Mexican Drug Cartels-making insane decisions-Update

Update...

MATAMOROS, MEXICO-- Ten more bodies were found in a new mass grave in Mexico's northern state of Tamaulipas, bringing the total number to 126 bodies, officials said Wednesday.

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They have terror, they have most of the government paralyzed, they are the second biggest employer next to the oil industry in Mexico...etc.  I still can not frame this within an economical model, geopolitical model or even within a terrorist framework.  Time will tell.

FYI:  Most gang members pose for a booking photo or news photo with their chin up so that the picture can not be used to identify them in a future criminal investigation.  

Mexican Drug Cartels-making insane decisions.

Mexican authorities have found 59 bodies on a remote ranch in the La Joya farming village.  This occurred in the same area where they had found 72 bodies less than a year ago.

The news link from Yahoo


The story

At least 59 bodies found on Mexico ranch

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (AFP) – At least 59 bodies have been found on a ranch in Mexico's northern state of Tamaulipas, on the US border, authorities said Wednesday, warning that the grim toll could rise.

The Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office said 11 people had been arrested and another five kidnapping victims had been set free in the same operation on Wednesday.

Police and military staff learned March 25 that several buses had disappeared in the area, leading to their investigation which turned up a grisly find: eight mass graves in the La Joya farming village, in the town of San Fernando, the prosecutor's office said.

"With our work that is under way, we are trying to establish if the remains are those of the people who went missing on the buses," the prosecutor's statement said.

Authorities said they feared the number of dead would rise as the remains had only been counted in three of eight mass graves. A military patrol located the mass grave, the source added.

The gruesome find was in the same town of San Fernando where 72 migrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and Brazil were killed in August 2010 for refusing to work for drug traffickers.

Meanwhile thousands of outraged citizens took to the streets of 38 Mexican cities on Wednesday, venting anger over widespread violence linked to the country's illegal drug trade.

The protest marches were organized following the murder of a well-known author's son along with four close friends and two others on March 28.

Javier Sicilia, a poet and columnist for the daily La Jornada and the weekly Proceso -- two of the country's leading publications -- called for the protests following the killing of his son Juan Francisco, 24, near Cuernavaca, 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Mexico City.

Seven major drug gangs are operating in Mexico whose bloody clashes have left over 34,600 people dead since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon's government launched a military crackdown that has so far failed to stem the violence.

Authorities said Saturday that 20 people were killed in under 24 hours in Mexico's most violent city, Ciudad Juarez, which borders the US state of Texas.

Ciudad Juarez is considered the most violent city in Mexico, with more than 3,100 homicides in 2010. Most of the violence is blamed on drug cartels who fight for control of lucrative drug routes into the United States.

Just on Monday the United States boosted security at its consulate in Mexico's drug war-rocked northern city of Monterrey, where it built a second protective ring wall.

Two other US consulates on the Mexican side of the shared border were temporarily closed last year. Security concerns forced the office in Ciudad Juarez to close for several days, while another in Nuevo Laredo was closed after an explosive device attack.

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__My thoughts______________________________________

One of the core principles in illicit drug investigations is to approach the enterprise as a business entity and not as a criminal conspiracy.  You either attack the supply line or the financial line.  It is simple logistics, they have to move product in through a distribution network to their retail outlets and take out their profits, after paying the bills, usually through a different network.  They have personnel and raw material costs, banking/financing costs etc.  You attack one side or the other and work your way back.  It is a logical though criminal system.  The violence that a criminal enterprise generates can even be viewed in two ways:  one as an internal ( but extremely draconian) self correcting/disciplinary function or a method to gain market dominance.

However these mass killings do not make any business sense and I am having trouble placing them into prospective.  I understand that violence can streamline and prevent governmental/law enforcement interference by keeping information under control and increasing local populations participation in the criminal enterprise and decreasing its participation with law enforcement.   Further it can create a political climate that is conducive to their criminal activities, but that is usually achieved through different levels and types of corruption (See Chicago, New Orleans).  But the caveat to the use of violence to achieve financial ends is that once a certain threshold is reached and maintained the citizenry will rise up and fight back (See Columbia 1990's).

The cartels control almost all aspects of local Mexican governmental bodies.  They have almost total "buy-in" from the peasant class.  The terror they generate from killing criminal participants within and without their cartels is almost total for the population and sapped the majority of the will to combat illicit drug sales and distribution.  These mass killing gain the cartels almost nothing, in fact it is starting to raise resistance.  They do not make sense from a money making prospective.  It even allows further enticement for the American's to demand  and President Calderon to allow, American military cross boarder sorties against the cartels.

So what is this?  I can think of only three possibilities.  1st, there is an enforcer for a cartel that really is a serial killer that found his/her ultimate dream job.  2nd, it is another voodoo drug cult like the one where they discovered (04-11-1989) had murdered the 12 American college students in the Mexican city of Matamoros or 3rd some of the cartels have become terrorist groups that have both broad political and and financial goals ( example: al qaeda selling heroin).

I am waiting and watching for the answer.

1 Kings 18:4
While Jezebel was killing off the LORD’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.)

Another Blow to the Mexican Cartels-The Pig Captured

I try to keep up with the Mexican and American law enforcement responses to the danger that are the Mexican Drug Cartels.


I find our war with these criminal organizations analogous to the FBI’s war with the Chicago/ Philadelphia/New York Mafia in the post world war two era. The criminal organizations became violent over territory and profits and eventually law enforcement stepped in. It took a long time but eventually law enforcement took out all the major heads from all the competing families. The result was a neutered Mafia but one that still exists in a stunted form. That’s the future for these Mexican crime syndicates.

The Pig (Manuel Fernandez Valencia) has now been captured. A man that had direct connections to El Chapo, Mayo and ABL.

In the last three years, A.B.L.(Arturo Beltran Leyva) and Nacho (Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel)--killed.

VCN (Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla) , The Flores’ Brothers, Alfredo Beltran Leyva, La Barbie (Édgar Váldez Villarreal) and now The Pig --captured. Their talent pool is drying up, one man at a time.

ABL Killed, The Pig Captured, Nacho Killed, VCN Captured, The Flores Brothers, La Barbie Arrested

The Story - the link first http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327974/Alleged-drug-dealer-Manuel-Fernandez-Valencia-The-Sow-arrested-Mexican-police.html


Bringing home the bacon: Alleged drug dealer nicknamed 'The Sow' arrested by Mexican police
By Daily Mail Reporter

A drug kingpin nicknamed 'The Sow' has been arrested after a stand-off with Mexican federal police.

Manuel Fernandez Valencia is linked to the notorious Sinaloa cartel and is suspected of plotting with one of Mexico's most wanted drug lords to smuggle eight tons of marijuana into the US.

Seven other men suspected of working for the cartel were detained with Valencia.

The drug dealer worked closely with cartel capo Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman smuggling drugs into the United States.

He has been wanted for extradition to the US since 2009 on charges of trafficking heroin and cocaine, and the two met at least five times recently, police said.

Guzman and Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, who authorities say control the Sinaloa cartel, are Mexico's two most notorious fugitives, with a $2 million reward offered for information on their whereabouts.

Fernandez Valencia was courted by the leaders of the rival Beltran Leyva cartel in 2007, but he chose to remain with Guzman, police claimed.

In August, his son Marcial was slain in Culiacan, apparently because the killers mistook him for Guzman's son.

One drove a white Ferrari and the other a white Lamborghini

Police said intelligence indicated Guzman called Fernandez Valencia personally to apologise and vow to find the killers.

Monday's arrests come on the heels of the death of reputed Gulf cartel leader Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, also known as 'Tony Tormenta' or 'Tony the Storm,' one of a string of high-profile kingpins who have been captured or killed by security forces stationed throughout the country to battle drug traffickers.
2 Samuel 23:6But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand.

Christian Police Officer, Christian Cop, Christian Law Enforcment, Christian police

Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla

The Mexican Cartel Drug Wars rarely touch the Midwest where I live, in any significant way other than their products are consumed and injected on our streets and byways.   However, when I ran across an article about jesus vicente zambada niebla being in federal custody in our local paper I thought it was cool but not earth shattering till I did some research. He really popped up.  I have a rule, in hard news the more outlets propagate a story the more significant it becomes in my mind.  Here is a list and a couple lines from that day from the different news sources that I encountered, starting from Chicago where he ended up and then pulling out.  30 is a big fish for a change.

1.  Son of Mexican drug kingpin pleads not guilty in US court

(AFP) – 2 days ago

CHICAGO — A leading Mexican drug figure suspected of plotting attacks on government buildings in the United States and Mexico pleaded not guilty in a US court Tuesday to trafficking charges.

Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla is the son of one of Mexico's top drug lords, Sinaloa cartel chief Ismael "el Mayo" Zambada-Garcia, and led its operations, logistics and security, Mexican officials said following his March arrest.

Shackled at the ankles and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, Zambada-Niebla stood quietly with his hands clasped behind his back as his lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf and an interpreter translated the brief proceedings.

First Link

2.  Mexico to Chicago: Cartel leader extradited (Chicago Examiner)

In what has been heralded as a significant step forward in the war on drugs, a high ranking member of the Sinaloan drug cartel has been extradited to Chicago from Mexico. Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla is described as a second generation cartel leader that was responsible for the import of over $50,000,000.00 worth of Cocaine into the United States with Chicago being the hub of the operation.

Second Link

3. Alleged Sinaloa drug cartel leader denies Chicago charges (Chicago Sun Times)

A man described by authorities as a high-ranking leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel pleaded not guilty today in federal court in Chicago to wide-spread drug conspiracy charges that accuse him and others of bringing massive amounts of cocaine and heroin in to Chicago.

Third Link

4. Alleged Mexican cartel figure pleads not guilty (The Washington Post)

By MIKE ROBINSONThe Associated Press
Tuesday, February 23, 2010; 3:51 PM
CHICAGO -- A man accused of being one of the leaders of a powerful Mexican drug cartel pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he conspired to import and sell large amounts of cocaine and heroin in the United States.

4th Link

5. Mexico: Alleged "narco-junior" Vicente Zambada extradited to the U.S. (Los Angeles Times)

Vicente Zambada, son of one of Mexico's top drug kingpins and allegedly a major operator in his own right, was extradited Thursday to the United States, where he will stand trial on federal trafficking charges, authorities in both countries said.

Zambada, 34, was flown to Chicago and will be arraigned on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo.

5th Link

Ok you get the idea

2 Kings 15:9

He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

A Primer on High Level Drug Investigations

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Attorney General Eric Holder at the Press Conference to Announce Mexican Cartel Indictments
Washington, D.C.
Thursday, August 20, 2009

Good morning. Joining me today are U.S. Attorney Pat Fitzgerald from the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Attorney Ben Campbell from the Eastern District of New York, Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration Michele Leonhart, and Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement John Morton.

Today, we are announcing, in a coordinated action, major drug-trafficking charges against 43 individuals, including cartel leaders, members and associates in two federal districts. Specifically, we allege that these defendants shipped multi-ton quantities of narcotics into the United States through various established smuggling corridors, and then, through a network of affiliated distributors, dispersed these drugs into cities and neighborhoods across the country.

The defendants whose indictments we announce today include alleged leaders of the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva cartels, such as:

•Joaquin Guzman-Loera – also known as "Chapo";
•Ismael Zambada-Garcia – also known as "el Mayo"; and
•Arturo Beltran-Leyva.
The indictments unsealed today outline nearly two decades of criminal activity by these cartels and their leaders here in the United States, as well as in Mexico and other countries.

These cartels are not abstract organizations operating in far-off places. They are multi-billion dollar networks funneling drugs onto our streets. What invariably follows these drugs is more crime and more violence in our communities. The audacity of the cartels’ operations is matched only by their sophistication and their reach.

But today, because of the dedicated work of our DEA and ICE agents, the diligence of our prosecutors in Chicago and Brooklyn, and the support of our courageous law enforcement partners in Mexico, we are able to charge leaders and members of these insidious cartels for their heinous crimes here in the United States. Our friends and partners in Mexico are waging an historic and heroic battle with the cartels as we speak. This is not a fight that we in the United States can afford to watch from the sidelines. The stakes are too high and the consequences too real for us. We will continue to investigate, charge, and arrest the cartel leaders and their subordinates, and we will continue systematically to dismantle and disrupt their far-reaching and dangerous operations.

I will let the two U.S. Attorneys with us today describe the charges in more detail, but suffice it to say that the criminal conduct alleged in these indictments did not take place solely in Mexico. Rather, it played out right here in our own backyards. For example, in Chicago we have arrested and charged individuals who allegedly worked directly with Mexican cartels to receive thousand kilo shipments of drugs, and then dispersed those drugs into the Chicago community and throughout the country.

We have learned from previous successful experiences in fighting organized crime that we must not only go after the leaders of these cartels, but also seize the money that funds their operations. That is why in these indictments, we are seeking forfeiture of more than $5.8 billion in illegal drug proceeds. If we can suffocate their funding sources, we can cripple their operations.

Breaking up the Mexican drug cartels and stemming the flow of drugs and illegal firearms across the Southwest border is a top priority for this Justice Department. And we have made important strides in this fight:

•Earlier this year, an extensive investigation of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Project Xcellerator led to the arrest of more than 750 people in the United States and Mexico and the seizure of more than $59 million in illegal drug proceeds.
•We have rolled out the President’s National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy to stem the flow of illegal drugs and their illicit proceeds across the border.
•We have directed much-needed resources to break up the cartels and to support border-related initiatives. Just last month, for example, I announced $8.7 million in Recovery Act funds for California communities to use in fighting crime and drug trafficking as part of our Southwest Border Strategy.
•We have formed an arms trafficking working group, led by the Criminal Division, to tackle the critically important problem of weapons flowing across the border into Mexico.
•We have formalized agreements with our partners at the Department of Homeland Security and with the government of Mexico to increase cooperation as we carry out our fight on several fronts.
•And we have brought charges against high-level Mexican leaders of the Gulf Cartel, now known as the "Company," and 15 of their top lieutenants for drug trafficking-related crimes.
All of these efforts have been in addition to the numerous investigations, prosecutions, arrests, and interdictions that our prosecutors and agents carry out across the country every day.

Today’s charges demonstrate that we will not stop until these violent criminal enterprises have been eliminated. And we will continue to stand with our partners in Mexico as we carry on this vital fight. On that note, I would like to acknowledge President Calderon and his administration for all that they continue to do in leading Mexico’s fight against violent narco-traffickers. I would also like to thank the brave professional agents and prosecutors here in the United States who have made the indictments announced today possible. Their hard work, courage, and sacrifice make all the difference in our ongoing fight. They have shown in the past that we can defeat international narco-traffickers; I am confident that, with their help, we will do so again.

With that, I will turn it over to Pat Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.