Throughout 2019, reporters analyzed thousands of court records of more than 100 criminal drug cases around the country and talked to more than 150 federal drug agents, police officers, defense attorneys and prosecutors. "He spoke with Mexican-based members of the conspiracy, met interstate couriers and directed subordinates," prosecutors noted in a government motion to keep Farfan locked up pending trial. All rights reserved. DEA agents take a suspect into custody during an arrest of a suspected drug trafficker on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 in Diamond Bar, Calif. Flames leftMoralesdisabled and disfigured. "If that takes them killing other cartels or killing innocent people, they will do it.". "If an agent saw him, we couldnt say, 'Hey, were gonna grab El Mencho right now, take him and put him into custody.' More:He reached 'kingpin' status by selling Mexican cartel-supplied drugs. After agents toppled the drug ring, the cartel turned on the gang. "We consider this cartel to be one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations on the face of the Earth, and it is doing unimaginable damage to the people of this nation," Sessions said. He co-founded Breitbart Texas Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. During his March sentence hearing, Farfan apologized for his crimes, but insisted, "I've never been a violent person. He doesn't make wild errors; he doesn't hesitate; one word for el Mecho is 'calculated,'" Wesley said. Farfan got the drugs from CJNG members in Michoacn, a western state long controlled by the cartel, La Familia Michoacna. He briefly worked as a police officer in Tomatln, a small town in Jalisco, learningthe inner workings of law enforcement,said DEA Special Agent Kyle Mori, who is heading the U.S. criminal investigationagainstEl Mencho fromLos Angeles. She got her older sister, a struggling single mom, involved to make quick money. And though few Americans know his name, authorities promise they soon will. That designation allowed the department to levy sanctions against Mexican businesses linked to the cartels, includinga sushi restaurant, a tequila business, shopping centers, a medical clinic, two newspapers and famed Hotelito Desconocido, visited by Hollywood stars. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The cartel circulates these images of torture and execution on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to spread fear and intimidation. She recruited helpers, too, and they frequently made deposits of less than $10,000 amounts small enough to dodge federal reporting requirements at bank branches in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee,as well asGreensboro and Winston-Salem,North Carolina. Walker then secured search warrants to monitor social media accounts, where drug ring members chatted in code on Facebook Messenger. Then he vanished, How this couple ran a redneck meth empire in an Appalachian county ravaged by addiction, How a Mississippi trooper almost took down the worlds most powerful cartel boss, Mother searches photos of mutilated dead men, hoping to find her abducted son, Officer disabled after helicopter shot down by rising Jalisco New Generation Cartel. In Hillsboro, a suburb 30 minutes west of Portland, a savvy drug cell leader supplied by Victor Farfan seemed untouchable. Hearing the word "cartel" uttered in open court instantly rattled Eduardo. At least three people including a pregnant woman in her early 20s languish in critical condition in Guanajuato,Mexico, after their hands were chopped off and their bleeding bodies were thrown from the back of a truck last week. By the time of the hearing, the veteran was 560 days sober. I am a family man. Histestimony helped convict a trafficker connected to CJNG in 2014. The information leaks make catching El Mencho extremely difficult, he said. Warren traveled to six cities in the U.S. and reviewed thousands of documents in more than 100 court cases and sought prison interviews with more than two dozen cartel members and associates. John Walker in uniform (left), and Walker in his undercover look (right). The Farfans and other defendants mulling over plea offers took it as a threat if they mentioned any cartel connections. Throughout Mexico, more than 40,000 children and adults remain missing. She must report to a federal probation officer for five years. One of them interrogates the semi-nude Mendoza, who admits he sold drugs in Valle de Santiago, where gunmen assaulted a police station on Friday, killing five prisoners and freeing another. A young woman en route to selling street food was also fatally struck by a stray bullet through a car window. The incident is only one of many deeds of bloodshed to have been carried out by the CJNG, whose barbarity is said to be on ascendance in recent weeks and months spilling on to U.S. soil and livelihoods. Still, The Courier Journal traveled to Portland, its suburbs, the Oregon coast and Seattle to review court records and interview federal agents, defense attorneys and prosecutors to learn about the Farfan drug ring, its cartel ties and how it finally imploded. It's a very demoralizing experience for the male who was not only failed by the cartel. One of the working law enforcement theories suggests the gunmen were targeting a former ally attending his mothers funeral. Many court documents in the Farfan case remain sealed, hiding secrets shared by drug ring members and associates, and some involved in the case opted not to talk because of the volatility of the Mexican suppliers. CJNG members have followed relatives or friends who left Mexico for the U.S. to find jobs. Irma Isaisa Jasmine Arroyo, 10, whose body was found maimed and semi incinerated on 28 January in the city of Tecoman. Last year, a judge sentenced Eduardo to 30 months behind bars, followed by five years supervised release. He was thought to be one of the leaders of Carteles Unidos. "He was very minutely involved. "Theyre killing the next generation, and one of them was my son," Brenda Cooley said. Known as CJNG, the cartel is a global powerhouse, detected on every continent except Antarctica. Signed Elite Group.". Classic Of The Genre. He received credit for time in jail awaiting trial and has since been released and deported. But two years later, agents discovered he had slipped back into the U.S., returned to Portland and resumed trafficking cocaine and meth and had added heroin to his offerings. "A very big, increasing problem. ", Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. . So instead of blaming, we should look for solutions.. According to the military, the vehicles were used by the CDG (Gulf Cartel) to transport drugs and hitmen. If someone you love dies from an overdose tonight, he may very well be to blame. In cases in which immigrants resist the cartel's offer, CJNG members often threatened violence to them or their loved ones back in Mexico, according to court cases and law enforcement officials. As well as its feud with El Menchos CJNG, El Marros group has made threats against new Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, intelligence website InSight Crime reports. Armas enlisted help from his neighbors, a retired U.S. Marine and his wife. "If its coming from a cartel, they could have sold a pound to Asians, black guys, outlaw motorcycle gangs, white trash," said Lt. Jeremy Williams, of the Ashe County Sheriff's Office inNorth Carolina. Armas also used a former nurse from Clatsop County who was battling addiction to cart drugs from Hillsboro to the coast. Adults and children are forced to work in CJNG's crude meth super labs vats on patches of dirt hidden in the jungle. And for those who make the gut-wrenching decision to stay, life has been reduced to the desperate, defensive gambit ofdigging trenchesacross highways in western Michoacn. MEXICO PASSES BILL THAT COULD SET BACK US PARTNERSHIP IN DRUG WAR BY DECADES. CJNG wasn't the only cartel in the Bluegrass State in 2017, but authorities say it was the main supplier of fentanyl when Louisville's Adam Cooley, who sought heroin, snorted 20 times a lethal . But federal agents say CJNG was Kentuckys main supplier of fentanyl at the time of his death. CJNG burns rivals face alive as a way of mocking his nickname Ghost Rider. According to U.S. officials, the CJNG is now the primary drug trafficking outfit in 24 of Mexico's 32 states. The Courier Journal could not say with certainty who supplied the drugs that killed Adam Cooley. They found drugs and drug couriers, including a former nurse, linked back to Hillsboro in neighboring Washington County. Market data provided by Factset. From there, Victor Farfan and his inner circle supplied drug trafficker John Armas in Hillsboro. Critics say the Mexican president, known as AMLO, seems more concerned about using federal troops to keep South Americanimmigrants out of his country than challenging the cartels. A high-ranking state official in Jaliscosaid Americans are too quick to blame Mexico for the U.S. drug crisis. Alderete also is accused of asking a criminal informant in Paducahfor assault rifles andagrenade launcherto supplya cartel "war" in Mexico,saidJesseRiddle, the Narcotics Unit captain with the McCracken County Sheriffs Office in Paducah. Este es el #Mxico de @lopezobrador_ @BreitbartNews @elpais_america pic.twitter.com/E7kek1yNK4, Mxico Cdigo Rojo (@MexicoRojo1) February 28, 2022. It's still a little shocking when you can tie it together and say for certain that's where it came from.". Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) gunmen lined up at least 17 victims and shot them during a funeral in western Mexico Sunday. There, amid the lush pastures and white rail fences, a Mexican immigrant with asinister secret quietly groomed prized thoroughbreds at historic Calumet Farm, according to court records. All rights reserved. More:This small-town Oregon bricklayer had a side hustle: Gun supplier for Mexican drug cartel. Most people don't associate drug trafficking with the scenic tourist destinations along the Oregon coast, but Mexican cartels seek less scrutiny there. On the run and out of sight, El Mencho is described by some veteran agents as a ghost. A cartel member even worked at Kentucky's famed Calumet Farm, home to eight Kentucky Derby and three Triple Crown winners. ", "Thats kind of hard to believe, but its true.". 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Think of this violence extending into every facet of their global operations. Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook The cartel exploits its connections with otherwise hard-working immigrants, said Dan Dodds, who leads DEA operations in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. The cartel has its hands in trafficking multiple deadly substances. 1 killer. A nine-month Courier Journal investigation reveals how CJNG's reach hasspread across the U.S. in the past five years, overwhelming cities and small towns with massive amounts of drugs. Armas used the couple's home as a drug stash house, paying them with enough meth for their daily fix. In Mexico, a DEA investigator said he was stunned when he learned CJNG cells were popping up in communities as small as Axton. Market data provided by Factset. In just six months, smugglers brought across the border almost two kilos of fentanyl up to 1 million lethal doses of the No. "Big cities have big police departments and DEA, FBI and (Homeland Security Investigations) and an ability to look at intelligence and focus on their cells and contacts, said the DEA's Donahue. He had a 1999 aggravated felony drug conviction in Multnomah County and was deported in 2001. The government also alleges that Los Cabos targeted law enforcement in Tijuana, killing at least three police officers. [CDATA[ Roberto never talked to agents or prosecutors. Yet, no sooner had authorities busted Kentucky's CJNG ringthan the cartel replaced Macias, sending in another team. Soldiers stand guard in front of a modified and armored truck as it is displayed to the media at a military base in Reynosa, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas June 5, 2011. Los Cabos allegedly engaged in this violence in support of CJNG, one of the most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world. Twomasterminds now in prisonorchestrated the scheme from Guadalajara:Carlos Parra Pedroza,aliasWalt Disney, who owned a jewelry store; and Diego Pineda Sanchez, an accountant. A larger probe was underway by Washington County Sheriff's WIN Team, the Westside Interagency Narcotics task force that includes agents with the FBI, Hillsboro and Beaverton police and the Oregon National Guard County-Drug investigators. //

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