Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 12 March 2020
AP Exclusive: Inside massive DEA raid targeting drug cartel

By MICHAEL BALSAMO special agent in charge of nia, about a dozen team found inside the homes be- formed in 2010 from a wing
Associated Press Drug Enforcement Admin- members prepped early ing searched. of the Sinaloa cartel based
CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) — In istration's special opera- Wednesday for their target. The special agent in charge in the western city of Gua-
the darkness, the team suits tions division. "They promise They searched the home, of the special operations dalajara. While it once
up quietly, putting on their specialized in producing
helmets and tactical gear. methamphetamine, like
Federal agents lug batter- most Mexican cartels it has
ing rams, bolt cutters and expanded into multidrug
heavy weaponry by foot shipments including fen-
up a hill on a residential tanyl, cocaine, meth and
California street that's softly heroin.
aglow from street lamps. The cartel is led by the
Then the agents turn onto elusive Oseguera, whose
the walkway of their tar- bodyguards once shot
get's home. down a Mexican military
"Police! Search warrant!" helicopter to prevent his
one officer yells as agents arrest. In recent weeks,
bang on the front door. prosecutors have brought
"Police search warrant!" charges against his son,
And then three thunder- Nemesio Oseguera, also
ous bangs as the task force known as "El Menchito" and
breaks down the front door. his daughter, Jessica Jo-
Moments later, a reputed hanna Oseguera.
member of the Jalisco New And officials say he's more
Generation Cartel, known dangerous than reputed
as CJNG, is walked out in Mexican drug kingpin and
handcuffs. escape artist Joaquin "El
In early-morning raids Chapo" Guzman, who as
Wednesday, agents leader of the Sinaloa cartel
fanned out across the Unit- DEA agents search a residential house during an arrest of a suspected drug trafficker on ran a massive drug con-
ed States, culminating a Wednesday, March 11, 2020 in Diamond Bar, Calif. spiracy that spread mur-
six-month investigation with Associated Press der and mayhem for more
the primary goal of disman- than two decades.
tling the upper echelon of hope, and they deliver de- a stately, salmon-colored division assembled with her "I think the threat from
CJNG and hoping to get spair." Spanish Colonial-style with team in front of a heat map El Mencho and CJNG is
closer to capturing its lead- For the U.S, combating a large chandelier in the — red dots glowing darker greater right now because
er, one of the most wanted Mexico's fastest-growing foyer, palm trees in the and darker as more arrests in my opinion, at the time
men in America. There's a and most violent gang is a front yard, and crawled are made, primarily in Tex- Chapo was captured or
$10 million reward for the top priority. Law enforce- on the ground to look un- as, California and New Jer- at the time he was kind of
arrest of Nemesio "El Men- ment officials believe the der cars, including a black sey. By 9 a.m., more than at his at his heyday, so to
cho" Oseguera. gang has drug distribution Lexus, in the driveway. No 60 people had been taken speak, the Sinaloa Cartel
The gang controls between hubs in Los Angeles, New shots were fired. into custody. was fractured, it was a little
one-third and two-thirds of York, Chicago, Houston Victor Ochoa, 34, was ar- Assistant Attorney General broken up," Bodner said.
the U.S. drug market. It is so and Atlanta. It is believed rested on drug charges. Brian Benczkowski, head of El Chapo was a little flash-
violent that members leave to have a presence in 24 of The DEA alleges he acts as the Justice Department's ier, but Mencho and the
piles of bodies in streets Mexico's 32 states. a stash house manager for criminal division, called the Jalisco gang see their drug
and hanging from over- Unlike other cartels, CJNG the cartel. It wasn't clear operation "the most com- business as just that -- busi-
passes in Mexico, and they shows no reluctance in di- yet whether he had a de- prehensive action to date ness, Bodner said.
fill the city of Guadalajara rectly attacking police and fense attorney. in the Department of Jus- "They have a little bit more
with mass graves. They car- army patrols and is blamed At the command center tice's effort to disrupt, dis- discipline. They're not nec-
ry machine guns and hand for the deadliest attacks tucked inside a nonde- mantle and ultimately de- essarily into the partying
grenades. They once used against law enforcement script government building stroy CJNG" and living the good life, it's
rocket launchers to shoot forces in Mexico. In elimi- in northern Virginia, a group While Mexican drug car- just about the business of
down a Mexican military nating rivals, it has carried of a dozen analysts and tels made their money drug trafficking and con-
helicopter. out spectacular acts of vio- agents sat behind com- predominantly from mari- trol, and that's what makes
More than 600 people lence. puter screens inside a con- juana in past decades, the them scarier, Bodner said.
have been arrested dur- "Their propensity to vio- ference room that's been market has somewhat dis- The Jalisco cartel is also
ing the operation in recent lence is a big part of it, converted into a com- sipated with the state-level known for brazen tactics
months, more than 15,000 they're very violent organi- mand center. As agents legalization of cannabis in such as driving around in
kilos of meth was seized zation, they're a well-armed were banging down doors dozens of states across the convoys of pickup trucks
and nearly $20 million tak- organization, but really the across the country, the U.S. marked with the letters
en as search and arrest gasoline that was thrown phones rang at the com- Now, they've turned to "CJNG" and for circulating
warrants were executed. on the fire was synthetic mand center and analysts methamphetamine and videos of heavily-armed
About 250 were arrested drugs," said Bill Bodner, the recorded the number of ar- fentanyl, selling it at almost cartel gunmen in military-
Wednesday. special agent in charge of rests and amount of drugs 14 times the price it cost style dress. While Mexico
"El Mencho and his as- the DEA's field office in Los seized on printed work- to make and flooding the says it is no longer con-
sociates prey on the ad- Angeles. sheets. streets of the U.S., fueling centrating on detaining
dicts, and they prey on The Associated Press had An analyst entered the in- homelessness and the opi- drug lords, the Mexican
small towns where they exclusive access to the formation into a DEA com- oid crisis, and leaving be- government has extra-
can act as bullies and in- raid outside Los Angeles puter screen as other ana- hind another trail of bodies: dited Oseguera's son and
filtrate these small towns," and the national com- lysts ran phone numbers, from overdoses. has detained some of his
said Wendy Woolcok, the mand center. In Califor- addresses and nicknames The Jalisco Cartel was associates.q