Illegal Immigrant Heroin Ring from Mexico Busted in Denver

by ROBERT ARCE
17 Jan 2018
Denver, CO

A Mexico-linked heroin trafficking ring operating in the Denver metro area was busted after a 61-count grand jury indictment accused six men of racketeering activities from April to December 2017. Five defendants were living in the U.S. illegally.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, four of the men had been deported multiple times and detainers were issued for four of the six defendants. One of the six’s immigration status was still unknown, and one is not yet in custody according to the Denver Post.

The six were indicted as a result of a long-term investigation conducted by the West Metro Drug Task Force, which made undercover purchases or seized 3,305 grams of heroin. Search warrants at four stash houses reportedly turned up an additional 3,215 grams of heroin and $6,700.

The investigation revealed that the defendants were allegedly importing heroin from outside of Colorado and using multiple stash houses in the Denver metro area to store drugs.

According to investigators, buyers would call a point of contact who would act as a dispatcher and arrange where drugs would be delivered. A runner would meet the buyer, and return the cash to a defendant identified as Fermin Flores-Rosales, 41, who then allegedly wired the buy money to banks in Mexico.

According to ICE, Flores-Rosales, his co-defendants Cristobal Flores-Rosales, 47; Yoel Soto-Campos, 21; and Joel Torrez-Espinoza, 25; were illegally in the United States. Torrez-Espinoza was previously convicted in 2012 in Utah of felony possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

A fifth defendant, Mario Acosta-Ruiz aka Alfonso Rosales-Alverez, was in the U.S. illegally from Mexico as well.

A sixth defendant, 24-year-old Juan Borques Meza, was also indicted. ICE did not share information on his immigration status. Torrez-Espinoza was identified as the defendant not yet in custody.

All six defendants were charged with criminal conspiracy and racketeering for violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act (COCCA) and for the alleged distribution of drugs.

District Attorney Peter Weir said, “This indictment and the dismantling of this heroin ring goes a long way towards stopping the flow of heroin into our community.”

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2018/...busted-denver/

Just goes to show that legalizing marijuana doesn't slow down the Mexican drug cartels as some would have us believe.

Legalizing weed doesn't slow down the illegal heroin market, it slows down the foreign weed market.

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Originally Posted by Judy

Legalizing weed doesn't slow down the illegal heroin market, it slows down the foreign weed market.

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My point is it doesn't do a thing to get rid of the drug cartels. Reduce their marijuana profits and they just expand their operations in other areas to make up for the deficit. Honestly, I don't really believe it does much to reduce the flow of illegal pot, it just reduces the profit margin somewhat. The drug cartels will always undercut the so-called legal pot trade (not federally legal).

Legalizing and taxing pot does more to create more new clients than it does to supply the crowd that buys it cheaper from distributors that get the drug from the cartels.

I realize what I've said doesn't exactly fit the narrative you've been espousing on here over the last few years, but it is the way I see it. Nationally legalizing, regulating, and taxing marijuana is not going to bring an end to the drug cartels or the criminal environment they create.

Good job of ICE many thanks

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Originally Posted by MW

My point is it doesn't do a thing to get rid of the drug cartels. Reduce their marijuana profits and they just expand their operations in other areas to make up for the deficit. Honestly, I don't really believe it does much to reduce the flow of illegal pot, it just reduces the profit margin somewhat. The drug cartels will always undercut the so-called legal pot trade (not federally legal).

Legalizing and taxing pot does more to create more new clients than it does to supply the crowd that buys it cheaper from distributors that get the drug from the cartels.

I realize what I've said doesn't exactly fit the narrative you've been espousing on here over the last few years, but it is the way I see it. Nationally legalizing, regulating, and taxing marijuana is not going to bring an end to the drug cartels or the criminal environment they create.

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The illegal weed market is 70% of the total illegal drug market in the US. Heroin, cocaine and meth are the other 30%. Legalizing weed only addressed the 70% illegal weed market. You have to do full legalization of all drugs to shut down the rest, which I support, with regulations to control it.

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Originally Posted by Judy

The illegal weed market is 70% of the total illegal drug market in the US. Heroin, cocaine and meth are the other 30%. Legalizing weed only addressed the 70% illegal weed market. You have to do full legalization of all drugs to shut down the rest, which I support, with regulations to control it.

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You're not hearing me. Legalizing marijuana nationally will not get rid of the drug cartels, nor will it eliminate the distribution of marijuana by the cartels.

As for your comment regarding the legalization of all illegal drugs ...... well that comment, in my opinion, is so ridiculous I'm not even going to justify it with a comment.

It will shut 'em down. No doubt about it. No one is going to buy from these thugs when they can walk into a nice safe store to make their purchases.

Not taking sides but legalizing weed will solve nothing but empower people to get stoned wherever they want and cause more problems.

They will be getting stoned before work and at lunch. This will create a lot of problems for Employers.

Now these stoners will be "coming out of the closet". Best to keep them in the closet to get stoned.

The reality is people who smoke pot are no better or worse than anyone else, whether in the work place or elsewhere.

Employers do not want people coming to work drunk or stoned. Very rare someone is doing Tequila shots at 7am before work...or at lunch.

It is a major safety hazard in the culinary industry, processing plants, people who drive trucks, in restaurants, many jobs.

No one is saying they are bad people. I am saying buying legal pot on every street corner empowers them with no fear to get stoned where they want, whenever they want.

Have you ever done drugs or got stoned?

No, I've never done drugs or been stoned. But, I have plenty of friends who have over the years. They went to Vietnam, college or trade school, they all went to work, they got married, they worked their asses off, they raised great kids, and never asked anyone for anything. They are some the best people I've ever known.

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Originally Posted by Judy

It will shut 'em down. No doubt about it. No one is going to buy from these thugs when they can walk into a nice safe store to make their purchases.

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No it won't and there is no doubt about that! Your thinking is wrong on this because like I said earlier, the drug cartels will always undercut a legal market. Heck, they're doing it as we speak. I posted an article just a couple days ago that showed the cartels were actually growing pot in Colorado. Yes, the cartels are still pushing their marijuana in Colorado by bringing it in and by growing it locally. All the legalization of pot will do is create more addicts, destroy more lives, make access easier for children, dumb down our population, cause more deaths on our highways, etc., etc.

Those that were using pot before legalization will continue to use their cut-rate distributors to purchase it tax free. Legalizing the drug creates new users out of previous non-users and make it easier for those using it before to do so easier with less hassle.

No,your thinking is wrong on this. You think because someone chooses to do something you don't like that you can exploit the power and force of government to make them conform to your opinion. We've had this failed War on Drugs for almost 50 years, the industry has grown every year with the population, we've wasted and ruined tens of millions of American lives with drug charges, with no impact whatsoever on the business, the drugs, the usage, the borders or illegal immigration. All the bad consequences of the War on Drugs have grown, with no benefits at all.

The states are fully capable of managing and regulating the weed market, both medical and recreational. It's up to them what they want to do. The feds have failed and need to get the hell out of a costly program that ruins lives of Americans without any benefits. The feds need to focus on the borders and illegal drugs and illegal aliens hauling them in and rolling our money out. Leave the states alone.

I've never been a believer in just throwing up my hands in surrender on important issues just because things aren't going well. Legalizing schedule 1 drugs is wrong and to give in to it is to surrender on something that would have a huge negative impact on our country and its citizens!

We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this issue.

You were wrong to want to control people this way to begin with, it's not you throwing up your hands, it's states putting you back in your place, and I support them. I hope they go all the way.

The stuff stinks, literally. And like cigarette smoke it follows you even if you do not participate. Someone who recently went to Colorado to enjoy the area could not escape the stench of it in the town.

Marijuana is being altered to be more potent and often laced with other things. I would not want someone to be drinking or smoking something that would impair them in the least if flying a plane, operating public transportation or just driving around on roads. Drugs and crime are linked, too.

Young people, many who lack the judgement that hopefully comes with age, will try things that are more easily accessible. There is also the negative impression people get when they suspect you of drugs. Going to get a job and smelling of marijuana would limit your prospects. Being innocent of drugs but encountering them can affect you, too.

Personally, as a parent, I would hope my child neither drank alcohol or smoked anything. So many bad things are automatically avoided in life by doing these things. Not the choice of most I know.


Securing our borders, patrolling our parks and forests to identify drug cartel activity will help to prevent the dangers associated with it all.

This is not the marijuana of the 60's & 70's...this stuff is lethal what they put in it.

That goes for all heroin, ecstasy and the rest of the synthetic crap that is out there.

All these State whores want is MORE taxes...taxes...taxes...even if they have to sell their Grandmother to get it!

The legal marijuana is safe, it's the illegal drugs that aren't. It's why Americans who want to use pot should go to a nice legal store to make their purchases and not purchase from criminal violent despicable foreign drug cartels.