The Mexican Army certainly doesn't see the Sinaloa Drug Cartel as being dismantled and crushed, but the new U. S. Department of Justice has another story to tell. The drug cartels may be giving the armed forces down south of the border a run for their money, but in the United States the cartels are discovering the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration is a hell of a lot tougher than the Mexican Army.
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The Sinaloa Drug Cartel is still large, strong, powerful and very, very rich, but their tenatacles in the United States have been mangled. Now the DEA and the Mexican Army want to go after the body of the beast in Mexico.
DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart and President Obama's new Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. today announced the arrest of more than 750 scum bags on narcotics-related charges and the seizure of more than 23 tons of narcotics as part of a 21-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as “Operation Xcellerator.”
This week, 52 crooks in California, Minnesota and Maryland were arrested as part of Operation Xcellerator, which targeted the Sinaloa Cartel, a major Mexican drug trafficking organization, through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as cooperation with authorities in Mexico and Canada.
The Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for bringing multi-ton quantities of narcotics, including cocaine and marijuana, from Mexico into the United States through an enterprise of distribution cells in the United States and Canada. The Sinaloa Cartel is also believed to be responsible for laundering millions of dollars in criminal proceeds from illegal drug trafficking activities.
The Sinaloa Cartel was the biggest single enemy of the medical marijuana program. their destruction is good news for the law enforcement community and very good news for the legitimate and legal medical marijuana industry.
The individuals indicted in the cases are charged with a variety of crimes, including: engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise by violating various felony provisions of the Controlled Substances Act; conspiracy to import controlled substances; money laundering; and possession of an unregistered firearm. Hopefully they will be doing a lot of federal time.
“We successfully concluded the largest and hardest hitting operation to ever target the very violent and dangerously powerful Sinaloa drug cartel,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.
“From Washington to Maine, we have disrupted this cartel’s domestic operations—arresting U.S. cell heads and stripping them of more than $59 million in cash—and seriously impacted their Canadian drug operations as well. DEA will continue to work with our domestic and international partners to shut down the operations of the Sinaloa cartel and stop the ruthless violence the traffickers inflict on innocent citizens in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.”
“International drug trafficking organizations pose a sustained, serious threat to the safety and security of our communities,” said Attorney General Holder. “As the world grows smaller and international criminals step up their efforts to operate inside our borders, the Department of Justice will confront them head on to keep our communities safe.”
To date, Operation Xcellerator has led to the arrest of 755 individuals and the seizure of approximately $59.1 million in U.S. currency, more than 12,000 kilograms of cocaine, more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana, more than 1,200 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 8 kilograms of heroin, approximately 1.3 million pills of Ecstasy, more than $6.5 million in other assets, 149 vehicles, 3 aircraft, 3 maritime vessels and 169 weapons.
The 21-month investigation began shortly after the culmination of Operation Imperial Emperor, an investigation which resulted in the indictment of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF)-designated Consolidated Priority Organizational Target (CPOT) Victor Emilio Cazarez-Salazar, believed to be a command and control leader within the Sinaloa Cartel. CPOT Victor Cazarez-Salazar remains a fugitive. Click here for a list of the DEA fugitives wanted out of the San Francisco Division.
As a result of these recent arrests, federal charges were unsealed against numerous individuals in California, Minnesota and Maryland. Cases resulting from Operation Xcellerator are being handled by prosecutors in 11 judicial districts.
The investigative efforts in Operation Xcellerator were coordinated by the multi-agency Special Operations Division, comprised of agents and analysts from the DEA, FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service, as well as attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section. More than 200 federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies contributed investigative and prosecutorial resources to Operation Xcellerator through OCEDTF.
An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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