Drug Trafficking Organizations

[Icey_old]

Drug Trafficking Organizations

 

DTOs continue to supply and distribute a large portion of the illegal drugs found in California. Because Mexico is used as a transit destination for cocaine and a source for heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, the southwest border region of California is a focal point for many DTOs. Mexican DTOs have a long history of supplying drugs— via land, sea, and air — to the United States. Their operations have an enormous impact on California and its drug problem. Their activities play a crucial role in understanding how illicit narcotics have become a vital link between organized crime groups, gangs, and international terrorists.

 

Some of the most violent criminal activity in California is taking place in towns near the Mexican border. Law enforcement authorities have identified more than 100 DTOs operating in the Imperial/ San Diego County region alone. Mexican DTOs, such as the powerful Tijuana-based Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO), control most drug and precursor chemical smuggling through the California land ports of entry in San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, California. According to law enforcement authorities, Mexican DTOs are responsible for the transportation, importation, and distribution of multi-ton quantities of illegal drugs into California.

 

Federal authorities report that marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine pose the most signifi cant drug smuggling threats to the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa land ports of entry. Heroin and methamphetamine precursor chemicals are also smuggled but to a lesser degree.

 

Drugs are smuggled using a variety of means ranging from commercial and private vehicles, which are the primary means, to pedestrian couriers. Drugs that are smuggled by vehicles are usually concealed in hidden compartments or intermingled among legitimate commodities. Pedestrian couriers typically conceal drugs on their bodies or in handbags.

 

During the 1990s, the AFO began to allow other Mexican DTOs to smuggle drugs across the border for a fee. This facilitated the rise of other groups such as the Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada-Garcia Organization (ZGO). ZGO’s efforts to gain control of the AFO’s territory led to a violent gang war between the two organizations.

 

According to federal authorities, the AFO has signifi cant ties to criminal street gangs in the San Diego area. The Logan Heights street gang distributes cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and PCP throughout San Diego. The gang has a history of murder, robbery, and other violent crimes. Members of the Logan Heights street gang also have ties to the EME — a violent prison gang — that recruits street gang members to traffic drugs, murder rivals, and provide security for the AFO.

 

Law enforcement authorities have made significant progress in disrupting the flow of narcotics into California. Over the last several years, the AFO has been severely weakened by the death or arrest of its leaders. Mexican and U.S. law enforcement authorities have conducted several successful investigations into the AFO and ZGO, which has resulted in arrests numbering in the hundreds — including some of the most powerful figures in the organization — and drug seizures measuring in the tens of thousands of pounds.

 

Increased security at the border ports of entry may be causing drug traffi ckers to seek alternative methods of introducing their illicit merchandise into the United States. Since September 11, 2001, more tunnels than in previous years have been discovered on the U.S./Mexico border.

 

California’s ties to DTOs are evident in the following incidents that occurred during the last year. Law enforcement authorities have also expressed concern about the drug-related activities of individuals associated with the Mara Salvatrucha, the Mexican Mafi a, and street gangs with U.S. ties.

 

Significant events associated with DTOs involved the following criminal activity circa 1990-2004:

 

• A former Baja, California, deputy state attorney general was killed by AK-47 toting gunmen inside a popular Tijuana bar. Vehicles used by the gunmen were registered in California

 

• Two California residents believed to have been involved in drug trafficking were found murdered, execution style, inside the parking garage of the Tijuana airport.

 

• A low-level marijuana smuggler was murdered by Tecate drug traffi ckers who believed the smuggler had stolen the drugs after he failed to deliver them to a stash house in Chula Vista, California.

 

• Law enforcement authorities discovered an illegal tunnel connecting Tijuana and San Ysidro. In August, another tunnel was found near the Otay Mesa crossing and went under the U.S. border. Fifteen tunnels have been discovered on the U.S./Mexico border since September 11, 2001. This is a sharp increase from the 15 tunnels found between 1990 and 2001.

 

• A Mexicali drug trafficker was killed as he approached his home in Mexicali. He was inside his car bearing California license plates when another car — also bearing California plates — pulled up alongside and fatally wounded him with gunfi re from an Uzi.

[Peezy23]

this is more of a news report than a guide, lol.

[Icey_old]

12 hours ago, Peezy23 said:

this is more of a news report than a guide, lol.

[arkan]

one man dto