Posted on 10/17/2011 4:44:04 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
By all appearances, Marin “Gordo” Herrera was a prospering South Texas real estate developer immune from the economic downturn and rising foreclosure rates buffeting the nation.
His companies, New Millennium Developers and Herrera Property & Investments, had acquired 77 properties in the McAllen area. He had booked at least $4 million in revenue.
But in reality, his success stemmed from the underground economy of drug trafficking that has flourished along the border but doesn’t figure in official reports on the gross domestic product or employment rates. He had bought the properties with drug money and used his companies as a shell to launder the $4 million.
Before a federal judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison this year, prosecutors established that between 2006 and 2010, Herrera had been a conduit for more than 660 pounds of cocaine flowing from Mexico’s Gulf Cartel into the United States, a key link on a smuggling chain that distributed drugs to Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and beyond.
For better or worse, Herrera pumped a fair amount of money into the Texas economy, which is getting renewed attention because of Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign for the GOP presidential nomination and his declaration that his low-tax and low-regulation policies have enabled Texas to weather hard times — the “Texas Miracle.”
Clearly, drugs were flowing across the Texas border long before Perry became governor — and likely will continue long after he’s gone. And drugs do not have the same level of economic impact on Texas as oil and gas, farming and ranching and legitimate transborder commerce.
But experts who have studied the impact of drug money say it is undeniable that in a tough economy, trafficking has helped boost employment and economic growth in the state’s border regions,...
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Saturday that part of his immigration policy would be to build an electrified fence on the country’s border with Mexico that could kill people trying to enter the country illegally.
Praise the Lord! A Real Man who can speak it straight baby!
Please, let’s get the Academic two-faced, lip-smacking Communist out of office ASAP!
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