Thread: MSNBC-Cocaine ring in Wisconsin

Giant cocaine business hid in plain sight
Mexican drug gang quietly penetrated deep into America's heartland

WATERTOWN, Wis. - In this Midwestern town 1,500 miles from Mexico, in a place that proudly proclaims itself the birthplace of kindergarten, Coco the cocaine kingpin flourished.

Coco came to the United States illegally, and used layers of family members and henchmen to build an operation that saturated southeastern Wisconsin with cocaine until authorities moved in. Then the players started falling — two dead in Mexico, nearly two dozen locked up in American prisons.

It's a story that echoes elsewhere. The U.S. Justice Department says more than 200 U.S. cities have seen cartel-related drug smuggling. Much has been made of Houston's gun trafficking, Phoenix's kidnappings and Atlanta's status as a drug-distribution hub.

But Coco's tale illustrates just how far from the border Mexican drug dealers set up shop, and how easily they infiltrate a town, hide in plain sight and build a lucrative operation.

"You feel that Watertown is a safe town and that you're isolated from a lot of that," said Karen Timm, 62, who lives two doors down from an apartment one of Coco's dealers used. "Now you know that you're vulnerable."

Ringleader Coco kept out of sight
In the late 1990s, Jefferson County Sheriff's drug officers started hearing about a Hispanic drug ring moving about a pound of cocaine into the area every month.

But they couldn't get anyone to name names.

In 2005, Detective Sgt. Tim Madson, leader of the Jefferson County Sheriff's drug task force, decided to question dealers and users more sharply about the ring, sometimes offering to reduce charges for information.

The same name kept surfacing: Coco.

In July 2007, an informant introduced Brian Prieve, an undercover Dodge County sheriff's deputy, to two Mexican distributors. Prieve started collecting phone numbers and placing cocaine orders with Coco, a cool, confident Mexican who spoke excellent English.
Coco never showed himself, always sending runners to deliver the drugs.

He was "just a voice," Prieve said.

Two months later, a 46-year-old drifter and suspected cocaine dealer named Arnold Wood called Madson and said he wanted to turn his life around. He talked about Coco.

Wood said he was buying up to 15 ounces of cocaine a day from Coco on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, he bought up to 25 ounces a day.

He sold it all over the region. Business was so good he branched out to subcontractors.
Investigators still aren't certain where all the cocaine originated. Mexican cartels bring the drugs across the border and into hub cities such as Houston and Atlanta to be shipped out. From there it filters down through many distributors.

State Justice Department Special Agent Jim Engels, who helped Madson's task force on the case, said investigators could never establish a connection between Coco and the cartels. Their goal was far more immediate: clean up Watertown.

"The ultimate goal was to make a local impact, to get Coco and his group," Engels said. "The bottom line is this is where it (cartel cocaine) ends up."

But investigators struggled to connect the pieces.

story continued at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31969847/


And Sen. Chuck Schumer says that our "borders are secure"

It's a story that echoes elsewhere. The U.S. Justice Department says more than 200 U.S. cities have seen cartel-related drug smuggling. Much has been made of Houston's gun trafficking, Phoenix's kidnappings and Atlanta's status as a drug-distribution hub.

Yeah it echos that we need to stop the runaway train. America is headed toward becoming a third world country!

But Coco's tale illustrates just how far from the border Mexican drug dealers set up shop, and how easily they infiltrate a town, hide in plain sight and build a lucrative operation.

Of course they hide in plain sight! They live in the same illegal envader enclaves! They're not stupid! They know they will be safe there, as cops and authorites are not going to come looking for illegals! They are free to run their operations with inpunity!

Just another example of how illegal immigration in of itself breeds more crime. And if they are in the upper midwest, you can bet they are in every state across this country. And probably growing!