cartels

A cartel flooded an Oregon town with drugs. Here's how authorities nabbed the ringleader

SEASIDE, Ore. – This tranquil coastal town is known for its wide beaches and grand promenade ― and for becoming a target for drug traffickers peddling meth supplied by a Mexican super cartel.

Drug dealers may not have worried about being caught here, in Clatsop County, a 90-minute drive northwest from the bustling city of Portland.

But they didn't know about dogged sheriff's detective John Walker, who developed informants and bought drugs while undercover. FBI agents lauded Walker's work, which helped the Bureau and Homeland Security Investigations expose an . . . Read more about A cartel flooded an Oregon town with drugs. Here's how authorities nabbed the ringleader

'I made a bad decision': Texas police recruit secretly helped arm Mexican drug cartels

Pedro Cruz Almeida Jr. pleaded guilty in April to smuggling .50-caliber ammunition for belt-fed machine guns, which some federal agents describe as "weapons of war," to couriers headed to Mexico.

"The cartel violence you see on TV or read about in the paper, this fuels that," said Craig Larrabee, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in South Texas.

"That gives an advantage to the cartels over legitimate law enforcement in gun battles."

Almeida's case illustrates the constant flow of weapons and ammunition − dubbed the "iron river" − smuggled from the U.S. into Mexico to arm the violent cartels. Cartel members call it "hormiga," Spanish for "ant," referring to an ant trail of weapons.

In court, federal prosecutor Lee Fry called the bullets that . . . Read more about 'I made a bad decision': Texas police recruit secretly helped arm Mexican drug cartels

Texas AG Paxton: The Biden Administration Is ‘Aiding and Abetting the Cartels’

During this week’s broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the Biden administration’s Department of Justice of “aiding and abetting” the criminal cartels operating near the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We’re getting reports that there’s some 15,000 people in a caravan moving up and north,” fill-in host Jason Chaffetz said. “And, look, these are like daily numbers now coming out of Mexico, not all Mexicans, people from all across the world. We have no idea who these people are and what they’re trying to do. So, Texas, I feel for you, because you’re trying to do something, and yet . . . Read more about Texas AG Paxton: The Biden Administration Is ‘Aiding and Abetting the Cartels’

‘We’re Just Uber Drivers’: Border Patrol Agent Says America Is Being Destroyed

JACUMBA, Calif.—Two older SUVs appear to come out of nowhere, slowly at first, then kicking up clouds of dust as they pick up speed along the southern side of the U.S.–Mexico border. Two white vans tail them to a gap in the border wall.

With covered faces, smugglers suspected of working for drug cartels exit the vehicles, which bear a mix of Californian and Mexican license plates. The coyotes, as they are known, glare through the slats in the 30-foot-tall border wall, while keeping an eye on . . . Read more about ‘We’re Just Uber Drivers’: Border Patrol Agent Says America Is Being Destroyed

'El Mago,' drug kingpin with ties to cartel druglord 'El Chapo,' shot dead in Los Angeles: authorities

"El Mago," the convicted drug trafficker who has ties to a cartel kingpin, was shot dead in Los Angeles County on Thanksgiving morning, according to authorities. 

On Thursday, Eduardo Escobedo, 39, whose nickname "El Mago" translates to "the magician," was one of two men killed in Willowbrook, according to local sources. 

Officials stated that both men died at the scene after Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call of shots fired in the area. 

A third man, who was not identified, was taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, deputies said. Authorities confirm the other victim was . . . Read more about 'El Mago,' drug kingpin with ties to cartel druglord 'El Chapo,' shot dead in Los Angeles: authorities

Southern Oregon Joint Operation Disrupts Drug Trafficking Organization

 

The Oregon State Police, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Grants Pass Police Department, and multiple local interagency drug teams concluded an 18-month investigation November 14 when nine search warrants were served in southern Oregon resulting in 23 arrests. 

They were able to seizure 37 firearms and 33,000 dollars in cash as the culmination of a local drug trafficking organization. Additionally, the search warrants resulted in 2,000 grams of methamphetamine, 636g of fentanyl pills, 52g of fentanyl powder, 58g of cocaine, 250 pounds of marijuana, and ¾ of a pound of illegal mushrooms. The investigation had already yielded 40 pounds of methamphetamine, 9.25 pounds of fentanyl, 3 pounds of cocaine, and ½ a pound of heroin over the course of 18 months. These quantities . . . Read more about Southern Oregon Joint Operation Disrupts Drug Trafficking Organization

Mexico Arrests Chapito Cartel’s Top Enforcer in Surprise Raid

Mexican authorities arrested a man known as the top enforcer for the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. The arrest comes as Mexico continues to face mounting political pressure over the fentanyl crisis in the United States.

On Wednesday afternoon, a special forces group from Mexico’s Army raided a home in the La Rivera neighborhood in Culiacan, Sinaloa — a stronghold of the Sinaloa Cartel. After a short skirmish and chase, they arrested Nestor Isidro “El Nini” Perez Salas. Officials described the man as the security chief for Los Chapitos. He is currently wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice with a $3,000,000 reward on his head. . . . Read more about Mexico Arrests Chapito Cartel’s Top Enforcer in Surprise Raid

Exclusive: Eight Dead in Texas after Human Smuggling Pursuit Ends in Crash

A suspected migrant smuggler and seven others died after the driver’s vehicle collided with an innocent motorist near Batesville, Texas. According to a law enforcement source, the smuggler who was transporting five suspected migrants and was fleeing from Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol troopers when the accident occurred just before 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

The accident occurred on U.S. Highway 57 in Zavala County near the small farming community of Batesville — more than 50 miles from the border. According to the source, a DPS Highway Patrol trooper noted suspicious behavior by the occupants and attempted to stop the vehicle. A pursuit ensued that ended when the suspected migrant smuggler crashed into an oncoming vehicle, killing himself and . . . Read more about Exclusive: Eight Dead in Texas after Human Smuggling Pursuit Ends in Crash

El Chapo’s Sinaloa drug cartel bars fentanyl production under penalty of death

Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel, once ruled by now-jailed drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has barred the production of fentanyl — under penalty of death.

The about-face by the narco crew — the main trafficker of the deadly synthetic opioid flooding the US — comes as El Chapo’s kids bow to a mounting law enforcement crackdown on the drug trade, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The order came from the “Chapitos” — the name for Guzman’s sons, who took over the operation.

“In Sinaloa, the sale, manufacture, transport or any kind of business involving the substance known as fentanyl, including the sale of chemical products for its elaboration, is permanently banned,” said one of several banners hung on billboards and overpasses in Culiacan. . . .

 

  Read more about El Chapo’s Sinaloa drug cartel bars fentanyl production under penalty of death

Biden Tries to Halt Texas’s Self-Defense—in Court

WASHINGTON—Today, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) filed a brief in a Texas federal district court in a case that, for the first time, puts at issue a constitutional provision that allows states to go to war if they have been invaded.

Section 10 of Article I of the Constitution states that, “without the Consent of Congress,” states may not “engage in War” unless they have been “actually invaded.” Texas Governor Abbott, declaring that Mexican drug cartels have invaded his state without meaningful opposition by the federal government, has taken his own steps to defend Texas, including placing floating barriers in the Rio Grande to block illegal crossings into the state. . . . Read more about Biden Tries to Halt Texas’s Self-Defense—in Court

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