Thread: CONFIRMED: The DEA Struck A Deal With Mexico's Most Notorious Drug Cartel

More: Drug War Mexico DEA More: Drug War Mexico DEA

CONFIRMED: The DEA Struck A Deal With Mexico's Most Notorious Drug Cartel

Michael Kelley

Jan. 13, 2014, 12:33 PM

REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar

"El Vicentillo" being presented to the media in Mexico City on March 19, 2009.

See Also

Son Of Alleged Drug Kingpin Has Amazing Twitter Feed Full Of Guns And Cash



This Mexican Cartel Kingpin Supplies 80% Of The Drugs Flooding Chicago



Mexican Official Accuses CIA Of 'Managing' Not 'Fighting' The Drug Trade






An investigation by El Universal found that between the years 2000 and 2012, the U.S. government had an arrangement with Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel that allowed the organization to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs while Sinaloa provided information on rival cartels. Sinaloa, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, supplies 80% of the drugs entering the Chicago area and has a presence in cities across the U.S.
There have long been allegations that Guzman, considered to be "the world’s most powerful drug trafficker," coordinates with American authorities.
But the El Universal investigation is the first to publish court documents that include corroborating testimony from a DEA agent and a Justice Department official.
The written statements were made to the U.S. District Court in Chicago in relation to the arrest of Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the son of Sinaloa leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and allegedly the Sinaloa cartel’s "logistics coordinator."
Here's what DEA agent Manuel Castanon told the Chicago court:
"On March 17, 2009, I met for approximately 30 minutes in a hotel room in Mexico City with Vincente Zambada-Niebla and two other individuals — DEA agent David Herrod and a cooperating source [Sinaloa lawyer Loya Castro] with whom I had worked since 2005. ... I did all of the talking on behalf of [the] DEA."
A few hours later, Mexican Marines arrested Zambada-Niebla (a.k.a. "El Vicentillo") on charges of trafficking more than a billion dollars in cocaine and heroin. Castanon and three other agents then visited Zambada-Niebla in prison, where the Sinaloa officer "reiterated his desire to cooperate," according to Castanon.
El Universal, citing court documents, reports that DEA agents met with high-level Sinaloa officials more than 50 times since 2000.
Then-Justice Department prosecutor Patrick Hearn told the Chicago court that, according to DEA special agent Steve Fraga, Castro "provided information leading to a 23-ton cocaine seizure, other seizures related to" various drug trafficking organizations, and that "El Mayo" Zambada wanted his son to cooperate with the U.S.
El Universal
A screenshot from the documents published by El Universal.


"The DEA agents met with members of the cartel in Mexico to obtain information about their rivals and simultaneously built a network of informants who sign drug cooperation agreements, subject to results, to enable them to obtain future benefits, including cancellation of charges in the U.S.," reports El Universal, which also interviewed more than one hundred active and retired police officers as well as prisoners and experts.
Zambada-Niebla's lawyer claimed to the court that in the late 1990s, Castro struck a deal with U.S. agents in which Sinaloa would provide information about rival drug trafficking organizations while the U.S. would dismiss its case against the Sinaloa lawyer and refrain from interfering with Sinaloa drug trafficking activities or actively prosecuting Sinaloa leadership.
"The agents stated that this arrangement had been approved by high-ranking officials and federal prosecutors," Zambada-Niebla lawyer wrote.
After being extradited to Chicago in February 2010, Zambada-Niebla argued that he was also "immune from arrest or prosecution" because he actively provided information to U.S. federal agents.

Zambada-Niebla also alleged that Operation Fast and Furious was part of an agreement to finance and arm the cartel in exchange for information used to take down its rivals. (If true, that re-raises the issue regarding what Attorney General Eric Holder knew about the gun-running arrangements.)
A Mexican foreign service officer told Stratfor in April 2010 that the U.S. seemed to have sided with the Sinaloa cartel in an attempt to limit the violence in Mexico.
El Universal reported that the coordination between the U.S. and Sinaloa, as well as other cartels, peaked between 2006 and 2012, which is when drug traffickers consolidated their grip on Mexico. The paper concluded by saying that it is unclear whether the arrangements continue.
The DEA and other U.S. agencies declined to comment to El Universal.
SEE ALSO: How Drug Cartels Conquered Mexico [MAPS]
And: Here's One Reason To Doubt The New Fast & Furious Report That Exonerates Eric Holder

Michael Kelley

Jan. 13, 2014, 12:33 PM

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-government-and-the-sinaloa-cartel-2014-1#ixzz2qOMjgJEI


There a lot of comments and some are pretty well written!

Intense Photos Of Mexican Vigilantes Battling A Drug Cartel For City Control
http://www.businessinsider.com/mexic...-photos-2014-1
REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez



Mexico has long suffered blistering violence and crime at the hands of its homegrown drug cartels. Though the Mexican government has waged war on the cartels, the effort has struggled to go anywhere. More than 90,000 people have died in the ongoing conflict.
Fed up with a corrupt police force that is often in bed with the cartels and a military that has to this point been ineffective, some Mexicans have taken it upon themselves to fight the cartels and protect their families — with an incredible conflict happening this week in the city of Paracuaro.
Below are some pictures from what's happening south of the border:
Over the last year, vigilante groups, known as fuerzas autodefensas have sprung up all over Mexico, particularly in the southwestern state of Michoacan, an area plagued by the Knights Templar cartel.REUTERS/Jesus Solano


In neighboring Guerrero, members of the Public Safety System (the name of the vigilante group) marched to commemorate the first anniversary of their founding.REUTERS/Jesus Solano


On Monday, hundreds of vigilantes stormed Paracuaro, Michoacan, where the Knights Templar had set up their headquarters, in order to seize the town back from the cartel. Below is the entrance, where vigilantes erected a checkpoint.AP Photo/Agencia Esquema


The gunmen, "community police" from a number of nearby towns, rode in a convoy of pickup trucks and SUVs, before engaging in a gunfight with the Knights Templar. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez


The battle was bloody. One vigilante, two members of the Knights Templar, and two federal police were reportedly killed in the shootout. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez


Once they had taken control of the town, the vigilantes began disarming municipal police, whom they accuse of being corrupt and in league with the cartel. AP Photo/Hans Maximo Musielik


The vigilantes set up patrols and checkpoints on any highways going into and out of Paracuaro.REUTERS/Alan Ortega


Anybody suspected of being associated with the Knights Templar was detained. Currently, 11 police officers are being held on suspicion of colluding with the cartel.REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez


What happened in Paracuaro is becoming more common. Several months ago, another group in Guerrero detained more than 50 people for over six weeks for alleged crimes.AP Photo/Hans Maximo Musielik


While the vigilantes in Paracuaro went after the drug cartel, most other vigilante groups in Mexico are more concerned with punishing criminals who commit robberies, rape, and murder, than stopping the actual drug trade. AP Photo/Hans Maximo Musielik


In response to the vigilantes' takeover of Paracauro, the Michaocan governor told press that the police will begin attempting to "eradicate" the vigilante groups.REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez


For a government and police force already overwhelmed by the drug cartels, trying to eliminate the vigilante groups likely won't be easy.




Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mexic...#ixzz2qOUvBc8C





How Drug Cartels Conquered Mexico [MAPS]

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-7-drug-cartels-conquered-mexico-2012-11?op=1#ixzz2qOU33JH5

It is now possible to see the conquest of drug cartels over Mexico.


Viridiana Rios and Michele Coscia of Harvard University created a program called MOGO that searches specialized blogs, local newspapers and Google News for references to the different cartels, their locations and their influence between 1999 and 2011.
The results show how since 2006—when Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared an all-out war against drug traffickers in the country— the cartels have only gotten stronger. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 Mexicans have been killed.
Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado and Washington may radically change the drug debate in Latin America, but for now the cartels control Mexico.
Click here to see the takeover »

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-7...#ixzz2qOV6FsHd

Extremely Pissed off RIGHT Wingers 2


LIKE AND SHARE! ~D DOG JR~ Extremely Pissed off RIGHT Wingers 2