Sicka than aidZ
10-14-2005, 06:02 PM
buncha cats wanna know bout my family an i always say they're in prison. this is why
--------- "RE: Nooksacks Look to FBI" ---------
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 08:16:56 -0500
From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" <berryj@okstate.edu>
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 07-14-2000
----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate
Nooksacks look to FBI
Tribe's elders accuse family of using it to cover up drug smuggling
c. Associated Press
7/12/2000
DEMING, Wash. _ Some members of the Nooksack Indian Tribe say the tribe
near the Canadian border in northwest Washington has been commandeered by
outsiders who are using it as a cover for drug smuggling.
A half-dozen of the tribe's elders contend the Rabang family -- of
Filipino and American Indian descent -- has fraudulently enrolled in the
tribe, taken control of tribal government and used ties with the closely
related Skway Indian Band in Canada to cover up marijuana smuggling.
FBI and U.S. Customs Service agents raided tribal homes northeast of
Bellingham earlier this year, to crack down on an operation they allege
funneled tons of British Columbian pot into the United States.
Eighteen people -- most of them Rabang family members -- have been
indicted so far.
But federal authorities are looking into the possibility of deeper
corruption that could lead to an unprecedented racketeering case against
the Rabangs and tribal leaders, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported
Tuesday.
Several members of the family already have pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to smuggle marijuana. Also, two tribal officials were recently sent to
prison for embezzling federal money and another embezzlement probe is
under way, the newspaper said.
Elders of the 1,449-member tribe find themselves welcoming federal
intervention.
"That would be our prayers answered if the feds stepped in. Our only
chance is the FBI," said Ivan George, 67, a Pentecostal minister with a
degree in urban planning.
The Rabangs "extend their influence through dope. They control the
council and control the staff. They have the housing committee under their
control," he said.
After generations flourished by hauling salmon from the river that bears
the tribe's name, the tribe now gets by with income from a modest roadside
casino and a faltering mobile-home construction business.
"As time goes by, those opportunities to live as our ancestors did
disappear. We lived plainly, right off the land," George said. "But to do
that today is impossible. Indians have learned what greed is all about."
Tribal Vice Chairman Narcisco Cunanan, one of about 200 Rabang relatives
who belong to the tribe, says they are true Nooksacks and that it's unfair
to condemn the whole family because of a few people.
Phillip Narte, Cunanan's cousin and Nooksack community development
officer, called the allegations sour grapes.
"You've got people who ran the tribe for years. And suddenly they are
not running things anymore. They want the ball back. But our family is a
big voting bloc now."
ima rabang
--------- "RE: Nooksacks Look to FBI" ---------
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 08:16:56 -0500
From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" <berryj@okstate.edu>
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 07-14-2000
----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate
Nooksacks look to FBI
Tribe's elders accuse family of using it to cover up drug smuggling
c. Associated Press
7/12/2000
DEMING, Wash. _ Some members of the Nooksack Indian Tribe say the tribe
near the Canadian border in northwest Washington has been commandeered by
outsiders who are using it as a cover for drug smuggling.
A half-dozen of the tribe's elders contend the Rabang family -- of
Filipino and American Indian descent -- has fraudulently enrolled in the
tribe, taken control of tribal government and used ties with the closely
related Skway Indian Band in Canada to cover up marijuana smuggling.
FBI and U.S. Customs Service agents raided tribal homes northeast of
Bellingham earlier this year, to crack down on an operation they allege
funneled tons of British Columbian pot into the United States.
Eighteen people -- most of them Rabang family members -- have been
indicted so far.
But federal authorities are looking into the possibility of deeper
corruption that could lead to an unprecedented racketeering case against
the Rabangs and tribal leaders, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported
Tuesday.
Several members of the family already have pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to smuggle marijuana. Also, two tribal officials were recently sent to
prison for embezzling federal money and another embezzlement probe is
under way, the newspaper said.
Elders of the 1,449-member tribe find themselves welcoming federal
intervention.
"That would be our prayers answered if the feds stepped in. Our only
chance is the FBI," said Ivan George, 67, a Pentecostal minister with a
degree in urban planning.
The Rabangs "extend their influence through dope. They control the
council and control the staff. They have the housing committee under their
control," he said.
After generations flourished by hauling salmon from the river that bears
the tribe's name, the tribe now gets by with income from a modest roadside
casino and a faltering mobile-home construction business.
"As time goes by, those opportunities to live as our ancestors did
disappear. We lived plainly, right off the land," George said. "But to do
that today is impossible. Indians have learned what greed is all about."
Tribal Vice Chairman Narcisco Cunanan, one of about 200 Rabang relatives
who belong to the tribe, says they are true Nooksacks and that it's unfair
to condemn the whole family because of a few people.
Phillip Narte, Cunanan's cousin and Nooksack community development
officer, called the allegations sour grapes.
"You've got people who ran the tribe for years. And suddenly they are
not running things anymore. They want the ball back. But our family is a
big voting bloc now."
ima rabang