>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <120201bf0602$7e9d6a10$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Deja Vu All Over Again >Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 13:30:37 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Deja Vu All Over Again > >It happens every few months, like having to use the plunger on a sluggish >toilet. The DEA holds a press conference and claims to have broken up a >major drug ring, and then the press prints every word as though the press >were Moses and the DEA were a burning bush. > >Not only are the press reports unhindered by fact-checking, they are >absolutely unencumbered by logic. There is also clearly no reason for the >press to apply reason. Why ever would the DEA--and especially Janet >Reno--ever mislead us? > >So, once again, the DEA has "wiped out" (and I quote) "one of the largest >drug distribution networks in the United States." This amounted to 94 people >in the US and Mexico. Ninety-four. "One of the largest drug distribution >networks in the United States." Hmmmm. So the $350 billion worth of drugs >every year that make it from all parts of the world to every city in the >United States with a population greater than five takes place with >"networks" of fewer than 94 people? Amazing. But, of course, Janet Reno >would never mislead us, would she? So I guess drug running must really be a >mom and pop enterprise after all. > >And, of course, if "one of the largest drug distribution networks in the >United States" is no more, we can expect the street price of drugs to >skyrocket, can't we? I mean, that is what happens when supply is reduced >"significantly" and yet demand remains the same, isn't it? Funny, though, >how street prices have never gone up so much as a penny and wholesale prices >so much as a peso after these DEA announcements. In fact, the more of these >DEA announcements we hear, the more the potency of street drugs goes up and >the price goes down. Whatever could be going on here? Surely the DEA is not >pulling our collective chain. Criminals just aren't good businesspeople, I >guess. > >That the DEA wants to keep itself in business is understandable. Who wants a >real job where one has to work, after all? As a journalist, however, what I >don't understand is why the press treats DEA press releases with the same >respect it treats advertising copy--not a word gets changed or challenged, >ever. > >Ah, well. I do hope you enjoy this latest installment of the fictional >adventures of the DEA Chronicles. And tune in again in a couple months, when >once again the DEA will take several years to arrest less than 100 people >who were running "one of the largest drug distribution networks in the >United States." > >============ > >Los Angeles Times > >94 Arrests 'Wipe Out' Huge Drug Ring, DEA Reports > >Syndicate, part of Mexican Juarez cartel, shipped cocaine, marijuana for >U.S. distribution, authorities say. > >By ESTHER SCHRADER, Times Staff Writer >September 23, 1999 > >WASHINGTON--Dealing a substantial blow to one of the largest drug >distribution networks in the United States, authorities Wednesday said that >they have arrested 94 people who allegedly were shipping and selling cocaine >and marijuana throughout the Northeast, the Midwest and Southern California. > The arrests, which included three of the ring's top leaders, were made >in the United States, the Dominican Republic and Mexico beginning in March >1998, authorities said. During the operation, which spanned two years, U.S. >agents seized 12 tons of cocaine, 4,800 pounds of marijuana, $19 million in >U.S. currency and $7 million in assets belonging to leaders of the ring. > The syndicate is a key U.S. distribution network of Mexico's Juarez >cartel, until two years ago controlled by Amado Carrillo Fuentes, >authorities said. Carrillo, once the most powerful drug trafficker in >Mexico, died in July 1997 after plastic surgery, apparently intended to >disguise his features from authorities. > "By targeting the cartel's importation, transportation and distribution >network, we have substantially hindered [its] ability to move cocaine and >other drugs into and around this country," Atty. Gen. Janet Reno told >reporters Wednesday. > Run by Mexican nationals, the syndicate used Dominican and Colombian >gangs to move the cocaine throughout the United States, authorities said. >The cocaine was grown and processed in Colombia and shipped by speedboats >and container ships to the Mexican resort city of Cancun, where drug lord >Alcides Ramon Magana, one of the leaders of the Juarez cartel, controlled >its shipments to the United States, authorities said. > Drug Enforcement Administration officials said that the syndicate >transported the cocaine across the U.S.-Mexico border, then transferred it >to tractor-trailers in McAllen, Texas, and shipped it to distribution >centers across the country. The cocaine was wrapped in plastic bags, often >emblazoned with a logo of the "Roadrunner" cartoon character, and covered >with shipments of watermelon and cilantro to conceal it from authorities. > The magnitude of the drug seizures and the number of arrests--which >took place in San Diego, New York, Miami, Philadelphia and Chicago, among >other cities--strike a major blow to the increasingly pervasive influence of >Mexican drug syndicates in the United States, officials said. > Mexican-run drug organizations account for about 30% of the cocaine >distributed in this country and as much as three-quarters of the cocaine >that reaches the United States comes through Mexico, authorities estimated. > "We have been able to wipe out an entire drug-trafficking ring," said >Donnie Marshall, acting administrator of the DEA. "We effectively dismantled >it from top to bottom, from Mexico to the streets of the United States." > Those arrested, including Mexican and Dominican nationals, face charges >ranging from drug distribution and conspiracy to money laundering. More than >20 additional arrests of low-level distributors connected with the ring are >expected in the next few days, Reno said. > The ring was allegedly headed by Arturo Arredondo, whose $3-million >estate on the outskirts of McAllen was seized when he was arrested in >mid-August and later charged with possession of cocaine with intent to >distribute. > According to authorities, Arredondo used refrigerated trucks from his >produce business to transport the cocaine shipments. He allegedly controlled >an intricate network of traffickers who distributed and sold drugs down to >the wholesale level. The same trucks that transported the cocaine northward >were used to ship hundreds of millions of dollars in cash proceeds back to >Mexico, officials said. > Arredondo's luxuriously appointed house featured a life-sized movie >poster in the front hallway depicting actor Al Pacino brandishing a weapon >as the violent drug dealer in the movie "Scarface," officials said. > Another alleged ringleader who was taken into custody was Jorge >Ontiveros-Rodriguez, a Cuban native and U.S. citizen who headed the >organization's Southern California drug distribution network based in San >Diego, authorities said. He was arrested two weeks ago as he left his San >Diego home and faces weapons-related charges. > The head of the ring's Chicago branch, Jesse Quintanilla, was arrested >in May 1998 while leaving his house with a duffel bag containing several >hundred thousand dollars in cash, authorities said. In all, officials said >that they confiscated $6.2 million in cash from Quintanilla. According to >records Quintanilla kept, he distributed 14 tons of cocaine in the Chicago >area and grossed $22 million in a single five-month period last year, >authorities said. > Since August, Dominican officials have arrested two other alleged >high-ranking operators of the organization, identified as Julio Ramos and >Jose Luis Diaz, who oversaw drug warehouses in New Jersey. > On Wednesday afternoon, Mexican authorities arrested an alleged top >lieutenant of the drug ring, Jaime-Aguilar Gastelum, in Reynosa, Mexico. > The investigations and raids were carried out by joint task forces of >federal, state and local law enforcement officers. > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: