Coming to a town near you: a Mexican drug cartel and their poisons. Actually, Mexican drug cartel peddlers may already be in your area.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment, the United States is further encroached-upon by the footprint of Mexican drug hubs. The DEA believes the shoe size is also getting bigger as more drug distribution cells are embedding across America.
In its drug threat assessment, DEA officials concede, “It is anticipated that Mexican TCOs [transnational criminal organizations] will continue to grow in the United States through expansion of distribution networks and interaction with local criminal groups and gangs. This relationship will insulate Mexican TCOs from direct ties to street-level drug and money seizures and drug-related arrests made by US law enforcement.”
Not very endearing for American citizens who are endeavoring to raise families, operate legitimate businesses, and conduct their lives peacefully among those whose street-peddled junk denigrates righteous destiny. There is no science necessary to ascertain that massive quantities of illicit drugs are a bane to Constitutional precepts and legitimate existence.
President Donald Trump’s border wall can not come soon enough.
And the beat goes on for Mexican and any other drug cartels…especially since gobs and gobs of profit are at stake.
Survey Says
The breadth of the DEA drug threat assessment survey was compiled from local police department respondents spread-out across the country. The DEA methodology was to measure “each respondent’s perception regarding drug threats, drug availability, drug trafficking, marijuana legalization effects, and the diversion of controlled prescription drugs” from which DEA analysts extrapolated survey data. While “perception” is dandy in a conversation, actual statistics galvanize reality.
Looking at the aggregate of respondents, the DEA “received 5,155 responses to the 2017 National Drug Threat Survey from across the country. DEA surveyed approximately 10,650 law enforcement agencies. This was an increase of approximately 7,900 agencies from the previous National Drug Threat Survey.”
To put that into context, there are approximately 18,500 law enforcement agencies in the US. The DEA solicited input from almost 60 percent of all police departments in America. Of those, almost half replied/participated. Although the survey results leave something to chew on, and it appears a phantom is still in the mix, it nevertheless provides a barometer of the drug culture and climate control.
According to Business Insider, “Cartel operatives and their counterparts in those [main cartels listed by the DEA], gangs often have shared linguistic or ethnic backgrounds, but the latter are, in many cases, US citizens.” How lovely.
Who’s Who Among the Ruthless
With a massive network already embedded across the US, drug lords have a tremendous roster of ruthless individuals on the payroll. Any threat to its distribution network is met with violence and murderous intent. A recent OpsLens piece reported on the interrelations between Mexican criminal syndicates and some gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Intelligence indicates both Mexican and Salvadoran gangsters co-opt agreements between them, much like law enforcement agencies adopt mutual aid policies.
DEA prognosis indicates that “U.S.-based Mexican TCO members generally coordinate the transportation and distribution of bulk wholesale quantities of illicit drugs to U.S. markets while retail-level distribution is mainly handled by smaller local groups and street gangs not directly affiliated with Mexican TCOs.”
Mexican drug lords operate similar to the Italian mafia using henchmen to do their dirty work. Per the DEA, “In some scenarios, Mexican TCOs collaborate with local criminal groups and gangs across the United States to distribute and transport drugs at the retail level.” One can imagine the elevated bravado with major money, heavy firepower, and endless hunger for more reign over the illicit narcotics trade.
“Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge them.”
According to the DEA, “Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge them. These TCOs maintain territorial influence over large regions in Mexico used for the cultivation, production, importation, and transportation of illicit drugs.”
The DEA survey also chronicles the standings of the major, competing drug cartel entities. In hierarchical fashion, the following drug cartels pose “the greatest drug trafficking impact on the United States: Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, or CJNG), Juarez Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas Cartel, and Beltran-Leyva Organization. Each of these TCOs maintains drug distribution cells in designated cities across the United States that either report directly to TCO leaders in Mexico or indirectly through intermediaries.”
Leaving the Keys Behind
As the drug threat assessment was publicized, the acting director of the DEA, Chuck Rosenberg (an Obama appointee) resigned recently. A NY Times report reasoned that Rosenberg “had grown disillusioned with Mr. Trump.” Turns out Rosenberg is a close buddy of James Comey, both of whom worked together for years.
In his farewell missive to the Drug Enforcement Administration agents and support staff, Rosenberg wrote, “The neighborhoods in which we live are better for your commitment to the rule of law, dedication to the cause of justice and perseverance in the face of adversity. You will continue to do great things. I will continue to root for you, now from the sidelines.”
As mentioned earlier, some of the drug cartel success stems from supports from US citizens who are of Mexican descent. Though that demographic is being combated from within by federal, state and local police authorities, perhaps President Trump’s border wall project will be the antidote for quashing Mexico-based drug-lords pushing their drug-bearing mules across the border.
The DEA 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment posits some fascinating material, replete with eyebrow-raising graphs and pie charts. One striking finding is that, among the notorious narcotics cops have been combating for some time now, heroin stands-out as the leader in terms of “Greatest drug threat.” Whereas heroin is more popular on the east coast, methamphetamine is the drug of choice on the west coast and central US.
Moreover, law enforcement respondents’ police reports indicate that heroin has a prevalent association to property crimes whereby violent crime is extraordinarily attributable to methamphetamine addiction. Overall, heroin is reported to consume the most from law enforcement resources and investigative-time allocations.
Despite the scourge that is already rampant upon our streets, slamming doors in faces is not always a bad or rude gesture.
President Donald Trump’s border wall can not come soon enough.
