Thread: Mexican Drug Cartels operating in the US

I live in Almaden Valley, a section of San Jose
that creeps up into the Santa Cruz mountain foothills. Its an
affluent community- median home price is about 950K. To my West is
the Summit of the Santa Cruz Mtns, not that far as the crow flies,
maybe 5-6 miles. While I am living in a suburban area, we are a very
short distance from the heavily forested hills of the Santa Cruz mountains.
So it goes from suburban to remote mountains in a matter of a mile
or less.
So yesterday morning we hear from a neighbor that there is alot of
police activity nearby (like less than 1/2 mile) and there are
numerous helicopters in the air overhead. It was a pot raid. It used
to be that kids and college students would grow pot in the rugged
mountains here, but not any more. It seems that DEA and police
officials had been surveiling a 3 acre pot farm, with more than
10,000 plants 4-5 feet high. But when they started to move in they
took rifle and shotgun fire from, not kids, but Mexican Drug Cartel
stoodges. Right in my freaking backyard, they have smuggled in
illegals to plant a care for the weed, with instructions to shoot
ANYBODY that comes near, including hikers that frequent the trails
in these hills. These scum are less than 3 miles from my backyard and
they are armed and ready to kill. The article that follows is from
the San Jose Mecury News, a paper that is very sympathetic to
illegals. You can bet I will be expressing my views to the editorial
board. Now that 85% of the pot grown in Ca (and beleive me thats
alot of weed) cared for by illegals and is controlled by mexican drug lords, I'd like to see
how the paper explains that vis-a-vis open borders.
the story-
Posted on Sat, Aug. 06, 2005



http://www.mercurynews.com

Pot bust takes violent turn

ONE WOUNDED, ANOTHER KILLED

By Ken McLaughlin and Brandon Bailey

Mercury News


Bay Area pot farming is taking a frightening new turn.

A state Fish and Game warden was shot in both legs and a man was
killed Friday during an early morning raid on a huge marijuana
garden near Mount Umunhum in a rugged, remote area of Santa Clara
County. The incident came a day after Santa Cruz County authorities
stamped out one of the most sophisticated pot-growing operations
they have ever seen.

Both operations had the hallmarks of aggressive Mexican drug
cartels, which in recent years have cornered California's marijuana-
growing market, state drug agents say.

``It's scary,'' Bob Cooke, special agent in charge of the state
Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement in San Jose, said of the new trend.
``Once you hit the ground, they are dressed in camouflage and hide
in tunnels and scurry up trees and watch us from above.''

On Thursday, ``they all ran, but today they shot back,'' Cooke said
Friday.

An unidentified man who authorities say had been guarding the pot
farm died after being hit in an exchange of gunfire during the raid,
carried out by Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies with the
assistance of three wardens.

Friday night, sheriff's deputies and San Jose police officers were
``scouring the hillsides'' for his partner, a sheriff's spokesman
said.

The injured Fish and Game warden was identified as Kyle Kroll, 25,
of Mountain View, who has been a warden for two years. He was
airlifted to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said Steve
Martarano, spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game. He
underwent surgery Friday afternoon and was listed in stable
condition.

Armed confrontation

Terrance Helm, a sheriff's spokesman, said the narcotics team was
confronted by two armed men about two hours after deputies launched
the raid. ``That's when the shooting began,'' he said.

Helm said he couldn't disclose specifics of the incident, such as
how many shots were fired, or what led to the shooting.

Kroll was evacuated by helicopter about 10:30 a.m. The suspect, Helm
said, died while sheriff's deputies waited for a SWAT team ``to
secure the area.'' At the time, deputies didn't know if there were
any other armed men in the area, Helm said.

The approximately 3-acre pot farm is on the eastern slope of Mount
Umunhum in the 16,879-acre Sierra Azul open-space reserve, which is
owned by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. The place where
the plants were found is closed to the public.

More than 10,000 plants, 4- to 5-feet tall, were discovered. The
district staff had reportedly alerted authorities to the pot farm,
which is in an area so remote that it takes about an hour to hike
from the nearest road. Cooke said the growers had dug irrigation
ponds and filled them with water carried in from hoses from
underground springs.

Agents Friday brought back about 500 plants and two pellet rifles,
but authorities said they did not believe those were the guns the
suspects used in the shoot-out. They planned to work all day today
to finish clearing out the plants.

In Santa Cruz County, the Marijuana Enforcement Team on Thursday
confiscated 4,700 plants off a hiking trail in Big Basin Park.

Cartel suspected

Because of the intricacy and size of that operation, authorities
said they suspected the garden was run by a Mexican cartel.
Sheriff's deputies said on Thursday they found four camp sites
arranged around a centralized cooking area amid manicured rows of
pot plants.

State drug agents say the Mexican cartels have boosted both the
potency of marijuana and the propensity for violence.

``Last year we had at least three shootings that I remember,'' Cooke
said.

`More money involved'

``It used to be they would booby-trap the gardens and leave them
unattended, or they would just run,'' Cooke said. ``Now they're
becoming more confrontational because . . . it's much better dope,
and there's a lot more money involved.''

Authorities say the multi-billion-dollar cartels have found it safer
and more lucrative to grow marijuana in the United States than to
have to smuggle it into the country. Instead, the cartels smuggle in
low-paid Mexican guards, hand them rifles and shotguns, and order
them to shoot anyone passing by the gardens.

``They spend all their time in the gardens and speak little or no
English and are told to defend the garden whatever way they can,''
said Robin Schwanke, a spokeswoman for state Attorney General Bill
Lockyer.

The attorney general's office estimates that about 85 percent of the
pot in the state is now grown by Mexican cartels.

Martarano said Fish and Game wardens are often requested to assist
in marijuana eradication raids.

Authorities have seen a dramatic jump in marijuana planting in
recent years. Agents increasingly have found the crop growing in
secluded public areas such as the Sequoia National Forest. The same
cartels are also involved in trafficking methamphetamine, cocaine
and heroin. Agents say pot is a seasonal business for the cartels
since it's mostly grown in the summer.

Helm said more than three dozen deputies and officers from other
police agencies were searching for the armed man throughout the day
Friday. The search through the low brush and steep terrain was made
more difficult because ridges blocked cell phone transmission and
other communication. The officers lugged satellite phones to try to
get around the problem.

The Mount Umunhum area has multi-million-dollar houses as well as
smaller, less well-kept homes.

Authorities say such marijuana operations present a danger to people
who hike through the area because they risk stumbling across
marijuana plots run by armed criminals.

``It's scary for everybody,'' said Karen Sepahmansour, a nearby
resident who had just returned from a hike in the same hills where
officers were hunting a fugitive with a gun.

``We're calling our neighbors,'' she said, ``and telling our kids to
stay in the house right now.''

Welcome to Alipac Dave! Great article you posted but I have one suggestion. Please add the links to the articles when you post them. I was able to trace down the article and add the link for you. Otherwise a very informative story that shows crime and corruption from Mexico is certainly here in the United States.