Dan Tang

Operation Fortune Cookie: Judge tosses cop lawsuit alleging internal leaks and retaliation

Dan Tang.​Operation Fortune Cookie, a 2008 raid netting 24,000 marijuana plants, was the largest weed bust in state history -- but it imploded among claims of police snitches, paid-off politicians and a secret DEA investigation. Last March, two Fortune Cookie investigators, Daniel Joyce and Ro ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Legal response says Dante Carbone was not prime suspect in leak

Dan Tang​Plot twists continue in Operation Fortune Cookie, Colorado's largest weed bust that imploded among suspicions of snitches, paid-off politicians and a secret DEA investigation. Two weeks ago, two Fortune Cookie investigators currently suing their superiors filed a motion claiming that ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Internal complaints filed against police chiefs, Dante Carbone

Dan Tang​Turmoil continues in Operation Fortune Cookie, the state's largest drug bust that collapsed amid alleged cop snitches and paid-off politicians. Last week, we reported that a suit filed by two local cops suggests Thornton Commander Dante Carbone was the prime suspect in the leak that s ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Did suspicions about Dante Carbone hurt the case against Dan Tang?

Dan Tang.​As we reported this week, a new court filing suggests Thornton cop Dante Carbone was the prime suspect in the internal leak that sabotaged Operation Fortune Cookie, the state's largest pot bust. That drug investigation ended meekly when federal prosecutors gave restaurateur Dan Tang ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Why did alleged prime suspect Dante Carbone get promoted?

Dan Tang.​As we reported on Tuesday, a new court filing suggests the prime suspect for the implosion of Operation Fortune Cookie, the person many people suspected of tipping off restaurateur and apparent drug kingpin Dan Tang and sabotaging the state's largest pot bust, was Thornton Sergeant D ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Dante Carbone prime suspect for tipping off Dan Tang?

​Operation Fortune Cookie, a 2008 raid that netted 24,000 marijuana plants, was the largest weed bust in Colorado history -- but it imploded among suspicions of police snitches, paid-off politicians and a secret DEA investigation. Now a court filing quoting from that investigation alleges the ... More >>

Marijuana grower Chris Bartkowcz may not be able to use state medical marijuana laws in his defense

​Chris Bartkowicz, the medical marijuana grower busted by the Drug Enforcement Administration in February after an on-camera interview with 9News, is hoping that a gaffe by the Associated Press isn't a foretelling of the future.

Heaven Dragon loses its liquor license (for now), while owner Dan Tang sits behind bars in drug bust fallout

Dan Tang​When you stop in at Heaven Dragon, the popular Thornton eatery that served President George W. Bush on three separate occasions, you'll likely notice two things missing. One is Dan Tang, the restaurant's workaholic owner, since on Monday he went to prison to start an eighteen-month se ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Dan Tang heads to prison

Dan Tang.​Another chapter begins today in the long and tawdry tale of Operation Fortune Cookie, the largest weed bust in Colorado history that imploded in allegations of crooked cops, paid-off politicians and bureaucratic cover-ups. Dan Tang, prominent Thornton restaurateur and the drug ring' ... More >>

Dan Tang sentencing in Operation Fortune Cookie makes "absolutely no sense," says Tom Gorman, drug task force head

​The drama continues around Operation Fortune Cookie, the largest weed bust in state history, which imploded amid accusations of snitching cops, paid-off politicians and bureaucratic retribution. Last week, the drug investigation's main suspect, politically connected restaurateur Dan Tang, re ... More >>

Cafe Society: Week in review

Lori Midson Mussels from Argyll Gastropub​What you may have missed this week on Cafe Society while bickering over whether Argyll, Colt & Gray, Olivea or TAG should have walked away with the Best New Restaurant award in this year's Best of Denver 2010 (Argyll, if you didn't already know, won th ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: With Dan Tang off to prison, what happens to his restaurant, Heaven Dragon?

Dan Tang's off to prison -- so what happens to George W. Bush's favorite Chinese joint?​Operation Fortune Cookie, the colorfully named drug investigation that led to the largest weed bust in Colorado history and then imploded in allegations of crooked cops, paid-off politicians and bureaucrati ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie and Dan Tang: Dramatic dispatches from Tang's sentencing

Dan Tang's sentencing has made for a long day in court.​Today at 9:30 a.m., Chief U.S. District Judge Wiley Y. Daniel began the sentencing hearing for Dan Tang, the last person charged as part of Operation Fortune Cookie, the largest marijuana bust in state history. Law enforcement believed T ... More >>

Dan Tang, Operation Fortune Cookie prime suspect, sentenced to eighteen months

Dan Tang is facing 18 months in prison.​This afternoon, Chief U.S. District Judge Wiley Y. Daniel sentenced prominent Thornton restaurant owner Dan Tang to eighteen months in prison for his part in the largest marijuana bust in state history -- more than the probation requested by his lawyers, ... More >>

Dan Tang-Operation Fortune Cookie exclusive at Channel 31 not all that exclusive

Dan Tang's sentencing is tomorrow: Exclusive!​Update, 12:34 p.m.: Channel 31 reporter Julie Hayden has responded to an interview request on this subject. Look below the original item to read what she has to say. In an age of shrinking newsroom resources, media organizations are borrowing from ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cooke: Thornton Police Chief James Nursey says Dante Carbone -- Dan Tang's acquaintance -- launched weed investigation

Operation Fortune Cookie operatives raided dozens of grow houses like this -- but never found the source of the internal leak.​Ever since Northglenn Detective Daniel Joyce and Thornton Detective Robert Lopez filed a lawsuit last week alleging corruption within Operation Fortune Cookie, the new ... More >>

A North Metro Task Force investigation takes another hit

Operation Fortune Cookie: Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr calls lawsuit "a collection of false accusations and lies"

Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr​This past Monday, when Westword started making calls about a lawsuit that had just been filed by two former North Metro Task Force members alleging they faced retaliation for speaking out about corruption that occurred in Operation Fortune Cookie, a massive indoo ... More >>

Dan Tang and Operation Fortune Cookie: A primer on Colorado's largest -- and most unusual -- indoor weed bust

Big-time restaurateur Dan Tang is believed to be a the center of Colorado's largest -- and strangest -- indoor weed bust​With the sentencing of prominent restaurant owner Dan Tang this coming Wednesday, March 31, it seemed like the long, strange tale of Operation Fortune Cookie would finally b ... More >>

Dan Tang pleads guilty in exchange for reduced sentence

Dan Tang​This morning, prominent Thornton restaurant owner Dan Tang pled guilty to one count of money laundering for his role in what investigators labeled the "Dan Tang Drug Trafficking Organization." When authorities took down the drug ring in February 2008, they came away with 24,000 mari ... More >>

From the week of October 29, 2009

Honey, I bought a pot house

Some of the 1,114 pot plants found in Mike's home in 2008.​At first, the three-bedroom ranch Mike and his family discovered while house-hunting in Thornton this summer seemed like the perfect spot. The price was right on the 2,200 square foot home, and it was situated in a nice neighborhood. A ... More >>

Dan Tang has friends in high places

How good fortune graced the namesake of the "Dan Tang Drug Trafficking Organization"

Deconstructing Colorado's largest indoor pot bust

As described in this week's feature story, "Tales of the Dragon," prominent Thornton restaurateur Dan Tang has agreed to plead guilty to one count of money laundering for his involvement in a massive marijuana ring -- even though authorities believed Tang had much more involvement than just money l ... More >>

Dan Tang pleads not guilty

Dan TangOn Monday, prominent Thornton restaurant owner Dan Tang pleaded not guilty to one count of money laundering, a charge that arose from his alleged involvement in a massive indoor pot-growing ring. That ring was broken up last year during Operation Fortune Cookie, a police investigation and ra ... More >>

A multimillion-dollar weed ring goes down -- and threatens to take a prominent restaurant owner with it

The bust was almost blown after an internal leak, and Dan Tang -- his Heaven Dragon Chinese food beloved local politicians -- was implicated.

Bush, To Go