In 2017, Walker led a raid on a couple of Clatsop drug houses, teaming with Seaside, Cannon Beach and Oregon state police. 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. Sanctions recently imposed by the United States and Mexico on CJNG members allegedly linked to two high-profile murders demonstrate that the criminal group is one of the few remaining with a traditional hierarchical structure. Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook He never mentioned suppliers in Mexico linked to a cartel, or what he called the Mexican mafia. Those who tried to run were tortured, killed and sometimescannibalizedby fellow recruits in what U.S. federal agents describe as a disturbing riteof passage. Alton Strupp and Matt Stone, Louisville Courier Journal. %privacy_policy%. Police had long known John Armas was a major meth trafficker, but he was careful. On Oct. 16, 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, standing next to a large "Wanted" poster of El Mencho, announced a $10 million reward for his capture and unveiled detailed indictments against him and CJNG. The government also alleges that Los Cabos targeted law enforcement in Tijuana, killing at least three police officers. 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. While the CJNG makes no effortsto hide its beef with adverse cartels and Mexican military and law enforcement, civilians are all too often caught in the cryptic crossfire. Moreover, the spread of crime by gangs 'affiliated' with the cartels increases the number of Mexicans who are victimized by crime indirectly related to cartels," he said. CJNG burns rivals face alive as a way of mocking his nickname Ghost Rider. "Either you or your family could be killed. It hauled inmore than 3 kilos of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid so potent that an amount as small as Abraham Lincoln's cheek on a pennycan be fatal. It is known for its aggressive use of violence and its public relations campaigns. U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon said he was troubled by Farfan's repeated drug crimes dating back at least to 1999. Roberto never talked to agents or prosecutors. It also identified at least two dozen "cells," which the DEA defines as places where cartel members set up shop to do business and live in the communities. CJNGs increased distribution of fentanyl across the country has helped the synthetic opioid unseat heroin as the nations No. A nine-month Courier Journal investigation reveals how CJNG's reach hasspread across the U.S. in the past five years, overwhelming cities and small towns with massive amounts of drugs. Farfan also had to hand over $100,000. Officials in Attorney General William Barr's office declined to comment on The Courier Journal's findings. CJNG took credit on social media for the massacre. In Seaside, known for commercial fishing and timber, traffickers easily established a strong customer base. In June, operatives attempted to assassinate Mexico City's police chief, Omar Garcia Harfuch hammering his body with at least three bullets and slaying two of his bodyguards. So instead of blaming, we should look for solutions.. "We have a problem of corruption. There's a serious danger. Known as CJNG, the cartel is a global powerhouse, detected on every continent except Antarctica. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel). One of the working law enforcement theories suggests the gunmen were targeting a former ally attending his mothers funeral. Eduardo, known as "Pollo" or "Chicken," began running errands, or drug runs, for his uncle when he was 20 or 21 and claims he had no understanding of the scope of the drug ring or the risks he was taking. UNCENSORED VIDEO BELOW / New horrifying video shows three CJNG cartel members beheading two men from a rival cartel in Mexico. "There would be times on surveillance where you'd see 15 to 25 people roaming the local trap house waiting for the next supply to come in, walking around or sitting in cars, just waiting," said Walker, who later left the department. Moreover, the U.S. lacks the authority to make arrests in foreign countries, said Evans, a senior DEA official. Through corruption and intimidation, CJNG has thrived, even as it found additional ways to make money. He had at least five aliases and kept slipping back into the U.S. U.S. officials have . The Elite Group is the top tier enforcement wing of the Jalisco New GeneralCartel, often referred to as CJNG. After his escape, the U.S. took its manhunt public. 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. All rights reserved. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is Mexico's most violent crime gang. The Farfans and other defendants mulling over plea offers took it as a threat if they mentioned any cartel connections. In2015, ElMenchoflexed that power to strike back at law enforcement who tried to stop him. 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. "What are they doing way out in the middle of nowhere?" A cartel member even worked at Kentucky's famed Calumet Farm, home to eight Kentucky Derby and three Triple Crown winners. His boss, Eddie Kane, Calumet's general manager, declined repeated requests for comment. All rights reserved. El Mencho eventually joined the Milenio Cartel, gaining a reputation as a cunning sicario, or hitman, and then a boss of hitmen in Guadalajara, Jalisco's capital city. The victims' wrists were tied using ligatures to prevent them all from bleeding to death. Viral videos captured the gruesome execution on social media. 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. ", "The cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!". Yet, no sooner had authorities busted Kentucky's CJNG ringthan the cartel replaced Macias, sending in another team. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"AT9cPsLXmTcu5DvoOKyYtBnoaFpnyDzcOkF8t9PIjh4-1800-0"}; 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.". Then in September 2020, a video believed to have been filmed in the central state of Zacatecas showed CJNG members directly threatening Ismael Zambada Garca, alias "El Mayo," leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Armas also used a former nurse from Clatsop County who was battling addiction to cart drugs from Hillsboro to the coast. In July, Coco was sentenced to time served and released. Last year, there were 2,513 killings in tourist hotspot Tijuana . 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. "They send their businessmen out into the U.S. to look for areas of opportunity." Betrayal led to the drug ring'scollapse. "That puts a target on my back," he told his attorney. Cartel members issued a stark warning in Mexico that reverberated through the drug network in Oregon. Regardless, prosecutors had strong evidence including transcripts from six months of wire taps in 2018 as Farfan chatted about drug shipments. You can follow him onTwitterand onFacebook. Who is El Mencho, the most powerful drug kingpin in the world? In a desperate bid to cling to its remaining territory, the group has joined forces with a former rival: a fast-growing cartel called the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). his anguished parents asked. Why is The Courier Journal reporting on a deadly Mexican drug cartel? "And it is a football (soccer) player of a narco.". Pineda Penaloza and his crew were convicted of drug trafficking and are now in federal prison. Ciro Macias Martinez was praised by his supervisor and fellow farmhands alike for his punctuality, work ethicand soothing manner with horses at the breeding and training farm in the heart of Kentucky. IRAN SENTENCES 3 MORE MEN TO AMPUTATION FOR 'STEALING,' REVIVING ONCE-RARE ISLAMIC LAW. . "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. The Portland-based drug network, which stretched into affluent area suburbs, westbound to Oregon's quaint coastal cities and north into southwestern Washington, is emblematic of a key Mexican cartel strategy to establish drug pipelines far beyond the border and into small, unsuspecting towns. State and federal authorities have been unable to stop a fierce war in Michoacan between the CJNG and Carteles Unidos, an alliance of smaller regional organizations with proxy support from the Sinaloa Cartel. The Courier Journal's investigation into CJNG's surge comes during a recent wave of significantviolence among warring drug cartels in Mexico. Armas enlisted help from his neighbors, a retired U.S. Marine and his wife. CJNG's plan tomove intosmall-town America and cashin on the country's addiction crisis played out in Lexington, Kentucky. 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. In cases in which immigrants resist the cartel's offer, CJNG members often threatened violence to them or their loved ones back in Mexico, according to court cases and law enforcement officials. "And that his uncle had manipulated him and used him and his cousin. Four men alleged to be leaders in a Mexican cartel enforcement cell have been indicted in San Diego on drug-trafficking charges and are accused of orchestrating a wave of . According to U.S. officials, the CJNG is now the primary drug trafficking outfit in 24 of Mexico's 32 states. "If you provide information to the Mexican government, its probably the last thing you would say.". There, he built a thriving drug trafficking business, but the city's dominantcartel ordered him to leave when leaders became threatened by his success. Armas used the couple's home as a drug stash house, paying them with enough meth for their daily fix. Man filmed eating dead body parts of rival Cartel member. Most people don't associate drug trafficking with the scenic tourist destinations along the Oregon coast, but Mexican cartels seek less scrutiny there. Unlike his reclusive father, the 25-year-old lived in a luxury high-rise apartment in downtown Guadalajara and often stepped out in designer clothes to eat in fancy restaurants. In May, a judge sentenced Armas to serve seven years and six months in prison, followed by five years of supervision. This week, murderers from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in Ensenada, Baja California, failed to assassinate an operator of the Sinaloa Cartel. "One of the techniques cartels use here in the United States is to take young people and make them responsible for significant amounts of drugs in order to shield themselves," Schindler said. Narcocorrido band Grupo Arriesgado forced out of Tijuana for singing about CJNG. In Illinois,the cartel teamed with Vice Lordsgang members to grow a drug network that stretched from Southern California through the Midwest and into Nashville and Paducah, Kentuckyknown for its riverwalk murals and the National QuiltMuseum. Signs have also pointed to CJNG widening its footprint in the capital, Mexico City, aligning itself with the Fuerza Anti-Union gang to tackle the city's most extensive criminal enterprise, La Unin Tepito. But he kept getting caught. And federal prosecutors alleged in court that convicted drug traffickerJesus Enrique Palomera, theleader of a cartel cell in Tacoma, Washington, ordered the kidnapping and murderof a manwhose fingers and toes werechopped off a commonmethod of torturein Mexico. El Mencho was deported in 1997and then traveled to Tijuana. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Prosecutors say Parra Pedroza and Pineda Sanchezwould keepa percentage, with the rest going tocartel members in Mexico. During that time,overdoses sent more victims to Kentucky's morgues than bullets and car crashes combined withthe commonwealth sufferingthe fifth-highest overdose death rate in the nation. Much of the violence is attributed to the battle for territorial surface and thus the control oftheillicit drug flow into the United States. The cartel has its hands in trafficking multiple deadly substances. In a Chicago money-laundering case, a Guadalajara businessman working with CJNG urged an informant to settle his drug debt quickly, describing how cartel members settled another mans debt: "They chopped off his fingers.". 2023www.courier-journal.com. He knew he faced deportation back within reach of the cartels. Authorities identified one of the four victims as Rey Jose Poblete Ramos, a man with a lengthy criminal history. In turn, the Sinaloans killed a high-ranking CJNG boss in the area, Emiliano Torres Ramrez AKA El Agapo. WARNING: THE VIDEO IS EXTREMELY DISTURBING AND GRAPHIC AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE TO ALL AUDIENCES. Mexican cartel murders bride at altar during her own wedding, kidnaps groom, Canada's defence minister pledges 200 armoured personnel carriers for Ukraine during . "The violence in Mexico and elsewhere is something that doesn't stop at the border. Known as "El Mencho," he's remained in hiding for years and is on the DEA's Most Wanted list. After agents toppled the drug ring, the cartel turned on the gang. Even after El Mencho's girlfriend went to prison, the cartel quickly returned to the Gulf Coast with more loads of drugs. Known as CJNG, the cartel is a global powerhouse, detected on every continent except Antarctica. The strategy: Make it illegal for any U.S. citizen or company to spend money at a cartel-affiliated business. Uncensored versions of the videos can be seen below. The cartel exploits its connections with otherwise hard-working immigrants, said Dan Dodds, who leads DEA operations in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. Legal Statement. His chances of surviving the amped up gunmen who are intent on killing him are slim at best. Agents arrested him in 2006, and he was convicted of illegally reentering the U.S. and trafficking cocaine and meth. He was thought to be one of the leaders of Carteles Unidos. //