Results 1 to 9 of 9
Thread: Mexican cartels plague Atlanta
Thread Information
Users Browsing this Thread
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
-
03-08-2009, 11:41 PM #1
Mexican cartels plague Atlanta
Mexican cartels plague Atlanta
Updated 4m ago
By Larry Copeland and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
ATLANTA — In a city where Coca Cola, United Parcel Service and Home Depot are the titans of industry, there are new powerful forces on the block: Mexican drug cartels.
Their presence and ruthless tactics are largely unknown to most here. Yet, of the 195 U.S. cities where Mexican drug-trafficking organizations are operating, federal law enforcement officials say Atlanta has emerged as the new gateway to the troubled Southwest border.
Rival drug cartels, the same violent groups warring in Mexico for control of routes to lucrative U.S. markets, have established Atlanta as the principal distribution center for the entire eastern U.S., according to the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center.
In fiscal year 2008, federal drug authorities seized more drug-related cash in Atlanta — about $70 million — than any other region in the country, Drug Enforcement Administration records show.
This year, more than $30 million has been intercepted in the Atlanta area — far more than the $19 million in Los Angeles and $18 million in Chicago.
Atlanta has not seen a fraction of the violence that engulfs much of northern Mexico, but law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned about the cartels' expanding operations here.
"The same folks who are rolling heads in the streets of Ciudad Juárez" — El Paso's Mexican neighbor — "are operating in Atlanta. Here, they are just better behaved," says Jack Killorin, who heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy's federal task force in Atlanta.
The same regional features that appeal to legitimate corporate operations — access to transportation systems and proximity to major U.S. cities — have lured the cartels, Atlanta U.S. Attorney David Nahmias says.
Explosive Hispanic growth
An added attraction for the cartels, say Nahmias and Rodney Benson, the DEA's Atlanta chief, is the explosive growth of the Hispanic community.
Nahmias calls northeast suburban Gwinnett County, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, the "epicenter" of the region's drug activity.
Gwinnett's Hispanic population surged from 8,470 in 1990 to 64,137 in 2000, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Now, 17% of the county's 776,000 people are Hispanic.
"You see Mexican drug-trafficking operations deploying representatives to hide within these communities in plain sight," Benson says. "They were attempting to blend into the same communities as those who were hard-working, law-abiding people."
The cartel representatives here range from the drivers, packagers and money counters to senior figures in the drug trade.
"We've got direct linkages between cartel representatives who take their orders from cartel leadership in Mexico," Benson says.
From the border, shipments of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin are routed over land to Atlanta for storage in a network of stash houses. They are then moved to distribution operations in the Carolinas, Tennessee, the Mid-Atlantic, New York and New England.
Cash is generally moved over the same routes back to the Atlanta area, where balance sheets are reconciled. The bundles of money are turned over to transportation units for bulk shipments back to Mexico, Benson says.
Concern over violence
Although the level of drug-related violence in Mexico has not surfaced in the Atlanta area, recent incidents have raised concerns among law enforcement officials.
Last July, for example, a Rhode Island man who allegedly owed $300,000 to Atlanta-based traffickers was found chained to a wall in the basement of a Lilburn, Ga., home, located in western Gwinnett County.
Benson says the man had been blindfolded, gagged and beaten. Federal investigators, who were alerted to the location, later found the man alive but severely dehydrated. Three Mexican nationals fled the house when authorities approached. All three were captured and a cache of weapons, including an assault rifle, was seized.
"There is no doubt in my mind that … we certainly saved his life," Benson says.
About the same time last year, another man was kidnapped in Gwinnett County for non-payment of drug proceeds. When traffickers went to pick up what they thought was a $2 million ransom, shots were exchanged between the traffickers and police who were working with the victim's family. One of the suspects was killed and the other arrested, Benson says.
Killorin says much of the violence has been related to similar incidents of "intra-cartel discipline" and has not spilled into the streets.
There is no mistaking the groups' influence.
"We know they're here," Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Illana Spellman says, adding that the area's access to interstate highways is a major lure. "Geographically, it's set up perfectly for these kinds of activities."
Johnson reported from Washington, D.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... tels_N.htmNO AMNESTY
Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.
Sign in and post comments here.
Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
-
03-08-2009, 11:45 PM #2
You can post a comment about this article on the USA TODAY Online site at this link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... tels_N.htmNO AMNESTY
Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.
Sign in and post comments here.
Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
-
03-09-2009, 02:07 AM #3
USA TODAY
just couldn't bring themselves to mention that most of these gang members are ILLEGAL ALIENS.
I wonder why that is.NO AMNESTY
Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.
Sign in and post comments here.
Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
-
03-09-2009, 12:12 PM #4
This article now has more than 200 comments on the USA TODAY Online site.
You can post your comment at this link:
http://content.usatoday.com/community/c ... .story&p=2NO AMNESTY
Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.
Sign in and post comments here.
Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
-
03-09-2009, 12:19 PM #5
Can't be true. Napolitano says violence hasn't crossed the border. (sarcasm alert).
"A Nation of sheep will beget a government of Wolves" -Edward R. Murrow
Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
-
03-09-2009, 05:55 PM #6
This article now has more than 540 comment on the USA TODAY Online site.
NO AMNESTY
Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.
Sign in and post comments here.
Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
-
03-09-2009, 06:11 PM #7An added attraction for the cartels, say Nahmias and Rodney Benson, the DEA's Atlanta chief, is the explosive growth of the Hispanic community.RIP Butterbean! We miss you and hope you are well in heaven.-- Your ALIPAC friends
Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn
-
03-10-2009, 01:57 PM #8
U.S.A.TODAY
It seems that the people who read USA TODAY are very interested in learning more about the criminal illegal alien drug gangs in our country.
Now maybe they will want to get rid of them.
NO AMNESTY
USA TODAY most popular stories
Jump to: Most read | Most commented | Most recommended | Most e-mailed
Most read
1. Mexican cartels plague Atlanta
2. Most religious groups in USA have lost ground, survey finds
3. Illegal immigrants might get stimulus jobs, experts say
4. Man, 27, charged in Illinois pastor shooting
5. Lifeline Live: Celebrity Gossip & Entertainment News from Hollywood
6. See how U.S. religious landscape has changed in nearly 2 decades
7. Miracle surgery: Girl 'fantastic' after 6 organs removed, replaced
8. 24 million go from 'thriving' to 'struggling'
9. Pop Candy Blog: Popular Culture News & Today's Trends
10. Both Chris Brown, Rihanna could be facing career falloutNO AMNESTY
Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.
Sign in and post comments here.
Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
-
03-10-2009, 02:17 PM #9
I sent this to a friend of mine in Atlanta. She is very against illegal aliens and she knows there's plenty of them there. She is upset that so many Atlantans are struggling to survive and yet illegal aliens are opening businesses.
Arizona GOP pushing tough, new border policies, but faces strong...
05-05-2024, 10:24 AM in illegal immigration News Stories & Reports