Posted on 02/25/2009 4:45:12 PM PST by Cindy
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/February/09-ag-162.html
Hundreds of Alleged Sinaloa Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Nationwide Takedown of Mexican Drug Traffickers
“Operation Xcellerator” Takes 23 Tons of Narcotics Off America’s Streets and Seizes More Than $59 Million in Drug Money
WASHINGTON – Today Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., announced the arrest of more than 750 individuals on narcotics-related charges and the seizure of more than 23 tons of narcotics as part of a 21-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as "Operation Xcellerator." The Attorney General was joined in announcing the current results of Operation Xcellerator by DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.
Today, 52 individuals in California, Minnesota and Maryland were arrested as part of Operation Xcellerator, which targeted the Sinaloa Cartel, a major Mexican drug trafficking organization, through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as cooperation with authorities in Mexico and Canada.
The Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for bringing multi-ton quantities of narcotics, including cocaine and marijuana, from Mexico into the United States through an enterprise of distribution cells in the United States and Canada. The Sinaloa Cartel is also believed to be responsible for laundering millions of dollars in criminal proceeds from illegal drug trafficking activities. Individuals indicted in the cases are charged with a variety of crimes, including: engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise by violating various felony provisions of the Controlled Substances Act; conspiracy to import controlled substances; money laundering; and possession of an unregistered firearm.
"International drug trafficking organizations pose a sustained, serious threat to the safety and security of our communities," said Attorney General Holder. "As the world grows smaller and international criminals step up their efforts to operate inside our borders, the Department of Justice will confront them head on to keep our communities safe."
To date, Operation Xcellerator has led to the arrest of 755 individuals and the seizure of approximately $59.1 million in U.S. currency, more than 12,000 kilograms of cocaine, more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana, more than 1,200 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 8 kilograms of heroin, approximately 1.3 million pills of Ecstasy, more than $6.5 million in other assets, 149 vehicles, 3 aircraft, 3 maritime vessels and 169 weapons.
"We successfully concluded the largest and hardest hitting operation to ever target the very violent and dangerously powerful Sinaloa drug cartel," said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. "From Washington to Maine, we have disrupted this cartel’s domestic operations—arresting U.S. cell heads and stripping them of more than $59 million in cash—and seriously impacted their Canadian drug operations as well. DEA will continue to work with our domestic and international partners to shut down the operations of the Sinaloa cartel and stop the ruthless violence the traffickers inflict on innocent citizens in the U.S., Mexico and Canada."
The 21-month investigation began shortly after the culmination of Operation Imperial Emperor, an investigation which resulted in the indictment of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF)-designated Consolidated Priority Organizational Target (CPOT) Victor Emilio Cazarez-Salazar, believed to be a command and control leader within the Sinaloa Cartel. CPOT Victor Cazarez-Salazar remains a fugitive.
As a result of today’s arrests, federal charges were unsealed against numerous individuals in California, Minnesota and Maryland. Cases resulting from Operation Xcellerator are being handled by prosecutors in 11 judicial districts, including the: Central District of California; Southern District of California, District of Minnesota; District of Maryland; Southern District of New York; District of Arizona; District of Massachusetts; Middle District of Pennsylvania; Northern District of Ohio; Western District of Texas; and Eastern District of California. Assistance for Operation Xcellerator was provided by the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section and Office of International Affairs. Additionally, local prosecutions will occur in Los Angeles, Orange County, Calif., and Riverside, Calif.
The investigative efforts in Operation Xcellerator were coordinated by the multi-agency Special Operations Division, comprised of agents and analysts from the DEA, FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service, as well as attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section. More than 200 federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies contributed investigative and prosecutorial resources to Operation Xcellerator through OCEDTF.
An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
###
09-162
“This is really good news.”
Yes.
Of course Obama will the use those reprisals as an excuse to grab *our* guns, even if the cartel uses bombs instead of guns.
That does seem like a large amount of cocaine, but I don't have any figures on imports.
For marijuana, which is THE bread and butter for the cartels, it isn't that much. In 21 months they seized 16,000 pounds or 8 tons. According to the poster I pinged:
The USDOJ in their 2009 Drug Threat Assessment said that Mexicans produced about 15,500 metric tons of marijuana in 2007 and most of it came here.
So in a nearly 2 year investigation, they nabbed about 0.05% of the yearly total imported from Mexico, if my math is correct.
My guess is, this would be the oil market equivalent of an oil pipeline getting blown up. It's a nuisance, but everybody can still get gas at the pump.
-snip-
Operation Xcellerator has led to the arrest of 755 individuals and the seizure of approximately $59.1 million...
Didn't the cartels kill each other to the tune of about 5,000 in the past year? If thousands of gruesome deaths won't deter them, why would anyone think 755 arrests will make a dent in the trade?
Cisneros urges helping Latinos avoid foreclosure[La Raza]
San Antonio Express-News | 02/25/2009 | Gary Martin
Posted on 02/25/2009 9:14:44 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2193790/posts
US Interior secretary [Ken Salazar] scraps oil-shale leasing
Myrtle Beach Sun News | Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009 | PAUL FOY - AP
Posted on 02/25/2009 4:25:29 PM PST by PilotDave
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194116/posts
Depends who the 775 individuals are.
If you have top tier, second tier and or a combination...it seems to me that is a pretty good deal.
If you have a bunch of street mules, well, that’s good, but definitely not as good as the first scenario.
Meanwhile, the American MSM informs us of....none of this. There are are no Republicans involved, so therefore no story.
nbc had piece on the nightly news that had a definite slant that the cartels were getting all of their guns from the US...folks this is how the Great Wagyu is going to justify gun control/confiscation...can you say “national security”...the reort went out of it’s way to mention again and again how the guns are being funnelled to Mexico illegally...
That's not a big enough amount to any effect on the supply of pot in this country, but it was still a pretty good lick for this particular organization when you count all the other drugs and the money they seized and the number of people they arrested. This is an attack on the cartels. You know of course I think we should legalize marijuana and believe that that would be a massive blow to the cartels. I think that will happen someday, but in the meantime we need to hit these Mexican drug trafficking organizations hard and let them know that we mean business and we won't put up with their crap like the Mexican government does. I hope ICE shows up in court and deports any of their family members who show up to see them who happen to be illegals. We're not going to stop the flow of drugs but this is about more than the black market for drugs. These organizations are taking over Mexico. We can't have that. We can't have Mexico totally destabilized by a bunch of greedy murderous thugs. That will hurt us, guaranteed. We don't want the ba$tards operating here either.
Amen
I have a hard time believing that marijuana is more dangerous than the profit and the government that the illegal trade in it creates. And stories like this make it seem no less available than it would be if we ignored it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194249/posts
Holder continues his attack on 2nd Amendment
02/25/2009
At a press conference today announcing the drug cartel arrests (in which he had little to no involvement), US AG Holder also suggested that re-instituting a U.S. ban on the sale of assault weapons would help reduce the bloodshed in Mexico, where last year 6,000 people were killed in drug-related violence.
And if we legalize it we deprive the cartels of most of their income, and that would make them smaller and much easier to contain. It would make the black market for drugs a lot smaller because it is mostly a black market for marijuana. That would hurt these cartels even more because clearly the same people who bring in all the Mexican marijuana are bringing in a lot of other drugs and sending them all through the same distribution networks. Down toward the bottom of the distribution chain most of the participants in the black market for illegal drugs are the marijuana sellers and marijuana users, because Americans use a lot more marijuana than all other illegal drugs combined. But the other drugs are coming through the same pipelines and that means pot smokers are going to be exposed to these substances a lot more than people who don't smoke pot. We're not going to stop people from smoking pot though. If we sell it through licensed shops these shops will be no more likely to offer them cocaine, or meth or heroin or ecstasy than liquor stores are today. We're going to make it harder for the drug cartels to get these drugs out to end consumers when we take the marijuana industry from them.
Unfortunately it looks like the only thing that is going to reduce the bloodshed down in Mexico at this point in the game is more bloodshed. They need to start taking a lot more of these people out. Arrest them, kill them, whatever it takes. Eventually the various drug trafficking organizations down there will start to figure out that what they are doing down there is bad for business and bringing them all of the worst kind of attention and they'll decide they need to lay low and knock off the crazy stuff. For a while anyway Mexico could have relative peace. The drug trade won't stop though. It never does. And the violence will come back, because that's just the nature of that illegal business.
Banning assault rifles here though won't do a lick of good. They're not buying most of that military grade stuff here anyway, because it is not for sale, legally anyway. If they can't get their handguns and semi-auto assault rifles here they'll just buy weapons from somewhere else. They've got the money and they've got the connections. Holder and the Mexican government are barking up the wrong tree with this. The Mexicans just want to cast blame on others besides themselves and people like Holder are just looking for an excuse to restrict gun rights.
If only we could think of a way to deprive them of most of their money. Then they wouldn't have money to buy so many guns and hire so many thugs and cause so many problems.
Well, just like the vitamins - one a day. It’s a start, but I’d like to see several thousand arrests.
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