demanding a congressional investigation into the use by federal agents of a "homicidal maniac" as a paid informant in a probe of a Juarez drug gang and the failure of federal prosecutors who oversaw the case to stop it — even after they learned of the informant's role in the killings.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and federal prosecutors, according to Mr. Gonzalez, went to "extreme lengths" to protect the informant, adding that a dozen persons might be alive today had those in charge pulled the plug on the investigation.

This needs to be a much, much bigger scandal. Particularly in light of the congressional hearings last July, in which an FBI representative couldn't assure members of the House Judiciary Committee that the agency had policies in place to make sure its agents weren't looking the other way while its own informants were committing violent crimes.