United States v. Valencia-Trujillo

CARNES, Circuit Judge:

“Panama Express” sounds like the name of a train running through Central America, and in a sense it was. It is the code name of a joint operation in which the Coast Guard and a virtual alphabet soup of federal law enforcement agencies (FBI, DEA, ICE, IRS), assisted by state and local agencies, investigated and infiltrated an international drug smuggling and distribution ring in South and Central America. The criminal enterprise was huge, .and the Panama Express had a successful run. In its first seven years it hauled in over 600 tons of cocaine, worth about $8 billion,…