DEA: Mexican drug cartel extortion moving more into U.S.

December 27, 2011 at 9:13 AM by AHN

Tom Ramstack – AHN News Legal Correspondent

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Mexican drug cartels are increasingly demanding protection fees from retail businesses on the U.S. side of the border, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Law enforcement agencies are having trouble stopping the extortion because the businesses that pay the money typically employ illegal immigrants. They do not report the extortion to police to avoid the risk their workers might be arrested and deported.

Gang members threaten to damage the businesses if the owners refuse to pay the extortion money, DEA officials say.

Commonly, messengers for the gangs will mention the risk that a business could suffer a devastating fire if the owners do not pay a “street tax.”

The extortion rings appear to be part of a growing presence of Mexican gangs in the United States, one of which was targeted for arrests recently in Washington, D.C.

The Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center​ has called Mexican drug cartels one of the greatest crime threats in the United States.

In addition, the cartels are increasingly investing their illegal drug money in American businesses to hide, or “launder,” the source of the money, the DEA is reporting.

Restaurants, tire companies and car sales lots are among their preferred businesses.

Details of the extortion and money laundering along the border are emerging from the prosecution of 35 members of the Barrio Azteca in Texas. Five of them from El Paso were convicted and sentenced this month.

The gang operates primarily between El Paso, TX, and Las Cruces, NM, but claims to have members in other parts of the United States.

The five sentenced so far were convicted on charges related to collecting and distributing the drug and “street tax” money among gang members.

Other members of the gang are scheduled for trial in the spring for murder, racketeering, drug offenses and other crimes.

The Department of Justice accuses them of the March 13, 2010, murders in Juarez, Mexico, of a U.S. Consulate employee, her husband and a third man.

U.S. Consulate employee Lesley Ann Enriquez and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, an El Paso County sheriff’s detention officer, were ambushed in their vehicle in Juarez as they left a children’s party. Another man leaving the party also was hit by gunfire and killed.

The Barrio Azteca allegedly conspires with Mexican drug cartels to smuggle drugs and launder the money.
They often use the money to hire lawyers for imprisoned gang members as well as to buy more drugs and guns, according to the Justice Department.

They return the Mexican cartels’ portion of the money to them through wire transfers, gift cards and debit cards.

The gang is believed to use a military command structure that includes ranks for its members, such as captains and sergeants.

Mexican gangs are believed to have extended their influence into Washington, D.C., which prompted police to arrest nine of them recently.

The nine alleged members of La Familia Mexican drug cartel were some of the 70 people arrested.

Washington police also seized 161 firearms and more than $7 million in cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamines and other drugs during “Operation Manic Enterprises.”

The yearlong investigation leading to the arrests used undercover police officers posing as owners of a rap music production studio in northeast Washington. They purchased illegal guns and drugs from people who later were arrested.

At first, the guns purchased by the undercover officers consisted largely of handguns and shotguns.
Police began making arrests after one of the illegal salesmen offered to sell the officer hand grenades and a rocket launcher.

http://gantdaily.com/2011/12/27/dea-...more-into-u-s/