This Same Agency Would "Barbecue" Your Ass For Possessing A Rifle Or
Shotgun 1/4" Too Short:

A.T.F. Filled Secret Bank Account With Millions From Shadowy Cigarette
Sales

"A government out of control", "shadow government", "deep state" are terms that instantly come to mind when I read something like this!

The ATF filled a secret bank account with millions of dollars in a
shadowy cigarette sales scheme. The secret account is at the heart of
federal racketeering lawsuit brought by a collective group of tobacco
farmers who say they were swindled out of 24 million dollars. A pair of
ATF informants received at least a million dollars each from that sum,
records show. This operation WAS NOT authorized by the Department of
Justice

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/u...k-account.html