AP IMPACT: Cartels dispatch agents deep inside US

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CHICAGO (AP) -- Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States - an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.

"It's probably the most serious threat the United States has faced from organized crime," said Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago office.

In one of the ubiquitous gun control threads we have had on ATS someone brought up that gun control means only the bad guys will have guns. The baddest of the bad (Drug Cartels) have been silently moving into our cities and townships establishing their networks and profit centers. Chicago with it's gun laws is a possible prime example of why they are setting up shop and basically having a free hand at their endeavors. Undercover operations by LEOs and DEA have a real problem infiltrating these organizations The murder rate of over 500 a year for the last few years speaks volumes about Chicago and it's organized crime problem IMO. Even Detroit looks like a war zone in many places with the survivors in the inner cities having very few choices of where their next meal comes from; food stamps and government handouts only go so far if you have a desire for upward mobility as in cars, bling, and status. Mexico in many places due to the lack of jobs that will furnish the workers with a house and car is another example of providing a fertile environment for the Cartels to prosper..

The Chicago Crime Commission, a non-government agency that tracks crime trends in the region, said it considers Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman even more menacing than Capone because Guzman leads the deadly Sinaloa cartel, which supplies most of the narcotics sold in Chicago and in many cities across the U.S.

Gotta smile at that: the Sinaloa Cartel usually leaves the local businesses alone and does not demand protection money from anyone who has a job like the Zetas seem to think is SOP. America is a big place with big cities so at this stage the Cartels do not seem to be fighting and beheading each other like has been happening in several countries in central and South America. They have been operating down south for a long time so most of the prime real estate for the distribution is already claimed by a cartel.

QUOTE: On a warm morning in May a few years ago, Edgar Valdez, a drug lord who goes by the nickname La Barbie, woke up in one of the houses he owned in the resort city of Acapulco.
In the 1950s, this beautiful beach town was the premier haunt of American celebrities: Frank Sinatra used to prowl the hotel lounges, Elizabeth Taylor had her third of eight weddings here, and John F. Kennedy honeymooned on the coast with Jacqueline.

The glamour started to fade in the 1980s, but the city remained a popular vacation destination until a few years ago, when the Mexican cartels transformed Acapulco from a seaside paradise into one of the most violent flash points of the drug war.

Barbie has olive skin, but his nickname comes from his good looks and green eyes. He was known for his happy-go-lucky personality, though he could turn terrifying and bloodthirsty in an instant.

At 31, he still had the strong, raw body of the linebacker he had been in high school: five feet 10, 210 pounds. Barbie kept a glass case at home filled with 60 Rolexes and diamond-studded Audemars Piguets, but unlike most narcos, he didn't grow a beard or wear flashy gold jewelry.

He preferred to dress like a sophisticated South American on holiday, favoring polo jerseys with an emblem of a horseman and a stick, the kind that real Argentine jockeys wear. In fact, the myth of Barbie looms so large in Mexico that his addiction to the shirts started what's known as the Narco Polo trend, with working-class Mexicans clamoring to buy knockoff versions in street stalls."These shirts like Barbie's have become the fashion," Mario López, the governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa, told reporters in June. "Many young people want to emulate men like him as idols."

But his fashion sensibility wasn't the only thing that distinguished Barbie from other Mexican drug lords: He was also a gringo, a middle-class suburban jock who was born and raised in Texas.
Most of the drugs went to Memphis and Atlanta, where Barbie is believed to have been the main supplier for several violent networks, including one run by the half brother of DJ Paul from Three 6 Mafia.

Barbie cleared up to $130 million a year moving drugs in the States, but with typical boldness he made little effort to launder the money. Instead, he simply loaded the cash onto flatbed trailers and trucked it across the Mexican border.

In the lawless world of the cartels, that kind of money made Barbie a prime target. On this morning in Acapulco, he decided to eliminate the most immediate threat he faced.
One of the policemen he kept on his payroll had informed him that four hit men from the Zetas – one of the most violent cartels, led by elite, American-trained soldiers who defected from the Mexican army – had been sent to Acapulco to kill him. So Barbie dispatched some of his own guys to ambush the hit men.

When one of the assassins stopped in the town plaza to buy a phone card to call his sister, Barbie's men punched him in the gut and hustled him into a waiting SUV. To their surprise, however, the hit man had brought along his wife and two-year-old stepdaughter, figuring he might as well enjoy a family vacation while he was waiting to kill Barbie. Caught off guard, Barbie's men hustled them into another SUV, covering their faces with towels so they couldn't see. END Quote: read more at www.borderlandbeat.com...
I purposely left out rumors, innuendo and cases where some branch of our very own government or bank has been accused of being a supplier, facilitator, laundry service for the Cartels but one does not have to search to hard to see this stuff permeates all levels of society.

Most people are so busy with family, work, and paying bills that they are unaware/cognizant of the underbelly of the beast that is directly overhead until it is to late. They just go to bed one night and the next day realize the world they have lived in has changed and they wonder how it got to be this way..?

I used to fly to Acapulco and back in the 80s and we had layovers where we stayed in a resort hotel. Sometime in the mid 90s we had one girl flight attendant killed after a few other things were done to her as she walked upon the beach late at night; if I remember correctly there were two other flight attendants killed (inspite of the company warnings) during the 90s on separate occasions and thus no more layovers in Acapulco.... Things happen in this world at a slow measured pace for the most part..Those who think there will be some big internal social trigger to start something really really big usually end up in their grave before any such event happens.
The Cartels are real..they have money, weapons, and are able to intimidate, buy, or kill, just about anyone who gets in their way. While they keep a low profile and avoid government entanglements

Odd that you posted this moments before I posted this...

White supremacist group suspected in killing of Texas prosecutor

Sounds more conducive to the Cartel. I think this fella is barking up the wrong tree...perhaps purposefully to draw attention away from the particulars in your thread.

reply to post by 727Sky


This is clear evidence that the war on drugs has failed. The cartels are EXPANDING and becoming more powerful. We need to shut off their source of money or they will keep expanding as long as there are profits to be had. If we leagalized marijuana the cartels would lose a HUGE part of their lucrative income. Once the money started to dry up they would turn on each other and destroy themselves.

chicago.cbslocal.com...

Two men were fatally shot and 21 others were wounded in gun violence across the city over the Easter weekend, including a father and his 12-year-old son who were shot as they got out of a vehicle.

www.nbcchicago.com...

More than two dozen teens were arrested Saturday night after dozens of groups began randomly attacking pedestrians on Chicago's Magnificent Mile.

www.chicagotribune.com...
Quote:
"This girl started blowing smoke in my face, and she flicked her cigarette ashes at me," said the woman. "I said: 'You need to put that out,' and the next thing I know there's all these girls that jumped on top of us."

They began punching her face and then went for her hair. She believes they had knives or box cutters, and padlocks possibly placed inside socks.

"I put my head down between my legs so they would stop beating me in the face, but they were trying to pull my face up and hit me more," she said. "They ripped out chunks of my hair, and I've got a black eye and bruises on my face, and all over my back and shoulder."

The woman said the attack happened between two stations while the train was moving. "There was nobody to help. There was no time, really. We were surrounded, it happened in one stop, and then they got off the next stop, at Lake," she said. END Quote: Nobody to help....to busy? don't want to get involved? fun to watch? Be a good witness? The cops will help her...insurance will pay for her injuries...etc etc

Horrible on so many levels. Chicago has a long festering problem with no end in sight. Most of the above incidences have little to do with the drug trade and more to do with sociopath behavior or gang initiations IMO.

In the prior posting there is a video of 5 Zetas being killed (2 women and 3 men) which I will not post. The killings were done the crude but effective way with ax and machete the preferred tools of the beheaders. Of course it was all filmed for the benefit of the Zetas and as a warning...... Man's inhumanity to man

P.S. I agree, the Drug war and the agencies who fight it need new leadership and a big house cleaning. I for the most part do not blame the front line troops but the leadership and (IF) there is corruption then I would like a speedy trial and a hanging on the front lawn of the W.H..

reply to post by SouthernForkway26


I tend to agree with your post. I live in the border area where as high as 80% of businesses contribute to criminal behavior. Even at one time, our city commission were taped discussung of hiring a police chief to eliminate the competition! Because of a technicality,case was dismissed. The contender for chief was never hire,but sue the city & was awarded a lump sum of money. They all got away & still running the city with their good salaries,plus the benifits that goes with them.
Fighting a criminalize organization that has infiltrated all levels of our average joe & jane,hasn't been easy!

Thank you for the post; A quick search on the Internet, of Mayors and police arrested on drug charges does not bode well for the war on drugs..People watch some cop show on T.V. where the good guys always get the bad guys and think that is the way the world really is. Unfortunately that is not nearly the case.

reply to post by SouthernForkway26

Agreed,- poor border security is at fault here. Immigration not withstanding,but it does BEG the question do they WANT "Dodge City"? We have the DHS,nutball shooters and terrorists now the Cartel wants to play and we are getting even more aggravated.
You think the Cartels are scary? Now imagine a large segment of our population going off in a unified fashion,not race,politics or religion just supremely mad at the wrong of it all and going at at the nearest available bad guy.
Soon all the masks will fall off and it will be on.

Btw.......s & f

Originally posted by 727Sky
Thank you for the post; A quick search on the Internet, of Mayors and police arrested on drug charges does not bode well for the war on drugs..People watch some cop show on T.V. where the good guys always get the bad guys and think that is the way the world really is. Unfortunately that is not nearly the case.

This is just a sample of cartel involment with county & local law enforcement. We're still mising our politicians & local business.
They have been among us all the time,only their name has changed from time to time. Like any criminal organization,just to garner more clients into their pool.

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by GraciaEspn


Community law enforcement? Try the CIA. HSBC (most of your store credit cards, Home Depot, ect) was found to be laundering drug money, but deemed "too big to fail" by our DOJ eric holder.

This isn't coincedence - this is planned. And the conspiracy goes a lot higher than local boys trying to make a couple of hundred dollars a month.

Why does the gov't want to disarm us?

Originally posted by Happy1
reply to post by GraciaEspn

 

Community law enforcement? Try the CIA. HSBC (most of your store credit cards, Home Depot, ect) was found to be laundering drug money, but deemed "too big to fail" by our DOJ eric holder.

This isn't coincedence - this is planned. And the conspiracy goes a lot higher than local boys trying to make a couple of hundred dollars a month.

Why does the gov't want to disarm us?

You couldn't be further from the truth. The video I posted,since then have been a total of 11 deputies charged with wrongful acts. Ex-dxirector of crime stoppers also involved;was providing information to the Panama Unit!
The Cartel has established itself a long time ago,even before it was known.
If DHS was serious,they can stop or at least their unwanted foot soldiers anytime. Just by placing National Guard in border towns. Checkpoints in all county roads leading toward the main highways. Comunity law enforcement stopping all cars violating our local laws.
DHS can work with our Military using ground penetrating radar satelite;that would expose any deep underground tunnels built by the Cartel. That is,if DHS is serious,but then again,the economy can & probably collapse. We would have more people on welfare & would give rise to more crime.

reply to post by GraciaEspn


The DHS is Obamas domestic army as he called them,that we don't need them,unless you want to start a war in the US to fight it's civilians using hispanic agents.We already have the FBI,BATFE, DEA( why, I have no idea) DOT and DIS.
TSA,ICE and DHS should be disbanded and folded into the preexisting agencies we had before.We can't afford them anyway.
And I wonder since most of the graduates are indeed hispanic in this new army,how many are compromised by a cartel?

Was listening to a caller on a radio program, his name was Mario. He said the Aryan Brotherhood has been going to Mexico and has made an agreement with the Senaloa and Gulf Cartels to distribute meth for the cartels. Just hearsay but he is one of many telling the same story. I read a while back that some of the cartels had made a deal with the Triad to supply chemicals and other things to facilitate the manufacture of drugs.

Originally posted by cavtrooper7
reply to post by GraciaEspn

 

The DHS is Obamas domestic army as he called them,that we don't need them,unless you want to start a war in the US to fight it's civilians using hispanic agents.We already have the FBI,BATFE, DEA( why, I have no idea) DOT and DIS.
TSA,ICE and DHS should be disbanded and folded into the preexisting agencies we had before.We can't afford them anyway.
And I wonder since most of the graduates are indeed hispanic in this new army,how many are compromised by a cartel?

www.abovetopsecret.com...
Hey Trooper,the only war that dhs has been fighting,is a losing war. You will still find some good dedicated hispanic agents. They put themselve 1st as American Citizens & then Hispanic. I don't think they will be going into population at large without a probable motive.
To answer your last question;not sure! But it does make you wonder how many of this agents with their regualer salary,they can easily exceed their regular income!

Sky...I've haven't heard those type of rumors. I'll check with my old contacts. THANKS FOR THAT INFORMATION

www.borderlandbeat.com...

Nice story on Guns, Horses, and money laundering in Texas Zetas.

Carlos Nayen Borbolla was one of 19 people indicted last year in a massive money laundering scheme that law enforcement officials say poured millions of dollars in drug proceeds into the American quarter horse industry, profiting leaders of one of the most ruthless criminal organizations in Mexico. As that case heads to trial in Austin the 15th of April, new records say Nayen also played part in a large operation running guns from Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma to an illegal firearms trafficking organization in the North Texas area.

In October 2010 in Mesquite, law enforcement officials said two of the defendants had about 287 kilograms of coc aine, 14 pounds of methamphetamine, 95 pounds of marijuana, 5 pounds of crack and about $412,000 in cash. The coc aine was delivered to Plano, while the currency was prepared for transportation back to Mexico, the filings said.