DEA Guilty of Retaliation

Via Scott Morgan comes this in the Miami Herald

A federal jury in Miami found the Drug Enforcement Administration discriminated against Sandalio Gonzalez, the former second-in-command of the DEA’s South Florida field office, by retaliating against him with a transfer to another job in Texas in 2001.

This is significant for a number of reasons. It validates Gonzalez’ earlier whistleblowing and verifies the DEA’s method of dealing with it. Gonzalez was also the whistleblower in the House of Death scandal in Texas (the DEA probably really regrets the transfer). This court decision also is going to make more people pay attention to the House of Death.
An interesting side note: speculation by Bill Conroy at NarcoNews as to why DEA head Karen Tandy cancelled her plans to testify on behalf of the DEA at this trial.