By Michael Webster: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. Sept 19, 2009 2:00 PM PDT

As an ICE official he invested cash in global drug deals endangered the lives of U.S. and Mexican law enforcement by selling secret U.S. Government information to Mexican Drug Cartels (MDC’s) and ran huge cocaine shipments to Spain via US ports. Feds say he joined cartel full time after he retired from ICE.

Richard Padilla Cramer, a 26-year veteran of the U.S. anti-drug complex was arrested by DEA agents last month and is behind bars in Florida awaiting the results of a Federal Grand Jury investigation. Cramer was arrested and jailed after U.S. Government officials accused him of directing a massive cocaine shipment to Spain via the United States, and selling important information in law enforcement databases to a vicious Mexican Drug Cartel.

Cramer, as a high-ranking U.S. anti-drug official, held front-line posts both in the United States and in Mexico in regards to the War on Drugs. Cramer sometime later was investing in drugs and trafficking as a full partner in Mexico’s murderous drug cartels. According to records made available to the Laguna Journal, he led an office of two dozen agents in Arizona and others as the attaché officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Guadalajara Mexico and worked with the U.S. Mexican Embassy in Mexico City and U.S. Consulate offices in Guadalajara and other Mexican cities.

According to documents obtained by this writer while employed as a high ranking U.S. law enforcement agent in Mexico, Cramer was also allegedly operating illegally by serving as a sort of secret agent and a full blown business partner of some of Mexico’s richest and most blood thirsty drug lords. According to federal investigators he was operating as a key Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent who operated freely moving back and forth from Mexico to the U.S. He was allegedly “a secret ally of drug lords,” reported the L.A. Times.

A Mexican Drug Cartel boss “convinced Cramer to retire … and begin working directly for (him) in drug trafficking and money laundering,” the complaint says. Cramer continued to sell secret documents that he obtained from active U.S. agents. This is a troubling aspect of the case still being investigated, the official said.

The charges underscore the corruptive might of the cartels, which have bought off Mexican politicians, police chiefs and military commandos. Drug lords have reached across the border with increasing ease, corrupting U.S. border inspectors and agents to help smuggle cocaine north. In 2006, the FBI chief in El Paso was convicted of charges related to having concealed his friendship with an alleged Mexican drug kingpin.

Cramer stands out because his rank and foreign post made his work especially sensitive, officials said. Stunned colleagues described him as a well-regarded investigator who spoke fluent Spanish and operated skillfully in the array of U.S. and Mexican agencies at the border when he ran the ICE office in the action-packed border zone of Nogales, Ariz., his hometown.

“It came as a complete shock,” said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada in a telephone interview. “I have been in law enforcement at the border 42 years and I have seen some strange things, but I have never ceased to be surprised. You have to be watchful and mindful. The cartels have touched local, state and federal agencies.”

Estrada worked with Cramer at the Nogales police in 1979, and encountered him periodically as Cramer rose through the federal ranks.

About five months ago, Cramer showed up at the sheriff’s office in the small county on the border, Estrada said.  He applied for a job as a county detention officer, which pays about $29,000 a year, Estrada said. In contrast, Cramer’s federal rank probably commanded a salary of between $130,000 and $150,000, plus benefits, officials say.

Estrada, surprised, told Cramer that working as a jail guard would be “quite a drop,” the sheriff recalled.

“He said he wanted to keep being active, go back to his roots, keep busy,” Estrada said. “So we put him through … polygraph, background checks. We didn’t find anything suspicious.”

  “The suspected criminal activity that Cramer has actually been charged with occurred in 2007 while he was working as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Guadalajara, Mexico, according to a sealed criminal complaint issued on Aug. 28 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami,” noted the Arizona Star.

“Cramer’s duties as the ICE attache in Guadalajara included serving as a liaison with Mexican police,” the paper noted. “But the investigation revealed that he worked for ‘a very high-level drug lord,’ the federal official said. In a dark twist on the trend of former federal officials going into private consulting, the government veteran became a full-time adviser to traffickers after retiring from ICE in January 2007, Court documents reveal.”

Cramer allegedly advised traffickers on law enforcement tactics and pulled secret files to help them identify turncoats. He charged $2,000 for a Drug Enforcement Administration document that was sent to a suspect in Miami by e-mail in August, authorities say.

“Cramer was responsible for advising the (drug traffickers) how U.S. law enforcement works with warrants and record checks as well as how DEA conducts investigations to include ‘flipping subjects,’” or recruiting informants, according to a criminal complaint filed by a DEA agent.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Miami said Wednesday that she could not comment, but said that cases begun with complaints usually go before grand juries.

Arizona-based Green valley News and Sun added: “He is accused of negotiating cocaine shipments from Panama to Spain while he was working for ICE out of the Guadalajara office, according to the criminal complaint filed.“ The complaint also says Cramer and the smuggling organization invested about $400,000 in a 660-pound shipment of cocaine. The cocaine was shipped from Panama and went through the U.S. en route to Spain, where it was seized in June 2007.”

The U.S. government information he allegedly sold to the MDC’s “allegedly helped the Mexican drug lord conduct an internal hunt for [...] informants and so called turn coats and could have led to murders of U.S. informants and whose families were to be kidnapped in retaliation, one government official said who insisted on remaining anonymous.

The paper added: “Negotiations broke down between Cramer and the head of the trafficking organization that was looking for someone to blame for the losses in Spain. A fourth informant finally approached American law enforcement and told them he spoke with Cramer on a push-to-talk phone.

Mexican Drug Cartels and other drug traffickers use the Direct Connect for immediate communications that is offered by push-to-talk devices. The push to talk keyboard gives the MDC’s a better way to instantly communicate with friends, family and colleagues,” By combining Nextel Direct Connect with text messaging, Sprint customers have two of the most efficient ways to get business done wirelessly.”

The Java nabled Motorola Clutch i465 meets Military Specification 810F for low pressure, high and low temperatures, dust, shock, vibration and even solar radiation, featuring VGA camera, 1.8-inch screen with 128 x 160 pixels resolution, GPS, Bluetooth, and Group Messaging that allows for instant text communications with a large group of up to 20 people.

“Motorola Clutch was designed to give serious texters and talkers multiple ways to get the word out,” said Rick Gadd, vice president for Motorola Mobile Devices. “With a full QWERTY keyboard featuring shortcut keys, IM-style texting and push-to-talk technology which works like a verbal IM, Sprint customers are able to keep in constant contact, no matter how they prefer to communicate.”

While Cramer trained at a state law enforcement academy in Tucson with considerably younger cadets, a delicate DEA investigation of a Mexican drug ring active in Miami accelerated after more than two years in the making.

Working with four informants, agents had run across evidence implicating Cramer in corruption, the complaint says. In 2007, a cartel informant showed agents documents — four from the DEA database, one from ICE, two from the state of California — supplied by an American in Mexico named “Richard,” according to the complaint.

Agents identified the American as Cramer.

On Aug. 19, the DEA arrested Cramer at his house in a gated community in Sahuarita.”

On Sept. 4, Cramer was extradited to Florida from Arizona to face drug trafficking charges, where he currently awaits trial.

Google or click on:

Sources:

United States District Court

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat -issuance of a criminal complaint charging Richard Padilla CRAMER (hereinafter. CRAMER) with violations of Title 21, United States Code Section 963 and 952 …

Rogue Govenrment

Raw Story

The Los Angeles Time

The Arizona Star

Green Valley News and Sun

The Nogales International

Nextel Direct Connect

Motorola Clutch i465

Sprint

U.S. Military

Pima County Sheriff’s Office

U.S. Border Patrol

DEA

Michael Webster’s Syndicated Investigative Reports are read worldwide, in 100 or more U.S. outlets and in at least 136 countries and territories. He publishes articles in association with global news agencies and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 136 countries. Many of Mr. Webster’s articles are printed in six working languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. With ten more languages planed in the near future.

Mr. Webster is America’s leading authority on Venture Capital/Equity Funding. He served as a trustee on some of the nation’s largest trade Union funds. A noted Author, Lecturer, Educator, Emergency Manager, Counter-Terrorist, War on Drugs and War on Terrorist Specialist, Business Consultant, Newspaper Publisher. Radio News caster. Labor Law generalist, Teamster Union Business Agent, General Organizer, Union Rank and File Member Grievances Representative, NLRB Union Representative, Union Contract Negotiator, Workers Compensation Appeals Board Hearing Representative. Mr. Webster represented management on that side of the table as the former Director of Federated of Nevada. Mr. Webster publishes on-line newspapers at www.lagunajournal.com  and www.usborderfirereport.com  and does investigative reports for print, electronic and on-line News Agencies. All of Mr. Webster’s articles, books/CD’s can be downloaded free.

For the drug mules comming from Mexico, needles have been shown on the mule trails suggesting they use drugs for stamina. Injections allow them to carry 50+ pounds of marijuana across 10-20+ miles of desert borders. Although we train in the military to do 20 miles humps with 50 pound packs, shots make it easier for them, allowing them to press on when tired or hurt.

What exactly are they taking though? Anyone know the specific type drugs and their drug names?

By Michael Webster: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. Oct 22, 2009 at 5:00 PM PDT

Federal court documents show that the Arrelano Felix Organization (AFO) also known as the Arrelano Felix Family is a criminal enterprise based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. For more than 20 years, the AFO has shipped hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana to the United States; laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds; kidnapped, tortured, and murdered numerous persons, including informants and law enforcement personnel; and paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials. The cartel nearly collapsed in 2002, after Ramon Arrelano Felix was killed by the police, and Brother Benjamin was taken into custody. However, the cartel has since seen resurgence in strength, power, and violence.  And, with the recruiting of U.S. Government agents and others, the cartel continues to be a major player in all organized crime in Baja California.

The remarkable thing about this case is one of the defendants is a high ranking current or former United States Government agent with ICE, little known fact that has not been brought to the attention of the public by U.S. Authorities. One high ranking Mexican official pointed out that they (the U.S. Government) may not realize it themselves.
Duarte was close to, and worked with, another corrupt U.S. ICE official Richard Padilla Cramer. ICE officials conspired as they murdered, or caused others to be murdered, as they invested cash in global drug deals endangering the lives of U.S. and Mexican law enforcement.  Furthering the danger, they sold secret U.S. Government information to Mexican Drug Cartels (MDC’s) and to the Mexican Government and ran huge cocaine trafficking operations. Feds reported Cramer joined the cartels full time after he retired from ICE. A former U.S. Government internal affairs agent who wants to remain anonymous told the U.S. Border Fire Report that defendant Armando Martinez-Duarte, was Cramer’s boss at ICE, may still be an employee of ICE and has been for years.  The internal affairs agent claims that it is possible Duarte is acting covertly as a double agent.

Richard Padilla Cramer, a 26-year veteran of the U.S. anti-drug complex was arrested by DEA agents last month and is behind bars in Florida awaiting the results of a Federal Grand Jury investigation. Cramer was arrested and jailed after U.S. Government officials accused him of directing a massive cocaine shipment to Spain via the United States, and selling important information in law enforcement databases to a vicious Mexican Drug Cartel.
Cramer, as a high-ranking U.S. anti-drug official, held front-line posts both in the United States and in Mexico in the War on Drugs. Cramer, sometime later, was investing in drugs and trafficking as a full partner in Mexico’s murderous drug cartels.  According to records made available to this reporter, he led an office of two dozen agents in Arizona and others as the attaché officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Guadalajara, Mexico.  Both Duarte and he, worked with the U.S. Mexican Embassy in Mexico City and U.S. Consulate offices in Guadalajara and other Mexican cities.

United States Attorney, Karen P. Hewitt, announced today that, within the last week, Jesus “Chuy” Labra-Aviles, Efrain Perez, Jorge Arrelano Felix, and Armando Martinez-Duarte pled guilty in United States District Court to charges arising from their leadership of the Arellano-Felix drug trafficking organization (AFO).
The defendants entered their guilty pleas before United States Magistrate Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo, subject to final acceptance of the plea by United States District Court Judge Larry A. Burns, at the time of sentencing. The details of the defendants’ pleas are not known but here is what we do know:

Jesus “Chuy” Labra-Aviles: On October 15, 2009, Labra-Aviles pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and agreed to forfeit $1 million. Under the plea agreement, the United States will recommend 40 years of imprisonment. As part of the plea, Labra-Aviles admitted that from the 1980s to 2000, he was a senior partner in the AFO who frequently joined with Benjamin Arellano-Felix and Manuel Aguirre-Galindo to invest in and distribute large shipments of cocaine and marijuana. Labra-Aviles also admitted that he served as an organizer and leader of the AFO and that AFO members paid millions of dollars in bribes to law enforcement officers, government officials, and military officials. Sentencing for Labra- Aviles is set for January 4, 2010, 9:30 a.m., before United States District Judge Larry A. Burns.

Armando Martinez-Duarte: On October 16, 2009, Martinez-Duarte pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity. As part of his plea, Martinez- Duarte admitted that from the 1990s to April 2002, he was a federal law enforcement officer in Mexico who was paid by AFO leaders to leak information about AFO investigations, intervene with other law enforcement officers on the AFO’s behalf, escort and protect AFO members and drug shipments, and help place certain individuals in ranking law enforcement positions in areas under AFO control. Sentencing for Martinez- Duarte is set for January 11, 2010, 9:30 a.m., before Judge Burns.

Efrain Perez: On October 19, 2009, Perez pleaded guilty to conducting the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity and conspiring to invest illicit drug profits. Perez also agreed to forfeit $1 million. Under the plea agreement, the United States will recommend 30 years of imprisonment. Perez admitted that from the 1990s to June 2004, he and Ismael Higuera-Guerrero, the top lieutenant to the Arellano-Felix brothers, were responsible for receiving large drug shipments in Mexico and smuggling them into the United States, coordinating the distribution of drug shipments within the United States, collecting drug proceeds, and policing Tijuana for enemies, suspected informants, and uncooperative government personnel. Perez also admitted AFO members killed numerous persons in furtherance of the enterprise. Sentencing for Perez is February 8, 2010, 9:30 a.m., before Judge Burns.

Jorge Aureliano Felix: On October 21, 2009, Felix pleaded guilty to conducting the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity and conspiring to invest illicit drug profits. Felix also agreed to forfeit $1 million. Under the plea agreement, the United States will recommend 30 years of imprisonment. Felix admitted that, like Perez, from the 1990s to June 2004, he ranked as a top AFO lieutenant. Sentencing for Felix is set for January 11, 2010, 9:30 a.m., before Judge Burns.

According to federal officials the guilty pleas by Labra-Aviles, Perez, Felix, and Martinez-Duarte bring to eight the number of high-ranking AFO leaders who have been convicted since 2006 in the Southern District of California of federal drug trafficking and racketeering charges.
“These four guilty pleas of top leadership figures in the Arellano-Felix Organization are the product of outstanding investigative and prosecutorial work over more than a decade. In achieving this success, we appreciate the cooperation provided by the Government of Mexico during the extradition process. But our work does not end here. The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to seeking justice against all drug traffickers attempting to exploit the southwest border,” said United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt.

“With this guilty plea today, all agencies involved in this investigation have dealt a significant blow to the leadership of the Arellano Felix Organization,” said Special Agent in Charge Ralph W. Partridge of the DEA San Diego. “This should send a message to the traffickers that with the outstanding cooperation of the Mexican government, there is no place to hide, they will be brought to justice.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Keith Slotter commented, “Today’s guilty pleas are a result of thoughtful investigative work and cooperation between law enforcement agencies and we are pleased with the efforts of the prosecutors to see justice brought to these individuals.”

“The plea agreements announced today deal a significant blow to the Arellano-Felix organization and demonstrate law enforcement’s resolve to continue to investigate and prosecute drug trafficking organizations,” said Leslie P. DeMarco, Special Agent in Charge of IRS – Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office. “IRS-Criminal Investigation brings in its financial expertise to narcotic investigations to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations. We specialize in following the money in these illegal operations, enabling increased criminal prosecutions and asset forfeitures.”
Case Number: 97cr2520-LAB
DEFENDANTS:
? Jesus “Chuy” Labra-Aviles
? Efrain Perez
? Jorge Aureliano Felix
? Armando Martinez-Duarte
SUMMARY OF CHARGES AND PENALTIES
? Conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841 and 846 (punishable by at least five years and up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine)
? Conducting, and conspiring to conduct, the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962 (punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross profits)
? Conspiracy to invest illicit drug profits, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846 and 854 (punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine).
AGENCIES
? Drug Enforcement Administration
? Federal Bureau of Investigation
? Internal Revenue Service, Criminal

A list of those cartels pictured in the above map: To view the Map go to: www.usborderfirereport.com

-Tijuana Cartel…Run by the Arrelano Felix family. The cartel nearly collapsed in 2002, after Ramon Arrelano Felix was killed by the police, and brother Benjamin was taken into custody. However, the cartel has since seen a resurgence in strength and violence of late, and continues to be a major player in the smuggling of marijuana and cocaine into the U.S.

-Sinaloa Cartel…Infamous for the smuggling of cocaine from Columbia, and heroin from Southeast Asia. They also produce their own brand of heroin. U.S. law enforcement has identified Sinaloa Cartel distribution centers in Arizona, California, Texas, New York, and Chicago.

The Sinaloa Cartel uses the gangs known as MS-13 and the Mexican Mafia to distribute drugs inside the U.S.

-Gulf Cartel…Utilizes an elite paramilitary group known as the Zetas as enforcers. Many of the Zetas were actually trained at U.S. military bases, in an effort by this country to aid the Mexican government in their fight against the cartels. Upon their return to Mexico, they were recruited by the Gulf Cartel, who offered them a much higher salary than did the government.

The Zetas have proven to be ruthless fighters in the cartel´s ongoing war with the Sinaloa Cartel.

The Gulf Cartel boasts of relationships with corrupt officials and is based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, they also have major operations in the city of Nuevo Laredo and account for the increased violence now being seen there.
-Beltran-Leyva Cartel…Based in Sinaloa, it is a family business with the five Beltran-Leyva brothers: Marcos Arturo, Mario Alberto, Carlos, Alfredo and Héctor. The brothers traffic in cocaine, heroin, and marijuana.
The cartel’s other criminal enterprises include human smuggling, kidnapping, money laundering, and arms trafficking. Beltran-Leyva is in direct competition with the Sinaloa Cartel, a rivalry which has turned the Mexican state of Sinaloa into a war zone.
-La Familia Cartel…Based in the Mexican state of Michoacan formed in 2006, as a splinter group of the Gulf Cartel. The group’s leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez sees himself as an evangelical figure, and always carries a Bible with him.
In a strange mix of religion and drug trafficking, Gonzalez forbids his employees to use drugs or alcohol. The cartel enjoys an incredibly violent reputation, and actually describes their use of mutilations and beheadings of rival cartel members as “divine justice.”
The La Familia Cartel has become very powerful, very quickly through the use of bribes of both local and national politicians. In addition to drug trafficking, the organization extorts so-called protection money from local businesses.

-Juarez Cartel…Perhaps, the wealthiest of the cartels. According to the U.S. State Department, the Juarez Cartel “controls one of the primary transportation routes for billions of dollars worth of drug shipments entering the United States from Mexico annually.”

The Juarez Cartel has been publicly posting hit lists containing the names of Juarez police officers. Many of those officers have been murdered, and still more have fled the city.

Kidnappings, torture, and shootouts have become a way of life in violence-plagued Juarez. That Mexican city which shares a border with El Paso, TX, has already seen an astounding 3,000 murders since January 2008.

By Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter June 5, 2008 11:00 a.m. PDT

Mexican drug cartel gangs and their surrogates as many feared are committing crimes against Americans on the U.S. side of the border. Until recently it was believed by U.S. law enforcement that these gangs limited their terror to Mexican citizens in Mexico and other Latin American countries. These ruthless drug gangs are now reported to be robbing, torturing, kidnapping, and threatening Americans at an alarming rate.

These gang members are known to be attacking Americans all over the states. Recently it came to light that a gang operation of this type was uncovered operating on the east coast from New York to Florida. This New York-based robbery crew used vehicles that resembled police cars with fake police lights and sirens and would pull over and rob drug couriers all up and down the East Coast, federal investigators said. Similar tactics are being used in Mexico’s violence. Police say this type of crime is happening on both sides of the U.S Mexican border.

The drug dealing gangs watch known drug dealing competitors and would pull them over and steel their drugs and money. Often to get to higher-ups, they would torture their victims to give up there bigger drug connections and the gang would then go rob them and repeat the scenario till they reached the bigger drug dealers then put them out of business and sell the stolen drugs back on the streets at full profits.

U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said the suspects would conduct surveillance on their victims for weeks at a time. Then the crew would allegedly use fake lights and sirens to pull over the victims’ cars and kidnap those inside.

If drugs or cash were not in the car, prosecutors said the suspects would kidnap and torture the drivers to tell them where the drugs, cash and other drug dealers where. Many times their prey where not drug dealers and were innocent victims.

Investigators said the suspects used terrorist tactics of simulated drowning techniques (water bordering) as well as pliers applied to the male victim’s genitals to learn where and when millions in cash and drugs shipments were being made.

Police said they recovered 20 guns in their raids. The suspects allegedly stole more than $20 million in drugs and $4 million in cash. The stolen drugs were then resold on the streets of New York, prosecutors said.

Agents said the Queens-based ring traveled from Massachusetts to Florida to carry out the robberies.

U.S. Drug Enforcement agents worked with local law enforcement all up and down the eastern seaboard along with New York State Police developing this case. As a result NYPD officers made eight arrests. The suspects allegedly helped run the “police impersonation” ring that kidnapped and tortured more than 100 known Americans and how many more victims there where is really unknown because many of the crimes where criminals on criminals and went un-reported to authorities according to an undercover DEA agent who wants to remain anonymous.

Among those charged were Acosta De Vargas, who police said has past arrests for heroin dealing; Jose Castro, who allegedly helped organize the kidnappings; Gabriel Pabon, who police said has past gun arrests; and Javier Rivera, who faced deportation to the Dominican Republic on an earlier offense.

DEA officials said this is becoming wide spread across America and that more cases are being worked and more arrests are expected in the weeks and months ahead.

Eight of the suspects pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned Tuesday afternoon. They were ordered held without bail. Click on and play: http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=248762 for related articles on the war on drugs and terror click on or Google www.lagunajournal.com  

BY MICHAEL WEBSTER: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Sept 17, 2008 at 12:30 PM PST

Massive international secret law enforcement task force operation now reveled for the first time is called “Project Reckoning” and the U.S. government claims it has resulted in the arrest of more than 500 individuals in the United States, Mexico and Italy with more expected. “Project Reckoning,” a multi-agency law enforcement effort led by the DEA, targeted the largest Mexican Drug Cartel and its U.S. and international distribution networks.

175 of the 500 arrested are believed members of the Mexican Drug Gulf Cartel.  Among those indicted are three of the alleged leaders of the Gulf Cartel: Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen, Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano, and Jorge Eduardo Costilla-Sanchez. These individuals, each designated as Consolidated Priority Organization Targets (CPOTs) by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), have been indicted in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on charges that they conspired to import drugs into the United States from Mexico. A CPOT designation is reserved for significant narcotics traffickers who are believed to be the leaders of drug trafficking organizations responsible for the importation of large quantities of narcotics into the United States.

During the arrests the law enforcement officers reported they Seized over $60 Million USD and More Than 40 Tons of Illegal Drugs from just the Mexican Drug Cartel.

The investigative efforts in Project Reckoning were coordinated by the Justice Department’s Special Operations Division, the DEA, FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Marshals Service, and 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 Project Reckoning through the OCDETF. Significant assistance was also provided by a coalition of international investigative agencies spearheaded by DEA offices located in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Italy, with assistance from foreign counterparts in each of those countries.

The Gulf Cartel is responsible for the transportation of multi-ton quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana from Colombia, Guatemala, Panama, and Mexico to the United States, as well as the distribution of those narcotics within the United States. The Gulf Cartel is also believed to be responsible for laundering multiple millions of dollars in criminal proceeds. Individuals indicted in the cases are charged with a variety of crimes, including: drug trafficking charges related to cocaine and marijuana; solicitation and conspiracy to kidnap; attempted murder; conspiracy to use a firearm in a violent crime; conspiracy to kill and kidnap in a foreign country; interstate and foreign travel in aid of racketeering; money laundering; and other related crimes.

“By spreading dangerous drugs and resorting to brutal violence, international drug cartels pose an extraordinary threat both here and abroad,” said Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. “The scope of the threat demands a deliberate and sustained response and the success we have had, such as the takedowns announced today, is due to the combined efforts of federal, state, local, and international law enforcement. Although I am pleased with the efforts so far, we cannot and will not rest on these successes. The threat posed by international drug cartels is too great. It will take all of us working together to prevail.”

“We successfully completed a hard-hitting, coordinated, and massive assault on the powerful and extremely violent Gulf Cartel,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “We have arrested U.S. cell heads, stripped the cartel of $60 million in cash, imprisoned their brutal assassins, and significantly disrupted their U.S. infrastructure. DEA will continue our relentless attack against this cartel, aiming to dismantle them and stop the violence they inflict on Southwest Border communities.”

According to the indictments to date, Project Reckoning has resulted in the arrest of 507 individuals and the seizure of approximately $60.1 million in U.S. currency, 16,711 kilograms of cocaine, 1,039 pounds of methamphetamine, 19 pounds of heroin, 51,258 pounds of marijuana, 176 vehicles, and 167 weapons.

Project Reckoning, a 15-month investigation, combined into one centrally coordinated effort several multi-district enforcement operations that all involved individuals with close ties to the Gulf Cartel. Operation Dos Equis, Operation Vertigo, Operation Stinger, and Operation The Family, as well as numerous local operations combined to form the secret operation “Project Reckoning.”

The investigative efforts in Project Reckoning were coordinated by the Justice Department’s Special Operations Division, the DEA, FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Marshals Service and 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 Project Reckoning through the OCDETF. Significant assistance was also provided by a coalition of international investigative agencies spearheaded by DEA offices located in Colombia , Guatemala , Mexico , Panama and Italy with assistance from foreign counterparts in each of those countries.

For related articles: Google or go to: www.lagunajournal.com

Sources:

U.S. Justice Dept.

DEA

FBI

Mexican Attorney General’s Office.

By Michael Webster: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. Feb 21, 2009 at 1:30 PM PST.

Mexico – Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned this week’s street protests against his army-backed drug war, saying they were cowardly acts orchestrated by drug traffickers.

In commemoration of the Day of the Army, President Calderón labeled as cowards and traitors to the nation those who use women and children as part of their strategy to bring about the withdrawal of the Army in its battle against organized crime

Hundreds of Mexicans, some woman carrying small children, blocked roads and bridges in Mexican cities bordering the United States from the Gulf of Mexico (Matamoros) to the Pacific Ocean (Tijuana) and protested by marching in the northern city of Monterrey in a series of demonstrations that police say are organized and funded by Mexican drug cartels.

Police used water cannons to disperse protesters in the northern industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico, where hundreds of protesters in Monterrey and others in several border cities demanded that the Mexican army leave their cities. Officials say that the protests are organized by Mexican drug cartels that they say are trying to disrupt the government’s anti-drug crackdown. 

The protests, being held nation wide and in Mexican cities near the U.S. Border, put new pressure on President Calderon to continue to try and defeat the Mexican Drug Cartels (MDC’s). In 2007, Calderon’s administration launched a military campaign to combat spiraling drug violence in his country. Thousands of people died in drug-related violence last year as MDC’s and their gangs fought each other, the Mexican Army and Mexico’s security forces.

The day after these demonstrations Juárez police chief Roberto Orduña Cruz resigned after the Juárez Mexican drug cartel killed six city police officers and threatened to kill more unless he left the force.

 

Juarez Police Chief  and Public Safety Secretary Roberto Orduna Cruz, left, resigned on Friday during a news conference with Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz. At right is Juarez city official Guillermo Dowell. (Photo courtesy of Juarez city government)

“Those who see … their criminal structure weakened have tried to provoke the army’s retreat,” Calderon told soldiers at an army base in Monterrey.

“True to form as cowards, they have even used women and children for their wretched goals,” he said on Mexico’s national military day.

Aides said Calderon chose to celebrate Thursday’s event in Monterrey, rather than the capital, as a response to the demonstrations, where many marchers held up colored cloths to hide their faces.

Last week an alert went out to law enforcement officers across the United States issued by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence, Analysis and FBI.
 

The alert warned that the US Customs and Border Protection Offices located at the US-Mexican Border crossings located in El Paso, Big Bend, and Edinburgh, Texas has closed due to violence across the border in Mexico. Protesters clashing with Mexican Police have escalated at the border crossings which has involved gunfire and explosions. Intelligence has reported that the protests may have been staged by the Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) to mask criminal activities along the US – Mexican border.

Additional information reported that the Mexican border officials have also closed their side of the border.

Mexico’s drug war is affecting business throughout the country, tourist are no longer shopping in the Mexican border cities and tourism in general is down even in popular hot spots like Cancun. The violence is turning away investors who Mexico needs for business and has concerned and alarmed the Obama administration. The United States, has pledged $1.4 billion worth of drug-fighting equipment and training to Mexico and Central America and has delivered less than a 1/3rd. According to news reports the Obama administration is taking another hard look at that pledge.

At the same commemoration of the Day of the Army, President Calderón labeled the MDC’s as cowards and traitors to the nation those who use women and children as part of their strategy to bring about the withdrawal of the Army in its battle against organized crime.

“True to their status as cowards they have even used women and children for small minded purposes, their acts are treason”, said Calderón recently from the capital city of Nuevo Leon, where there have been six protest demonstrations against the army.

He added “Let no one make a mistake, let no one confuse the sides, the enemies of the country and of all Mexicans are those who assail its institutions, who harass, threaten and extort society, who poison its sons and who betray the country.”

Calderón, who praised the army’s task, asserted that organized crime is condemned to defeat because the Armed Forces and an entire nation are on the side of the Mexicans.

To all who pretend to be above the law, said Calderón, we say that our Armed Forces “are not intimidated nor will they ever desist because they are composed of Mexicans fully committed to the defense of our dear Mexico.”

Police and government officials in Monterrey say Mexico’s most violent drug gang, the Gulf cartel, and its feared armed wing, the Zetas, is behind the protests.

The cartel is paying people to attend marches and has handed out backpacks full of schoolbooks, pens and paper to poor families who joined the demonstrations, police say.

The northern states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, home to Monterrey and the border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, are the trafficking routes into Texas for the Gulf Cartel.

Calderon has sent more than 45,000 troops and federal police across Mexico to fight drug gangs since late 2006, a move widely supported by many Mexicans angry with years of inaction and deep corruption in the country’s police forces.

Despite warnings from rights groups about soldiers using excessive force in the drug fight, Calderon also has Washington’s support for using the army, which has made historic drug seizures and is catching more gang leaders.

More protests and even rioting in Mexico is expected particularly along the U.S. Mexican border 

 

By Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter May 26, 2008 2:00 p.m. PDT

As America wages its war on drugs and terror with costs to the tax payer in the billions organized criminal gangs here in the U.S. have merged with the Mexican drug cartels, the threat to U.S. interests from an emerging international crime cartel grows more serious every day.

Groups like the Sinaloa, Juarez, Tijuana, gulf Cartels, has virtually taken over law enforcement and high ranking Mexican government officials in their host country and are  dangerous and significant players on the international stage, carrying out their criminal activities across borders and threatening the stability and interests of the United States. In other words they are a big security threat to this nation.

Fresh evidence of this growing threat comes from the powerful Mexican cartels  which is already responsible for up to 80 percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States, and are increasingly able to operate above the law, buying off or even killing the government officials who are supposed to work with U.S. law- enforcement agencies to crack down on crime.

What’s worse, the cartels have now forged alliances with American street gangs, giving these drug cartels a deep reach into American life and through that alliance with our gangs that gives them control over most of the $300 to $500 billion American drug trade, the largest in the world.

These cartels have become a global crime corporation with an international reach of illegal franchises spanning the world.

The ability of these Mexican drug cartels to operate with complete disregard for the law on both sides of the border – trafficking in drugs, weapons, humans, terrorists, prostitution, and money laundering is now threatening to destabilize the American economy and our way of life, especially in poor areas and in our projects and barrios.  

By corrupting our government officials and buying and undermining legitimate American business enterprises, these criminal aliments threaten to set back what little progress we as a nation have made in regards to American poor minorities and their offspring gang members, and already in the case of Mexico, could forestall reform there indefinitely.

Federal authorities point to the Mexican drug cartels that are ultimately responsible for border violence by having cemented ties to street and prison gangs like El Paso’s Barrio Azteca on the U.S. side of the border. Azteca like many other U.S. gangs retail drugs that they get from Mexican cartels and their gangs. One Of The Most Dangerous. Mexican gangs also run their own distribution networks in the United States, and they produce most of the methamphetamine used north of the border. They have even bypassed the Colombians several times to buy cocaine directly from producers in Bolivia, Peru and even Afghanistan.

These same gangs often work as cartel surrogates or enforcers on the U.S. side of the border. Intelligence suggests Los Zetas They’re known as “Los Zetas have hired members of various gangs at different times including, El Paso gang Barrio Azteca, Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, MS-13, and Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos to further their criminal endeavors. Dangerous Mexican Cartel Gangs

The list of crimes the new international criminal organizations are involved in is long. They traffic in drugs, people, and chemical, biological and nuclear material. They perpetrate billions of dollars worth of fraud against banks, businesses and governments. They destroy lives, undermine economies, and diminish confidence in political and economic reform, and spread corruption and violence. In short, they have become an international security threat.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Anti-Narcotics Caucus, in a speech at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank said “Clearly, we need to devise a new foreign policy to deal with these criminal groups — to put them out of business and in jail.”

But what we really need is a homeland defense policy that which will stem the flow of illegal commerce crossing unabated into our country.

In a speech to the United Nations, President Clinton acknowledged the growing threat posed by international criminal groups such as the Mexican drug cartels, and called for stronger efforts to fight these organizations. So we have known about this problem for a long time.

A ranking House Republican has demanded a hearing based on recent reports that Islamic terrorists embedded in the United States are teaming with Mexican drug cartels to fund terrorism networks overseas.

Rep. Ed Royce, ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs terrorism and nonproliferation subcommittee, said the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) document — first reported by The Washington Times — highlights how vulnerable the nation is when fighting the war on drugs and terrorism.

Sen. Grassley further stated “Such efforts must achieve several goals: dismantle the major criminal groups, stiffen the penalties for engaging in international crime, and foster international cooperation to counter the actions of criminal elements.”

U.S. policy-makers must take concrete steps to meet today’s massive challenges in regards to these Mexican drug cartels. We as Americans must protect our borders and keep these dangerous elements out of this country. We must beef up intelligence capabilities against key groups and their leaders.

We must work with Mexico other countries to strengthen their legal systems and police forces.

We must enhance our ability to monitor the flow of money to prevent criminal organizations from abusing American, Mexican, international financial and banking systems. And we must increase Americans awareness of the great threat these cartels pose and forge a united front to bring them to justice.

The political corruption scandals in Mexico, the brazen ruthlessness of the Mexican drug cartels, and U.S. streets awash in drugs to meet the multi billion dollar demand — all are the product of ruthless criminal organizations willing to trample human life and dignity in their rush for ill-gotten gain.

Like Mexico, Colombia, and other countries the United States must start dealing with the fact that is facing us as a new political threat from international criminal activity. But we see the impact of the international crime on our streets every day, in the wasted lives and drug violence tearing our cities apart.

Soon if America does not take  action much of the current Mexican type carnage of kidnappings for ransom, murders and the gangland style beheadings of the drug cartels may become common place right here in America.

As the most powerful country on earth, the United States has an obligation to lead the world in crafting a tough, international response. Just as 1st President Bush put together a coalition to counter the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, so too must the new President who takes office in January 09 must start working with congress and law enforcement in challenging the threat posed by the new international crime cartels that are right on our southern border.

The Cold War may be over, but America still has enemies in the world. Emerging international crime cartels are simply the latest. The United States cannot afford to ignore this problem, but must begin to fashion a foreign-policy response as tough as the stand we take against criminal groups here at home.

Over 1,500 people have been killed in Mexico so far this year, according to Mexican news reports. Most of the slayings have taken place in states that are hubs for drug trafficking and organized crime.  In one day last week, alone, Mexico recorded 40 executions.  These murders are the most violent of episodes that are believed ordered by Mexican cartels with some of the victims being American citizens.

Penny Starr Senior Staff Writer for CNSNews.com reports that a U.S. State Department report on “non-natural deaths” of U.S. citizens abroad says that 126 Americans were victims of homicides or “executions” in Mexico between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2007. A total of 667 Americans were killed in Mexico by “non-natural” causes during that period. See report on “non-natural deaths”

The State Department says the report “is based solely on cases reported by American citizens to our posts abroad,” which leaves open the question of how complete or accurate it may be.

Many of the reported homicides took place just across the southern border of the United States. Twenty-nine took place within the city of Tijuana, which sits just south of San Diego, California.

The two deaths described in the State Department report as “executions” both occurred in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders the United States. One of those executions was reported to have taken place on Jan. 21, 2007 in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. See statement

The report specifically notes the violence in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, stating that: “Dozens of U.S. citizens were kidnapped and/or murdered in Tijuana in 2007.” See travel alert

For years now US federal officials have reported that the Mexican drug cartels are operating in dozens of US cities, and have consolidated their control of the entire corridor of the supply chain of illegal drugs from deep in Mexico north to the U.S. border and beyond.

Nationwide, the Mexican drug cartels are now the dominant distributors of wholesale quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana in the United States. No other group is positioned better to expand there already nationwide operation and take over total distribution of drugs in the south eastern part of the country too, then are the Mexican drug cartels as they now do in the south western part of the country.

Mexican drug cartels through their segregate organizations control the lucrative methamphetamine trade, as the arrival of purer Mexican ice methamphetamine has replaced locally produced powder meth, according to the US Department of Justice.

Glen Beck of the popular show of the same name said,” Atlanta has become the latest battleground for Mexican drug cartels.”

“Their idea is to control the whole economic process of production and distribution,” said Georgina Sanchez, an independent security consultant in Mexico and executive director of a public safety policy institute.

In many areas of the United States the cartels have entered into partnerships with local gangs, in others they have directly assumed control of local drug distribution, analysts say.

According to Beck, “The Mexican side of the border is essentially a war zone with the Mexican government fighting, losing, or sometimes in collusion with the heavily-armed drug cartels.  You’re not going to see much about it in the mainstream media. And for some reason, this just isn’t a topic anymore.”

Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora says cartels have deeply penetrated city police forces. (Eduardo Verdugo – AP)

Gwinnett County, Georgia, where Atlanta is located is over 1,000 miles from our U.S. – Mexico border. They have already had nine drug-related kidnappings this year. In one incident it just happened a couple weeks ago, DEA agents raided a home and charged three men, all illegal aliens, with kidnapping and conspiracy to distribute cocaine after finding that they had bound and chained the victim to a wall in a basement in the town of Lilburn and beat him for nearly a week in an effort to collect $300,000 in drug debt.

“The violence in [American] cities has a direct cause and effect related to what is taking place in Mexico,” said Fred Burton, vice president for counterterrorism at Stratfor, an Austin-based private intelligence company.

“The farther north you go from the border, the less that is understood,” said Burton, who is a member of the Texas Border Security Council, which focuses on homeland security and economic development along the Texas-Mexico border.

The biggest worry for local law enforcement groups is that the cartels will bring with them violent methods honed during furious cartel wars in Mexico that have left thousands dead since 2006. In recent years, Mexican drug violence has reached new heights, with beheadings, videotaped executions broadcast on the Internet, and the targeting and killings of top Mexican law enforcement officials.

Beck, said, “There are no good guys in this story except the people who are on the front line, like Rodney Benson. He is the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the DEA.”

From excerpts from the program Beck asks, “Let’s start, what did I miss about that guy who was chained to the wall? Tell me a little bit about this.”

“He was a distributor of narcotics up the East Coast, and he was lowered down under a ruse to come down and see the Mexican suppliers here in Atlanta.

And when he went to a house just in the metro area, he was pulled into a garage where seven armed men took him, took him out, essentially beat him, brought him down into the basement of this house where he was shackled in this unfinished basement. And his hands were cuffed. Then they took rolls of duct tape and essentially his entire face, his nose, pretty much everything was just covered with tape.

And over the course of a week, we became aware of this. And what we ended up doing, Glenn, through a number of different investigative means, we found the house where this individual was being held. And what we did was we conducted a rescue operation. And this individual, when we found him, was chained in the basement, severely dehydrated and he was beaten as well. And we saved his life.” Benson said.

BECK: All right, is it true that some of these people that are kidnapping in Atlanta are as young as 16 years old? The kidnappers?

BENSON: We’re seeing younger individuals being deployed by Mexican cartel leadership up into the United States to work for these cartels. Google or click on: Mexican drug cartels infiltrating colleges and high school campuses in America

BECK: Okay, there are two people who have a little bit of credibility on this. There’s the Gwinnett D.A. that said this is not a blip. This is significant in what’s going on here. U.S. Attorney for the northern part of Georgia said, we are about to see the extreme violence that is happening south of the border happen here in America.

“Not a lot of people because nobody is really covering this in the mainstream media, according to Beck. Google or click on: Young girl raped and beheaded in Florida by Mexican traffickers

But we’re watching it. The violence south of the border is off the charts. It’s more violent there than it is in Baghdad or Afghanistan. They’re beheading people said Benson.
Beck, do you believe this is the kind of stuff that is coming our way if we don’t do something and pay attention to this?

What we’re doing, Glenn, is we’re aggressively attacking that problem. Clearly, Mexican drug trafficking organizations are the dominant force that we’re facing here in the metro area. They’re responsible for the lion’s share of cocaine and methamphetamine and marijuana and black tar heroin that’s being distributed here.

It’s coming here; it’s going up the Eastern Seaboard.

We’re facing a very — it’s a challenge for us. They’re getting more sophisticated. They’re absolutely armed to the teeth; AK-47s and other weapons. According to Benson.

BECK asks: And they’re targeting this county because this is a large Hispanic community. So these drug gangs are just kind of trying to blend in to the Hispanic community? What is the reaction for the community? Are they standing up? Or are they afraid? Google or click on: Mexican Drug cartels terror reaches deep into the U.S.

It’s not just that county, Glenn. What you have is multiple counties in metro Atlanta. Now we’re seeing it, too, in a big way in North Carolina.

The community is reporting information to police. And that’s what they should continue to do. There’s a steady stream of tips and leads that come into law enforcement that we’re able to react to and I don’t anticipate that stopping anytime soon. Said Benson.

“Their idea is to control the whole economic process of production and distribution,” said Georgina Sanchez, an independent security consultant in Mexico and executive director of a public safety policy institute

DEA agents say that the cartels’ incursions into the United States are spurring more secondary crimes, such as shootings, kidnapping, and murders.

By Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter Aug 24, 2:30 PM PDT

Mexican drug cartel gangs and their surrogates terror is believed to have reached Shelby County Alabama in a Birmingham suburb. Authorities released few details in the case of five men who were found slain in a apartment. They say the men appear to have been bound with duct tape and their throats were slashed. Very similar to known tactic’s used by Mexican drug cartel gangs and their American gang surrogates.

The three victims who have been identified at this point are: Ezequiel Rebollar-Perrban, 23 years of age, Jaime Echeverria, 30 years of age, Armando Lopez, 20-30 years of age. Two other victims remain unidentified.

These ruthless drug gangs according to DEA operative who wants to remain anonymous says, “investigators close to the Shelby county murders of five Mexican males was carried out by Mexican drug gangs or their surrogates and is very likely related to drugs and cash.” DEA agents say that the cartels’ incursions into the United States are spurring more secondary crimes, such as shootings, kidnapping, and murders.

If this case proves to be Mexican drug cartel related this as well as many other case’s show the dangerous reach of the Mexican drug cartels now goes very deep into middle America and are now reported to be killing, robbing, torturing, kidnapping, and threatening Americans and others at an alarming rate.

These gang members are known to be attacking Americans all over the U.S. Recently it came to light that a gang operation of this type was uncovered operating on the east coast from New York to Florida robbing known drug dealers of both their drugs and cash. These attacks were pulled off all up and down the East Coast, federal investigators said. Similar tactics are being used in Mexico’s violence. Police say this type of crime is happening on both sides of the U.S Mexican border.

A horrifying story describes a little girl who, after being taken to the Florida panhandle from Mexico, resisted while being raped, and was subsequently made an example of, by being beheaded in front of other girls who were being held to be raped. The girls then were made to watch by being left in the room with the little girl’s body for several hours.

The Mexican and American gangs watch and fellow other drug dealing gangs watch known drug dealing competitors and rob them in their so called safe houses or pull them over in their automobiles and steel their drugs and money. Often to get to higher-ups, they torture their victims to give up there bigger drug connections and the gang would then go rob them and repeat the scenario till they reached the bigger drug dealers then put them out of business and sell the stolen drugs back on the streets at full profits.

U.S Attorney Benton Campbell said the suspects would conduct surveillance on their victims for weeks at a time. 

Investigators said the suspects used terrorist tactics of simulated drowning techniques (water bordering) as well as pliers applied to the male victim’s genitals to learn where and when millions in cash and drugs shipments were being made.

The same source claims that physical evidence, such as drugs, cash, firearms, knifes, handcuffs, police scanners, and other crime scene evidence, such as shell casings and fingerprints were not found at the murder scene by law enforcement officers as are found at Mexican drug cartel other murder scenes. The murdered victims could have been murdered somewhere else and brought to this location one officer said. But they have requested more search warrants and are developing more leads including confiscating several vehicles related to some of the victims and possibly to the culprits.

US federal officials have reported that the Mexican drug cartels are operating in dozens of US cities, and have consolidated their control of the entire corridor of the supply chain of illegal drugs from deep in Mexico north to the U.S. border and beyond.

Mexican drug cartels are the dominant distributors of wholesale quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana in the United States. 

Mexican drug cartels through their segregate organizations control the lucrative methamphetamine trade, as the arrival of purer Mexican ice methamphetamine has replaced locally produced powder meth, according to the US Department of Justice.

Glen Beck of the popular show of the same name said,” Atlanta has become the latest battleground for Mexican drug cartels.”

“Their idea is to control the whole economic process of production and distribution,” said Georgina Sanchez, an independent security consultant in Mexico and executive director of a public safety policy institute.

In many areas of the United States the cartels have entered into partnerships with local gangs, in others they have directly assumed control of local drug distribution, analysts say.

Gwinnett County, Georgia, where Atlanta is located is over 1,000 miles from our U.S. – Mexico border. They have already had nine drug-related kidnappings this year. DEA agents raided a home and charged three men, all illegal aliens, with kidnapping and conspiracy to distribute cocaine after finding that they had bound and chained the victim to a wall in a basement in the town of Lilburn and beat him for nearly a week in an effort to collect $300,000 in drug debt.

Google: Mexican Cartel Zetas Attack and Kill an America.

“The violence in [American] cities has a direct cause and effect related to what is taking place in Mexico,” said Fred Burton, vice president for counterterrorism at Stratfor, an Austin-based private intelligence company.

“The farther north you go from the border, the less that is understood,” said Burton, who is a member of the Texas Border Security Council, which focuses on homeland security and economic development along the Texas-Mexico border.

The biggest worry for local law enforcement groups is that the cartels will bring with them violent methods honed during furious cartel wars in Mexico that have left thousands dead since 2006. In recent years, Mexican drug violence has reached new heights, with beheadings, videotaped executions broadcast on the Internet, and the targeting and killings of top Mexican law enforcement officials.  We’re seeing younger individuals being deployed by Mexican cartel leadership up into the United States to work for these cartels.

Gwinnett D.A. said this is not a blip. This is significant in what’s going on here. U.S. Attorney for the northern part of Georgia said, we are about to see the extreme violence that is happening south of the border happen here in America.

It’s more violent there than it is in Baghdad or Afghanistan. They’re beheading people said Benson.

Mexican cartel Los Zetas paramilitary surrogates allegedly attacked and slaughtered an American in Phoenix Ariz. Police say the attackers were dressed in black military like combat uniforms very similar to known Mexican cartel paramilitary gangs.

Phoenix papers reported that 6 Mexicans killed a Phoenix man who was found dead by police in a local neighborhood home riddled with more than 100 bullets.

“We have seen an increasing amount of these types of violent crimes in the past five months,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Joel Tranter said. “We want the public to realize that these types of crimes will not be tolerated in Phoenix.”

Daniel Garcia-Saenz, 24, Manual Garcia-Trejom, 25, and Rodolfo Madrigal Lopez, 19, each wore tactical clothing and Kevlar helmets and other weapons were found in the vehicle.

Police believe the hit was drug-related and are looking for three more suspects in the case.

For related articles on the war on drugs and terror Google:  

www.lagunajournal.com -  Mexican Drug cartels terror reaches deep into the U.S. 

Mexican Drug cartels are ordering decapitations blind folding and hooding victims before they shoot them. The Cartels are sending a chilling message to the Mexican President Felipe Calderon Administration by adopting methods of intimidation made notorious by Middle Eastern terrorist groups. New Terrorist Bases South Of The Border

At least 40 people have been decapitated in Mexico so far this year, with heads stuck on fence posts, found in trash bags and heads being tossed onto a nightclub dance floor for all to see. Mexican drug cartels and terrorist are recruiting for more fighters to train as soldiers

The Felipe Calderon Administration has said the wave of bloodshed knows no politics; it is ravaging state governments controlled by each of Mexico’s three major parties. He singled out Mexico City and the northern states as being especially hard-hit.

“It seems to me that drug violence has overwhelmed the governments of the PAN, the PRI and the PRD,” Calderon said in a radio interview.

He says murder and mayhem fueled by drug smuggling have overwhelmed the governments of the nation’s capital and key states across the country.

The PAN is the ruling National Action Party, while the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, controlled Mexico’s presidency from 1929 until losing to President Vicente Fox in 2000. In the July 2 presidential election, Calderon, of National Action, barely beat leftist former Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the PRD, or Democratic Revolution Party.

Calderon called for legislative and law-enforcement efforts to curb drug violence across party lines “in a very coordinated way.”

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City has long expressed concern about the growing wave of violence along the northern border, where people are gunned down with automatic weapons almost daily, and dozens of Americans have been kidnapped held for ransom and some killed. Americans Being Kidnapped, Held and killed in Mexico

Authorities say more than 3,500 people have died in Mexican drug violence in the last year.

Narcotics investigators on both sides of the border attribute the spike in killings to a territorial war between drug gangs battling for control of lucrative smuggling corridors into the United States.

But U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza recently extended warnings to say Americans should use extreme caution when traveling anywhere in Mexico.

“The bottom line is that we simply cannot allow drug traffickers to place in jeopardy the lives of our citizens and the safety of our communities,” Garza said in a statement Sept. 14.

Drug related killings in Mexico that have included beheadings which have occurred in Guerrero, home to the Pacific resort of Acapulco, Tijuana, Juarez, Nuevo Laredo and in Calderon’s native Michoacan state, in central Mexico west of the capital.

Masked gunmen burst into a seedy nightclub in the Michoacan city of Uruapan, fired guns in the air and rolled five severed human heads onto the dance floor.

The gunmen left scrawled notes on pieces of cardboard, a tactic that has suddenly become common in Michoacan and elsewhere. The notes made reference to “the Family,” while other beheadings in Acapulco and elsewhere have referenced the letter “Z,” suggesting the involvement of “Las Zetas,” a group of former elite Mexican soldiers now working as hit men for the Gulf drug cartel. They’re known as “Los Zetas

On Tuesday, police recovered the body of a man who had been shot 24 times with machine guns in the Michoacan city of Turicato. Messages had been attached to the unidentified, 35-year-old victim’s body, including “Anti Z” and “greetings, Z family. This is for the traitors to their country,” the government news agency Notimex reported.

Investigators say Michoacan is a base for powerful cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine smugglers with ties to some of the countries largest and most-violent drug gangs.

The U.S. and Mexican border cities have jumped in gang-related killings since the beginning of the year. The Mexican government has described the violence as revenge for President Felipe Calderón’s year-old crackdown on organized crime that sent thousands of soldiers and federal police into violence-plagued Mexican cities bordering the United States.

The government reports that Mexican drug cartels and gangs operating along the Southwest border are more sophisticated and dangerous than any other organized criminal enterprise. The Mexican cartels, and the smuggling rings and gangs they leverage, wield substantial control over the routes into the United States and pose substantial challenges to U.S. law enforcement to secure the Southwest border. The cartels operate along the border with military grade weapons, technology and intelligence and their own respective paramilitary enforcers.

Recently Mexican troops where sent to CD. Juarez Mexico across from El Paso Texas to stop the drug related violence. This latest Mexican troop movement places more than 30,000 Mexican troops combating the Mexican cartels throughout the country. This operation, dubbed Operación Conjunta Chihuahua, by the Mexican army is expected to provoke a violent response from Mexican drug cartels, officials said. The U.S. placed Mexico under a travel alert As Thousands of Armed Mexican Troops Patrol the Streets of Juarez