Mexican Drug Cartels in Suburban America
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.
If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering.
A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. Cartel operatives are suspected of running drug-distribution networks in at least nine non-border states, often in middle-class suburbs in the Midwest, South and Northeast.
"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.
Border states from Texas to California have long grappled with a cartel presence. But cases involving cartel members have now emerged in the suburbs of Chicago and Atlanta, as well as Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and rural North Carolina. Suspects have also surfaced in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Statistics from the DEA suggest a heightened cartel presence in more U.S. cities. In 2008, around 230 American communities reported some level of cartel presence. That number climbed to more than 1,200 in 2011, the most recent year for which information is available, though the increase is partly due to better reporting.
Danny Porter, chief prosecutor in Gwinnett County, Ga., said he has tried to entice dozens of suspected cartel members to cooperate with American authorities. Nearly all declined. Some laughed in his face. "They say, `We are more scared of them (the cartels) than we are of you. We talk and they'll boil our families in acid,"' Porter said. "Their families are essentially hostages."
Proverbs 11:1 (MSG) GOD hates cheating (dishonest and unrighteous dealings) in the marketplace; he loves it when business is aboveboard.
PRAY:
1. For the exposure of all illegal activities and the eminent capture of all TCO cartel operatives functioning inside the USA. (Prov. 28:1)
2. For leads and evidence leading to the capture and conviction of all cartel operatives and members, and the dismantling of all TCO cartel activities in the USA. (Luke 8:17)
3. For protection of all law enforcement as they investigate these illegal activities as well as for the protection of their families. (Rom. 13: 1-4)
4. That as the cartels attempt to set up businesses in the USA (even legitimate businesses to sell marijuana in states that have made this lucrative drug legal) that their money laundering operations will be exposed and shut down. Prov.11:1
5. Associated Press. "Mexican Drug Cartels Reportedly Dispatching Agents Deep inside US." Fox News. IFOX News Network, 01 Apr. 2013. Web. 09 Apr. 2013.
