There is a running debate on the effectiveness of bird shot as a home defense round. Here is a story of a man hit at close range who survived such an attack.

“In December 2007, two men brandishing sawn-off shotguns opened fire on Mr Clarke when he answered the door of his home in Fairways, Consett, County Durham.

The steel or lead pellets entered his back, head and neck. He still managed to flee and only escaped possible death when a neighbour pulled him to safety inside their own home.”

The headline states, “Victim survives, but doctors warn he will die 25 years earlier” which seems like BS. Also, the writer of the article did not bother taking the time to verify if the shot was steel or lead.

Still this appears to be an example of someone being shot with bird shot at close range (apparently by two shotguns) and surviving.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008078/Peppered-150-shotgun-pellets-Victim-survives-doctors-warn-die-25-years-earlier-remove-them.html

by Patrick Corcoran

“Mexico’s drug gangs are increasingly developing ties to mafias around the world, from Japan to India, Russia, and Western Europe.

Mexico’s drug gangs have exploded into a frenzy of violence in recent years. Less visible, but just as significant, is their increased power in the international drug market, and connections to foreign criminal organizations.

As Contralinea reports, while Mexican groups like the Sinaloa Cartel have long had close links with Colombian cocaine suppliers and U.S. drug wholesalers, they are now establishing their presence across the world. In the process, they are carving out links with some of the most established groups in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent.

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/06/mexico-gangs-spread-tentacles-abroad.html

By STEWART M. POWELL, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

“Even as it works to beef up security, the U.S. government is turning up hundreds of agents who may already be compromised

Rookie agent Raquel “Kelly” Esquivel – no relation to Diego – is serving 15 years in a North Texas federal prison, one of many federal law enforcement personnel targeted by Mexican drug cartels in criminals’ widening campaign to infiltrate or buy turncoats within the expanding ranks of 20,700 Border Patrol agents and 21,000 Customs and Border Protection officers stationed at airports, seaports and land crossings.

Investigations of border security personnel have expanded in each of the past four years, with at least 1,036 inquiries under way, including some 267 focused on suspected corruption. Additional corruption-related investigations are conducted by the FBI or internal affairs agents within the agencies.

“The cartels buy off police chiefs and elected officials in Mexico, and now they’re trying to buy off our Border Patrol agents who are our first line of defense,” said McCaul.

Other border protection officers in Texas and elsewhere also have faced federal corruption charges in recent years.

Even with all the precautions, senior officials concede they can only guess at the breadth of infiltration or corruption by Mexican cartels.

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/