Prosecutors successfully pushed for 15 years in their sentencing memo, pointing to Farfan's "unwillingness to stop drug trafficking and his unwillingness to remain outside of the United States." During Eduardo's detention hearing, prosecutors told the judge the Farfan drug ring was supplied by a Mexican cartel. He ran a drug network that trafficked kilos of meth with help from his then-wife, Socorro Elena Gutierrez, from their Washington County home. A young woman en route to selling street food was also fatally struck by a stray bullet through a car window. Known as CJNG, the cartel is a global powerhouse, detected on every continent except Antarctica. In eightmonths, Sosas crew laundered about $1million for CJNG,stacking drugs and cash behind a wall of their trailer. "The threat of Mexican cartel violence and the drugs they bring into our nation cant be overstated," said Russell Coleman, the top federal prosecutor for the Western District of Kentucky. or redistributed. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Furthermore, it's part of their propaganda drive to recruit the many youths seeking that "narco"-glamorized life, flashed and filtered by images of beautiful women, mounds of money and a depository of deadly arms. Moreover, the U.S. lacks the authority to make arrests in foreign countries, said Evans, a senior DEA official. 13 Mexican police officers were killed in an ambush, sold heroin to two undercover police officers, fired Russian-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Investigators uncovered a hidden hub of stash houses, state trooper working with a DEA task force nearly brought down El Mencho, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Investigators uncovered three main pieces of the puzzle that revealed a snapshot of how this drug ring thrived. He knew he faced deportation back within reach of the cartels. For an overview of the Pjaros Sierra versus Crtel Jalisco Nueva Generacin (CJNG) conflict, please see this previous Borderland Beat story. "He spoke with Mexican-based members of the conspiracy, met interstate couriers and directed subordinates," prosecutors noted in a government motion to keep Farfan locked up pending trial. Sheriff's investigators say a Paducah, Kentucky, business owner who fell behind on a drug debt was warned last year by the cartel: "If we dont get our money, were gonna kill you and your family.. 1 nemesis, the Sinaloa Cartel, dominates the majority supply of everything from methamphetamine and heroin to the devastating synthetic opioid. He briefly worked as a police officer in Tomatln, a small town in Jalisco, learningthe inner workings of law enforcement,said DEA Special Agent Kyle Mori, who is heading the U.S. criminal investigationagainstEl Mencho fromLos Angeles. I am a family man. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Zetas behead and dismember four women from the Gulf Cartel The video shows four women on their knees in a field, their hands tied behind their backs. The answer, The Courier Journal found, kept pointing to CJNG. He was thought to be one of the leaders of Carteles Unidos. ", Soldiers stand guard in front of a modified and armored truck as it is displayed to the media at a military base in Reynosa, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas June 5, 2011. One of the working law enforcement theories suggests the gunmen were targeting a former ally attending his mothers funeral. That fight has been waged across America over the past seven years, federal court records show: CJNG is also using a mix of street gangsand white-collar businessmen to move the drugs and hide the money. And, in a 2019 case pending in federal court,an accused cartel lieutenantconnected to Chicago drug trafficking settled into a $2 million Nashville condo. He and Helida Montes, his partner for 16 years, settled their two children in Oregon City as Farfan grew his business, roping in two of his nephews. Explore the investigation wall showing the connections of El Mencho and CJNG cartel. The 21-year-old cartel leader, one of El Mencho's main underlings in Michoacn state, was killed when her heavily armed group launched a firefight with police. Farfan got the drugs from CJNG members in Michoacn, a western state long controlled by the cartel, La Familia Michoacna. That designation allowed the department to levy sanctions against Mexican businesses linked to the cartels, includinga sushi restaurant, a tequila business, shopping centers, a medical clinic, two newspapers and famed Hotelito Desconocido, visited by Hollywood stars. Since the arrest and extradition to the U.S. of Sinaloa frontman Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn in 2016, analysts say that the CJNG has steadily encroached on new terrain including Tijuana bringing with it a recipe for bloodletting and groups waginga war of dominance. CJNG is "among us. For example, a Lexington waitress seekingcash to pay fordental assistant courses ended up making bank deposits that she didnt know were for CJNG, according to court transcripts. 2023www.courier-journal.com. ", Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Throughout Mexico, more than 40,000 children and adults remain missing. Echeagaray pointed out that CJNG, although very violent, does not target civilians systematically. Another Puzzle From The Mexican Cartel. Through corruption and intimidation, CJNG has thrived, even as it found additional ways to make money. Throughout 2019, reporters analyzed thousands of court records of more than 100 criminal drug cases around the country and talked to more than 150 federal drug agents, police officers, defense attorneys and prosecutors. The cartel circulates these images of torture and execution on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to spread fear and intimidation. A video allegedly showing El Cholo surrounded by CJNG captors was uploaded ahead of the mutilated body's discovery Credit: YouTube. Parra Pedroza and Pineda Sanchez received 13 and 15 years, respectively, in prison after both pleaded guilty to money laundering. Chicago prosecutors allegein court filingsthat LuisAlderetewas ahigh-level cartel operativewhoshopped for a hitman on Facebook to take care of a gang member in Cairo, Illinois, to silence him. The government also alleges that Los Cabos targeted law enforcement in Tijuana, killing at least three police officers. Theyve got their money," Williams said. The Farfans and other defendants mulling over plea offers took it as a threat if they mentioned any cartel connections. Authorities identified one of the four victims as Rey Jose Poblete Ramos, a man with a lengthy criminal history. To use social login you have to agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. Mexico's cartel crackdown struggling despite victory? U.S. officials have . Cartel members fired hundreds of rounds and hurled grenades and jugs of gasoline. The CJNG split from the Sinaloa Cartel after the killing of Ignacio Coronel, a capo whose death caused a power vacuum (via Insight Crime).Based in the western state of Jalisco, CJNG was founded by Nemesio Oseguera Ramos, whose ongoing leadership has placed him on Mexican and American most wanted . Eduardo began running errands for his uncle, including delivering a bag to an El Salvador native who flew in from Maryland. All rights reserved. CJNG also has enlisted white-collar expertise. At first, he supervised work crews at his uncle's construction business building houses, Roberto's attorney, Robert Salisbury, said. CJNG wasn't the only cartel in the Bluegrass State in 2017, but authorities say it was the main supplier of fentanyl when Louisville's Adam Cooley, who sought heroin, snorted 20 times alethal dose. Here you'll find all collections you've created before. The cartel has run brothels in Mexico, often using teens and women forced into CJNG's web. But also by his own peers after they abandoned him to this . "Your weapons laws (in the U.S.) are too weak," with American guns often ending up in the hands of cartel members in Mexico, he said. Alderete was indicted in September 2019 in Chicago on charges of trafficking more than a kilo of heroin and at least 400 grams of fentanyl from May to June of this year. "Different groups are active in virtually all Mexican territory, with the Sinaloa federation being concentrated in the north/west portion of the country, and CJNG being concentrated in the south/central but extending across Mexico to Veracruz.". Next steps crucial, experts say. The cartel alsorecruitsspies in theMexicangovernment and policeto keep its leaders out of jail and avoid drug busts. WARNING: THE VIDEO IS EXTREMELY DISTURBING AND GRAPHIC AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE TO ALL AUDIENCES. VIEWER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED. "But if you have drugs in your community, and I don't think there is any community that can say they don't have any, it is coming from the drug cartels. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. "And that his uncle had manipulated him and used him and his cousin. The couple's daughter, age 11, also was home. Many are committed by cartels. More:Will El Chapo son's arrest slow export of drugs to US? He got his first glimpse of CJNGs success when he was overseeing drug cases in Los Angeles, a key cartel hub. One of them interrogates the semi-nude Mendoza, who admits he sold drugs in Valle de Santiago, where gunmen assaulted a police station on Friday, killing five prisoners and freeing another. Cannibalism in Mexico! "That puts a target on my back," he told his attorney. Dozens of couriers throughout the U.S. would then collect the drug profits and use the dirty moneyto buy scrap and fine gold. He is loving, respectful and a very caring human being.". Se le pudre el Gobierno de #Michoacan a @ARBedolla MASACRAN A 17 PERSONAS que se encontraban en un velorio. But he ended up working for his Uncle Victor. . Somewhere deep in Mexico's remote wilderness, the worlds most dangerous and wanted drug lord is hiding. Law enforcement agencies say that Mexican cartels have been targeting tourist destinations along the Oregon coast in an attempt to conceal their operations. Hisoffice has prosecuted Sinaloa and CJNG members. But betrayal awaited, "We see these nodes or pockets of cartel-related activity springing up in small, rural towns on the east side of Washington, in metropolitan areas like Portland and Seattle. ", More:Ignoring cartel danger, Mexican families scour wilderness for missing loved ones' remains. The information leaks make catching El Mencho extremely difficult, he said. "We consider this cartel to be one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations on the face of the Earth, and it is doing unimaginable damage to the people of this nation," Sessions said. Still, The Courier Journal traveled to Portland, its suburbs, the Oregon coast and Seattle to review court records and interview federal agents, defense attorneys and prosecutors to learn about the Farfan drug ring, its cartel ties and how it finally imploded. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Many court documents in the Farfan case remain sealed, hiding secrets shared by drug ring members and associates, and some involved in the case opted not to talk because of the volatility of the Mexican suppliers. He received credit for time in jail awaiting trial and has since been released and deported. He previously was convicted on federal drug charges in the U.S. and was deported at least twice. Farfan also had to hand over $100,000. Roberto, 22, had a fianc and young daughter in Morelia, a city in Michoacn. Its extreme savagery in Mexico includes beheadings, public hangings, acid baths, even cannibalism. Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. It could hide 9 kilos of drugs and a pile of cash. The judge also noted that while there was no evidence Farfan was physically violent, "the drugs that he played a role in distributing, including as a leader, caused so much harm in our community.". They also contacted more than two dozen accused cartel members or CJNG associates in prison and traveled to Mexico City, Guadalajara and 15 U.S. cities to see firsthand the far-reaching repercussions of El Menchos cartel. The U.S government has crippled dozens ofbusinessesthat supported CJNGandsentElMenchosson and chief financial backer to prison, along with members of his inner circle. It is known for its aggressive use of violence and its public relations campaigns. Los Marros behead man, woman from CJNG cartel, Two men dismembered, ditched on road along with pizzas and cartel narcomantas, CJNG cartel members BBQ dismembered opps in Mexico, Sicarios who brutally stabbed two men to death dismembered in Mexico, Cartel members skin two men alive and wear their faces on their head. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is targeting and killing police officers at their homes in Guanajuato, Mexico's most violent state and the most dangerous for police. The victims' wrists were tied using ligatures to prevent them all from bleeding to death. He dropped out of sixth grade to helphis family pickavocados. During his March sentence hearing, Farfan apologized for his crimes, but insisted, "I've never been a violent person. "Anyone who does the same will suffer. Critics say the Mexican president, known as AMLO, seems more concerned about using federal troops to keep South Americanimmigrants out of his country than challenging the cartels. 2020 has been an especially savage year in the border city of Tijuana,racking upalmost 2,000 murders almost on par with 2019 and once again earning the label of having the highest murder rate per capita of any city in Mexico. His uncle 's construction business building houses, Roberto 's attorney, Robert Salisbury, said Evans, key. Drug busts conflict, please see this previous Borderland Beat story moneyto buy scrap and fine gold and and. 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