The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a May report that Mexico’s “most powerful and ruthless” cartels operate in all 50 states and clash in U.S. cities.
The Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels are flooding major U.S. cities with methamphetamine and fentanyl and using violence to protect their turf, according to the report.
“The deadly influence of Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels on U.S. society is such that wholesale-level traffickers and street dealers bring the cartel’s drugs to market, sometimes creating their own deadly drug mixtures. “The DEA report states: “Together, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels created the worst drug crisis in U.S. history.”
DEA’s National Narcotics Threat Assessment report details the cartels’ leadership structure, territories they control, methods of operation, and global reach beyond Mexico and the United States.
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On August 29, 2023, the initials of the drug cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) are graffitied on a wall in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, Mexico. Bloody handprints on the walls provide clues to the brutality that unfolded in the house where five young Mexican men were tortured and possibly murdered by drug cartel hitmen. (Ulices Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images)
Synthetic drugs like fentanyl are more powerful, cheaper to produce, and easier to move than their plant-based counterparts, allowing both cartels to penetrate the United States and control every aspect of the drug trade, from production to distribution. Become.
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According to the report, Sinaloa and Jalisco have “virtually eliminated competition in the U.S. market” and “restricted the flow of nearly all illicit drugs” into the country, with thousands of cartel-linked drugs currently in use. It is pointed out that the dealer who did this is active in the United States.
Late last week, the “Skittles Man,” whose real name is Roque Bustamante, was among seven members of the Sinaloa cartel arrested in Florida on suspicion of supplying thousands of Mexican-made fentanyl pills, federal prosecutors said. There was only one person.
This infamous nickname came from his alleged sale of large quantities of rainbow-colored fentanyl pills.
Mexico’s “most powerful and ruthless” cartels operate in all 50 states, according to the DEA. (DEA’s 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment)
The DEA says the cartel sells rainbow fentanyl pills. (Drug Enforcement Agency)
The undercover investigation also led to the arrest of cartel members who were orchestrating an arms smuggling operation into Mexico, including a high-powered .50-caliber rifle, according to court documents.
During the investigation, the DEA recovered approximately 21 kilograms of pure fentanyl, 70,000 rainbow-colored fentanyl pills, 3,000 M30 blue fentanyl pills, 243 pounds of crystal meth, 2 kilograms of cocaine, and 24 guns, including 18 rifles and six pistols. was confiscated.
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In late April, 12 traffickers associated with the Jalisco cartel were sentenced to 4 1/2 years in federal prison after being arrested in Del Rio, Texas, in 2021 for coordinating the shipment of nearly 200 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine worth $9.9 million. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
During that particular investigation, law enforcement seized approximately 650 kilograms of methamphetamine, 17 firearms, $220,922 in cash, and $12,200 in real and personal property, according to North Texas federal prosecutors.
A truck bursts into flames on the road in Culiacan, Sinaloa, on Thursday, January 5, 2023. Mexican security forces have arrested Ovidio Guzmán, a suspected drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo.” Mr. Guzmán sparked gunfire and barricades across the western state capital in a pre-dawn operation Thursday. (AP Photo/Martin Urista)
In this Wednesday, April 6, 2011 photo, state troopers from a newly formed squad patrol during a preventive raid in a low-income neighborhood in the Pacific resort city of Mazatlan, Mexico. Masu. Local officials say so-called elite groups have been deployed to hotspots around Sinaloa state, dismantling neighborhood gangs in the port city of Mazatlan and making mass arrests. The state of Sinaloa shares its name with Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel and is known as the birthplace of drug trafficking in the country. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez Mills)
There were approximately 38,000 fentanyl-related deaths in the first six months of 2023, according to a DEA report.
“Fentantyl is the most deadly threat the United States has ever faced,” the report states. “Fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, such as methamphetamine, are responsible for nearly all fatal drug overdoses and addictions in our country.”
Read the DEA report – App users please click here:
Operation Last Mile and Operation Overdrive: Drugs, Money, and Violence
The DEA’s Operation Last Mile tracked the distribution networks of the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels across the United States.
This massive operation, which involved numerous law enforcement agencies from local to federal levels, involved a total of 1,436 investigations and resulted in 3,337 arrests.
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According to the report, the DEA seized approximately 44 million fentanyl pills, more than 6,500 pounds of fentanyl powder, more than 91,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 8,497 firearms, and more than $100 million.
In 2023, law enforcement agencies within 250 miles of the border conducted nearly 600 bulk seizures of cash worth a total of $18 million, according to the report.
Most of the bulk cash seizures in 2023 were carried out in Arizona, California, Texas, and New Mexico.
DEA agents search a home during the arrest of a drug trafficking suspect in Diamond Bar, California, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Going forward, the DEA will include cartel members in Sinaloa and Jalisco in the scope of Operation Overdrive.
“The DEA’s top operational priority is to relentlessly pursue and defeat the two Mexican drug cartels that are primarily responsible for fueling the current fentanyl addiction epidemic in the United States,” the report said. Says.
The operation will “dedicate resources to the cities most plagued by violence and overdoses in America, targeting the violent dealers who kill thousands of Americans with fentanyl and weapons every week.”
Operation Last Mile was a year-long DEA investigation from May 2022 to May 2023. (Fox News)
Members of the Jalisco cartel admitted to coordinating the shipment of 199.97 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine, with a street value of up to $9.9 million, from Mexico to Dallas, according to federal prosecutors in Texas. (U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas)
Mexico’s president defies outside pressure to deal with cartels
Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador and his administration have routinely denied or downplayed the cartels’ violent and criminal activities.
He omitted any mention of drugs, crime, or cartels in his September 2023 State of the Union address.
Mexican president calls gangs, cartels “respectable people who respect the people”
He also said in March last year that his government “will not allow any foreign government to intervene in our territory, much less its military.” Al Jazeera reported.
Mexico has an opportunity to dig a hole in the Jalisco cartel with the arrest of the brother of cartel kingpin Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes.
Nemesio Oseguera, aka “El Mencho”, leader of the Jalisco cartel. (U.S. Treasury)
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El Mencho’s younger brother, Abraham Oseguerra, was captured by Mexican forces on April 21, but was released nine days later. Mexican judge Rogelio León released Oseguera, arguing that there was no legal basis to charge him or detain him.
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Jay Arms III, a private investigator who specializes in kidnappings in Mexico, told Fox News Digital that a similar case was made to Ovidio Guzman, the son of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman. He said he expected “shock and awe” violence. Lopez was arrested in 2019.
“When (El Chapo’s son) was captured by the police, his soldiers, his henchmen basically surrounded the entire town of Culiacan,” Armes said. “They blocked all six entrances and exits to the city. They captured the bus and set it on fire.”
Son of El Chapo. (AP image)
Watch: Gunfight between cartels and Mexican authorities
The cartel also fired on Mexican police and military, shot down a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger plane, and blew up an airport to prevent authorities from taking Lopez out of the country, he said.
“They were causing mayhem throughout the city and were so distressed that the president of Mexico personally directed law enforcement to release him,” Armes said. “He said it’s not worth sacrificing the lives of many for one.”
American kidnapped in Mexico and left in jungle to die with tape wrapped around eyes and wrists
A total of 30 people died before he was released.
However, nothing like that happened to El Mencho’s brother, and the threat of the Jalisco cartel proved to be truly terrifying.
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“The most dangerous enemy is not necessarily the one capable of using the most brutal force,” Armes said. “In fact, the most dangerous enemy is the one who can achieve his objective or get out of a huge problem without firing a shot.
“And that’s what we see here (after El Mencho’s brother is released). I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.”
