Free Republic

One of the world’s most-wanted drug traffickers owns an unsuspecting ranch in a Riverside County valley — and the federal government is trying to seize it. Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez, 41, of Santa Ana, is the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, nearly five months after his stepfather, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, was killed during a Mexican military anti-drug operation. When Valencia was just a 26-year-old living in Orange County, he bought a ranch in Hemet, California, that was offered to him for just $250,000. The property sits in a ranching community surrounded by farmland and upscale homes, according...

Dozens of American military personnel joined Ecuadorean police in raids, marking a new level of direct U.S. involvementEcuador’s security forces carried out a series of raids this week around the country, killing three alleged drug traffickers and capturing dozens more. At their side was a contingent of heavily armed American soldiers. The operations, which were announced by the Ecuadorean government, signal a deepening of U.S. military involvement in Latin America’s drug wars as the Trump administration pledges to go after criminal groups it has labeled narcoterrorists. On Thursday in the city of Guayaquil and several other locations, 50 U.S. military...

A former longtime Drug Enforcement Administration agent who rose to help oversee the agency’s financial operations has been charged with agreeing to launder millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds for a Mexican drug cartel, according to an indictment unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The former agent, Paul Campo, worked for the DEA for about 25 years, the indictment said, first as a special agent in New York and eventually rising to become a high-level official — the deputy chief of the Office of Financial Operations. He retired in January 2016 and...

The article does push gun control but is eye opening none the less. Large numbers of Barrett .50 Cal rifles are being legally purchased in the US and shipped to Mexico to be used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Additionally, recent allegation against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel indicate that 4 US Special Forces Soldiers, 1 Green Beret/Delta Force Operator, 2 US Navy Seals and a Ranger from 75th Ranger Regiment. The point that is interesting to me is this one particular cartel has professional military people running their operations who have all received special forces training in the...

City police will begin distributing “harm reduction kits,” including clean syringes and glass pipes, with hopes of keeping those battling drug addiction alive until they are able to commit to seek treatment. Police Chief Otoniel Reyes said officers often seize and discard needles and pipes, among other paraphernalia, when making an arrest. But often times, once people are released from custody, they rush to use, driven by addiction — and use unsafe or unfamiliar equipment, placing at them at greater risk of overdosing or contracting HIV. “While many think that the primary responsibility of police is to protect and enforce the laws,...