Undercover DEA Operation Takes Down Canadian Brothers Keeper Gang Leader Linked to Sinaloa & Kinahan Cartels

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

DEA announced it has largely dismantled a Canada based international drug cartel and arrested a notorious Indo-Canadian gangster, Opinder Singh Sian, better known as "Thanos," for running a global fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking ring from British Columbia, Canada.

Sian was arrested in Arizona on June 27 after his role in smuggling methamphetamine to Australia and chemicals for fentanyl production into the US via Canada. Much of the case focuses on methamphetamine shipments from Los Angeles to Australia, orchestrated by Sian, who acted as a proxy for transnational Mexican, Chinese, and Iranian networks, experts say.

The investigation which began in 2022, has revealed that Sian had operational ties with chemical suppliers linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.

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Fentanyl Now Listed as Schedule I Controlled Substance

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

President Donald J. Trump officially signed the HALT Fentanyl Act into law, permanently classifying fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

As President Trump said, the legislation is “delivering another defeat for the savage drug smugglers and criminals and the cartels."

The bill, introduced in Congress earlier this year, permanently places fentanyl-related substances as a class into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. A Schedule I controlled substance is a drug, substance, or chemical that has a high potential for abuse; has no currently accepted medical value; and is subject to regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal penalties under the Controlled Substances Act.

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DEA Agent Reveals CJNG Conducted Surveillance at US Court Hearings of Menchito & Murdered Witnesses, Even After Sentencing

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The message that Mexican drug cartels want to send to the United States is clear: “We are here. We are among you.” This is how Special Agent Matthew W. Allen of the DEA, the U.S. anti-narcotics agency, explained it when he was asked about the risk posed by Mexican criminal organizations in the United States.

Allen, head of the agency’s Los Angeles division, said at a hearing before the U.S. Senate that members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) were monitoring DEA agents and witnesses during the trial of Rubén Oseguera González, "El Menchito," the son of cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera "El Mencho."

At the hearing, Allen recounted how the criminal group retaliated against family members of informants, an example of the violence this group routinely employs and the threat it poses to American citizens.

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Los Mayitos Faction Supplies CDN Drug Smugglers, According to DEA Reports

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The DEA released their National Drug Threat Assessment this week highlighting Mexican cartels and transnational gangs recently designated as FTOs. 

A key takeaway is regarding the shift in alliances and cartel factions. Most notably the cooperation between the Los Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and CDN.

The DEA reports that Los Mayos supplies CDN with fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine which CDN then smuggles northbound into the United States. The CDN facilitates the sale and distribution of these drugs using routes under control of the Sinaloa Cartel. 

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DOJ Looks to Possibly Merge the DEA and ATF, Memo Reveals

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

US Justice Department considers merging DEA, ATF in major shakeup, a memo says. This comes amidst previous comments by FBI Director Kash Patel of combining a portion of the ATF into the FBI. FBI Director Kash Patel is also serving as the ATF's Acting Director, in an unusual dual role.

Trump has nominated Terry Cole, a longtime law enforcement veteran, to lead the DEA, though he has not yet named a permanent head of the ATF.

The potential merger of the ATF and DEA would represent one of the biggest shakeups of the Justice Department's law enforcement components since following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

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Family of Kiki Camerena Sues Rafa and Sinaloa Cartel Under Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

From an NBC News Article

The family of U.S. federal agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena has filed a lawsuit against the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico and three suspected drug kingpins over his brutal kidnap and murder in 1985.

Camarena, a 37-year-old agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, was abducted in broad daylight off the street of Guadalajara on Feb. 7, 1985. His pilot, Alfredo Zavala-Avelar, was kidnapped near the Guadalajara airport. Both men were interrogated and tortured in an effort to gain information on the DEA’s knowledge of the Cartel’s operations, the federal civil lawsuit says.

They were killed two days after the kidnapping and their bodies were buried in a shallow grave on a rural farm about 60 miles from Guadalajara, the lawsuit says. His story was featured in the first season of the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico."

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Fentanyl Overdoses in the US Down For the First Year Since 2019

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

From a Newsweek Article

The DEA Administrator who has overseen the response to the United States' fentanyl crisis told Newsweek Wednesday that targeting the entire supply chain — from China to Mexican cartels to criminal networks in the U.S. — is the reason overdose deaths have been falling precipitously.

Anne Milgram, who was appointed to the office by President Joe Biden in 2021, spoke after the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that in 2023, 69% of all overdose deaths were linked to the lethal synthetic opioid.

Fentanyl was responsible for around 200 American deaths a day last year. The drug's cartel origins has been a focus for the federal government, which has had to work to unpick a complex, global network – including pill pressers, transporters, and money launderers — in an attempt to cut off the flow into the U.S.

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Seven Mexicans On DEA's Top 10 Most Wanted List

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This article was translated and reposted from RIODOCE 

Author | Editor

Date | November 7, 2024 Time | 2:53 pm

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) updated its list of the 10 most wanted, including seven Mexicans, all with a history of fentanyl trafficking, as well as two Chinese and one Honduran.

The list is headed by Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, son of Chapo Guzmán, as well as Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, 'El Mencho', leader of the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation (CJNG).

Oscar Noé Medina González, “El Panu,” Liborio Núñez Aguirre, alias “El Karateca,” Alan Gabriel Núñez Herrera, and the Chinese Kun Jiang and Chuen Yip.

Also on the list, despite having already been captured, are Carlos Omar Felix-Gutierrez and Silvano Francisco Mariano, accused of operating clandestine fentanyl laboratories for the Sinaloa Cartel. The DEA is offering a $1 million reward for any information leading to a conviction. Both were captured in Colombia in March 2023 and their extradition to the United States is pending.  

Also listed is Yulian Andony Archaga Carias, a Honduran fugitive and the alleged leader of the Mara Salvatrucha gang in Honduras.

SOURCE: RIODOCE 

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DEA Closes Two Key Offices in China Following Drop in Government Cooperation

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

From an AP News Article by Jim Mustain

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is shutting down two of its hard-won offices in China, The Associated Press has learned, a move that comes even as the agency struggles to disrupt the flow of precursor chemicals from the country that have fueled a fentanyl epidemic blamed for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

"These closings reflect the need to harness DEA's limited and strained resources to target where we can make the biggest impact in saving American lives," DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told agents in an email last week that also included plans to close a dozen other offices worldwide to trim DEA's current footprint of 93 offices in 69 countries.

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The Umpteenth Escape Of Aureliano Guzmán: By RíoDoce

 "Char" for Borderland Beat

This article was translated and reposted from RIODOCE 

July 15, 2024

Deaths and arrests in the capo's defense; R-8 was one more, not the security chief

Aureliano Guzmán Loera, El Guano, considered one of the most wanted drug traffickers by the Mexican and U.S. governments, was the target of the Sedena during last week's operation in Badiraguato, but he managed to escape thanks to the various security rings that repelled the military attack from both the air and the ground.

According to versions of people who live in the towns of Soyatita, San José del Llano and Santa Gertrudis, the operation began after 10:30 in the morning of July 8, when at least three Black Hawk helicopters began to fly over the area and suddenly tried to land near San José del Llano, while, simultaneously, convoys of soldiers began a ground operation near Soyatita.

"What one of the guys who goes around with the gang (the gunmen) said, is that when they became aware of the operation, the people of Guano started shooting at the soldiers to plot with them and not let the boludos (helicopters) land, that's why they started shooting at them, because almost at the same time they were reporting that the guachos (soldiers) were also coming by land here by Soyatita, and the order was to stop them," said a resident of that town, to whom this reporter had access.

The story, reconstructed with different versions from people who lived through the operation, suggests that the problem then was not the soldiers coming by land, and that they were still far from where Aureliano Guzmán Loera was, but the helicopters that were prepared for the attack and that were defending themselves from the resistance of the gunmen from the ground, since the order they had - everything indicated - was to land and take Guano away.

"They didn't let them land, while one of the boludos was trying to land near El Nogalito, the others were protecting him, but then the gang didn't let them and fired shots so that they couldn't even get close," said the same Soyatita resident, who asked not to be identified.

According to information from Sedena, during one of the confrontations, the capo's lieutenant, identified only as R-8, was detained. He had offered to confront the military offensive when they had already passed the community of Santa Gertrudis and were almost to a ranch known only as Oso Bravo, already in Durango territory.

"They almost had him, but the R-8, he stopped to confront the soldiers, that's why I tell you, if the Guano had not been there, the guys would not be plotting, but as I say, they had to protect their boss," observed a neighbor of Santa Gertrudis. Sources also said that several hitmen were killed in the defense of Guano. It was speculated that one of them was the son, Aureliano Guzmán Araujo.

'HELICOPTER'. Landing under fire.

According to different media reports, the authorities arrested four people, among them R-8, who that same day were transferred to Mexico City and taken to a maximum security prison.

Although it was said that R-8 was Aureliano Guzmán's security chief, sources from the Sedena clarified that he did not have that level and that he was just one of the leader's gunmen. They also ruled out that among the gunmen killed was Guano's son.

A ghost of flesh and blood

This would be the eighth time that federal authorities have tried to catch El Guano and once again he escapes them, although last week was the closest the military forces have come to capturing him.

Another time he was almost caught was at the end of 2015 when the Navy surrounded the La Lagunita ranch, where Guzmán Loera barely managed to escape by leaving on an ATV in the middle of the night and hours later was rescued by his men.

In 2023, in El Durazno, Durango, elements of the Army were also on the verge of apprehending him after besieging the community for more than 72 hours in search of him, as there was information that he was there.

El Durazno and El Limón, two communities near Tamazula, Durango, are places where the Guzmán brothers have historically been sought, since in addition to the 2023 operation, in November 2015, military elements were also on the verge of catching Chapo Guzmán, after his escape from the Altiplano prison on July 11 of that same year.

"What they say is that someone is giving him the finger, because he is a man who is very careful, but it is clear to them that there is someone who is passing information to people in the government, and right now everything is quiet, because the guys are still around, but when they leave I think the old man will make some adjustments," said people close to the faction.

Reward

The DEA is offering a $5 million reward to anyone who provides any information leading to the capture of Guano, who since 2022 has been facing a drug trafficking indictment in federal district court in Arizona and is accused by the Mexican government of being one of the main causes of the violence in the area known as the Golden Triangle, which includes the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua.

According to information provided at the time, El Guano was at the funeral of Doña Consuelo Loera Perez last December, and it is believed that since then authorities have been keeping an eye on the region in their efforts to catch him.

"We are still looking for him and sooner or later we will find him to extradite him so that he can face the authorities in this country," DEA spokesmen in the United States said laconically. If captured, El Guano could face the same fate as his brother Joaquín, El Chapo Guzmán, and would be extradited to the United States.

Article published on July 14, 2024, in the 1120th edition of the weekly Ríodoce.

SOURCE: RIODOCE 

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The DEA Violated Mexico's Sovereignty And Betrayed Calderón And Peña Nieto.

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This article was translated and reposted from PROCESO 

An SRE document obtained by Proceso reveals that for 10 years the DEA took advantage of the concessions given to them by the Calderón and Peña Nieto administrations to carry out espionage work against two members of the presidential cabinet.

WRITTEN BY: J. JESUS ESQUIVEL 

JULY 1, 2024

WASHINGTON - The DEA's interference, espionage, constitutional violations and violations of Mexico's sovereignty are the result of the increase in its agents and technical administrative personnel authorized by Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto.

The narco-corruption in the six-year terms of Calderón and Peña Nieto was taken advantage of by Washington, which during those periods got the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) to authorize the DEA to increase the number of its agents from 54 to 70 and from 32 to 41 administrative technicians.

An SRE document obtained by Proceso exposes what the Calderón and Peña Nieto administrations hid regarding the concessions they made to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which took advantage of this to stab them in the back.

Until the publication of this text, it was publicly known that the DEA had 54 agents and 32 administrative technicians operating in Mexico, including analysts, specialists in espionage technology and computerized equipment.

In a period of 10 years, the DEA bent the governments of Calderón and Peña Nieto, who agreed to allow another 16 U.S. anti-drug police, who operated freely throughout Mexican territory and later betrayed their friends.

In total, the DEA in Mexico has a staff of 111 elements, who now, under the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, are limited and subject to the changes of the Security Law, by which they must submit a monthly report of their activities to the Foreign Ministry.

The increased presence of DEA agents in Mexico reflected their interference and betrayals to Calderón and Peña Nieto, which the U.S. Justice Department justified in the name of the fight against drug trafficking and narco-corruption in those two six-year terms.

Confident that their allies in the DEA would cooperate in their omissions, negligence and favors towards some drug cartels, Calderon and Peña Nieto never imagined that the U.S. agents would expose their sins and failures in the war on drugs.

On December 9, 2019, in Dallas, Texas, Genaro García Luna, his friend, advisor, confidant, right-hand man and Secretary of Public Security, was arrested for drug trafficking.

On the night of October 15, 2020, almost two years after the end of Peña Nieto's six-year term, the DEA arrested General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, the former president's Secretary of National Defense, in Los Angeles, California, on charges of collusion with drug trafficking.

García Luna will be sentenced on June 24 by Judge Brian Cogan, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in Brooklyn, New York. This same court, on November 18, 2020, thanks to the intervention of López Obrador's government, dismissed the charges against Cienfuegos.

These two cases are examples of how, with the increase in agents and technical administrative personnel, the DEA was able to carry out extensive espionage and wiretapping in Mexico.

As was demonstrated in the trial against García Luna and as promised to be evidenced in the judicial process that never happened, the DEA intercepted and recorded telephone conversations of members of two presidential cabinets and we do not know if they were also of the presidents.

The threat that the Lopez Obrador administration made to the Justice Department to expel the 70 DEA agents from Mexico, as Proceso detailed in detail, explains Washington's swift decision to dismiss the charges and repatriate Cienfuegos Zepeda.

From October 26, 1992, until April 2020, DEA personnel accredited in Mexico were governed under the "Specific Rules to Regulate the Activities of Agents and Specialized Technicians," as dictated by the document defined by the SRE.

"The agents and specialized technical personnel of the DEA will be a maximum of 39 elements with agent status and 32 administrative or specialized technicians," says the 13-page official document defined at the time by the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

Since that October 1992, under the presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the function and distribution of DEA agents in Mexico had objectives of interference conditioned to the progress in the fight against drug trafficking and drug traffickers.

Excerpt from the report published in issue 0013 of Proceso magazine, corresponding to July 2024, whose digital copy can be purchased at this link.

SOURCE: PROCESO 

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'Who Authorized Them To Stick Their Spoon Into Our Affairs?' AMLO Lashes Out Against The DEA

 "CHAR" for Borderland Beat

This article was translated and reposted from LOS NOTICIERISTAS 

WRITTEN BY: JESSICA ESTRADA 

Mexico City - Mexico's President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, lashed out at the DEA after issuing an opinion on the reform of the Judicial Branch, stating that organized crime would nominate judges and ministers with such changes.

In Wednesday's morning conference from the National Palace, López Obrador questioned: "Who is the DEA to put their spoon in our affairs".

"I believe that their point of view is taken into account, but they should act prudently, because Mexico is an independent country and to put it colloquially, but with all due respect, who are they to decide on matters that correspond to Mexicans? Who authorized them to stick their spoon in our affairs?" he accused.

The Mexican president indicated that it is as if he were complaining about why Genero García Luna, former Mexican Secretary of Public Security guilty of drug trafficking in the U.S., has not been sentenced.

It is as if I were to give an opinion on why they are not informing about the extension of the deadlines to judge García Luna, after they have been dragging their feet for I don't know how long and dragging their feet, but it is not my place to get involved in that, they have their own procedures," he said.

López Obrador asked the U.S. agency to be "more prudent, more respectful" for the matters that correspond to Mexicans.

And we say it in a good way, as friends," said the Mexican president.

What did the DEA say about the Judicial Branch reform?

It was the national daily El Universal who reported that the DEA circulated an internal document that the election of judges and ministers by popular vote, the main initiative of the reform to the Judicial Branch, would open the door for Mexican cartels to nominate their lawyers as candidates.

"The 13 cartels that dominate the Mexican Republic are preparing to take local judiciaries by storm," it was reported.

SOURCE: LOS NOTICIERISTAS 

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Alleged Gulf Cartel Capo Nazario Cavazos De Luna "Big Papa" Extradited to United States

By "El Huaso" for Borderland Beat

The attorney general's office of Mexico (FGR) extradited an alleged former Gulf Cartel leader Nazario Cavazos De Luna "Mike", "Big Papa" to the United States, according to a FGR press release on September 26, 2022. He will face charges of of criminal association, organized crime, money laundering, and possession and carrying of a firearm from the Federal Court of the East District of Texas. 

The FGR press release claims that Cavazos was a leader and founder of a criminal organization which smuggled large quantities of narcotics to the US between 2005 and 2010. According to the US government, Cavazos was a major figure in the Gulf Cartel who attracted the DEA's attention at least as early as 2011, when a court document referenced him as "a wealthy, large scale international drug trafficker and, apparently, the center of the criminal organization". 

Photo from DEA wanted poster.

In a 2012 case, another Gulf Cartel officer, Oscar Cantu-Ramirez, claimed that he worked with Cavazos to transport and distribute thousands of kilos of narcotics into the US.

A US Justice Department press release said that he was based in the United States, but fled to Mexico, where he was captured by the PGR in Mexico City in 2017.

Photo from 2017 arrest.

A Congressional Research Service report from this year shows that extraditions from Mexico to the US are on a downward trend since the Felipe Calderon presidency, further indicating a rough patch in US-Mexico security cooperation.

Source: CRS March 2022 Report

Sources: 

Borderland Beat Archives - Zeta Tijuana 2017

FGR Press release 9/26/22

United States v. Morales 2011

USA v. Oscar Cantu-Ramirez, et al 2012

CRS Mexico: Background and U.S. Relations March 2022

Department of Justice Press release 9/21/22

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DEA Supervisor Sold Semi-Automatic Rifles to Sinaloa Cartel Associates

Agents spying on Sinaloa Cartel associates traced two of their high-powered, semi-automatic assault rifles to a surprising source — a supervisor with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Joseph Michael Gill, tasked with rooting out traffickers amid America’s deadliest drug crisis, likely helped arm them during some of his 645 sales transactions on Gunbroker.com, according to court records. The veteran lawman — previously trusted to lead a team of about a dozen agents — even advertised on Gunbroker and Backpage websites using his government-issued phone number. 

In a rare interview in February, Gill talked to The Courier Journal about the scandal and his ensuing 2018 resignation from the DEA, halting his 15-year career. Gill insists he did nothing wrong and said his case highlights a collision of overzealous regulators and ambiguous gun laws. The prosecutor says Gill knowingly evolved into a prolific gunrunner and his crimes are more indicative of how Americans, driven by greed, help arm dangerous criminals in the U.S. and cartels across the border.

"Cartels need firearms to support their business," said Scott Brown, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Phoenix. "When they find people that are either willing to flagrantly violate the law or skirt the law or not practice due diligence, that is enabling the cartels to be armed and to have a destructive impact both in Mexico and the U.S."

At least 70% of weapons seized in Mexico — including many guns used by cartels in massacres — were made in or came through America, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Some officials in Mexico and agents in the U.S. suspect the actual percentage is much higher. But Gill contends his case was "very political and not fair. If I wasn’t a DEA agent, I would never have been targeted the way that I was."

"The 645 items that I bought or sold were mostly firearm parts and accessories, not all firearms," he said of his Gunbroker.com sales that took place from 2000 to 2016. "I was always changing out holsters, sights, optics, tactical gear."

Gill pleaded guilty in federal court in 2018 to one count of dealing in firearms without a license involving the sale of the two assault rifles — guns that originated in Kentucky — to the cartel associates and a third Mexican-bound rifle. He now insists he sold the three guns legally and only pleaded guilty because defending himself at trial could have cost more than $200,000. Phillip N. Smith Jr., who prosecuted Gill, characterized the amount of evidence as strong.

"It wasn't political," said Smith, who is now in private practice. "He broke the law. It's a serious crime. That’s one of the ways bad guys who aren’t supposed to get guns to get a hold of them, by getting them from people who don’t play by the rules — like Mr. Gill." Gill admitted to selling an assault rifle to a young man July 27, 2016, and, the next day, selling the same type of gun to Mauricio Balvastro, who identified himself to Gill as the young man's "associate." Both are alleged drug traffickers and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel, Brown told The Courier Journal. The men bought Colt M4LE rifles, which fire high-velocity rounds that can rip through police officers' protective vests.

It's a type of gun used by many SWAT teams and U.S. soldiers. Gill said he didn't know the men were suspected drug traffickers and he did all that is legally required, checking the buyers' drivers' licenses and verifying they were of legal age and lived in his home state of Arizona.

Both buyers paid $1,000 for guns Gill bought online the month before for $632. That's a 60% markup and a red flag. It's commonly known by police — and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives warn about it on its website — that buyers who are willing to overpay might not be allowed to buy guns or don't want to create a paper trail.

Brown called Gill's crimes "disturbing." Balvastro "was involved in the importation of a significant quantity of narcotics and distribution of those across the border and then to the East Coast, particularly the Philadelphia-Baltimore region." Border agents confiscated one of the assault rifles Gill sold to the alleged drug traffickers in the small border town of Nogales, Arizona, according to court records. It was on its way to the burgeoning city of Nogales in Mexico, territory long controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel.

Smith, then an assistant U.S. attorney, urged a federal judge to send Gill to prison for 18 months for selling "large numbers of firearms to whoever would purchase them — without conducting any background checks and while ignoring red flags," according to a 14-page motion filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

In court motions, the prosecutor pointed to several text messages by Gill to potential buyers, whom he sometimes met in mall parking lots, offering to sell assault rifles and more: "If you want another one of the colt m4’s (sic) let me know. I still have one left. I also have some handguns and a Remington 870 police shotgun." Gill's attorney, Jason Lamm, successfully lobbied for leniency, arguing in his motion that Gill committed a regulatory offense, "not an act of moral turpitude." He pointed to his client's accomplishments, including a DEA Exceptional Performance Award for toppling drug rings and pill mills a decade ago in and around Miami.

Lamm argued that Gill, now a convicted felon, is "being labeled a virtual pariah and an outcast from his brethren" in law enforcement, so a sentence of probation "still leaves the defendant with an ostensible Scarlet Letter for the rest of his life."

In 2019, the judge opted for leniency, ordering Gill to remain on home detention for six months, perform 500 hours of community service and remain on probation for five years.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2021/02/24/ex-dea-supervisor-sold-assault-rifles-to-sinaloa-cartel-associates/4360551001/

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Rafael Caro Quintero "Wanted" Billboards up in L.A.

Chivís Martínez for Borderland Beat

A reader reminded me of the wanted billboards erected in search of Rafael Caro Quintero.  I only knew of those posted in June in  Arizona and Texas, the reader commented that they were also in Los Angeles in various points, I checked and he/she is correct.  Readers may recall the defacing of two DEA billboards in El Paso. (photo below)

From DEA:

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) unveiled a billboard in Phoenix, Arizona seeking information for the capture of Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro-Quintero.  The new reward is being offered by the U.S. Department of State under the Narcotics Reward Program for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Caro-Quintero, who kidnapped, tortured and murdered DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.

Caro-Quintero had served 28 years of a 40-year prison term for his crimes when a Mexican court ordered his release on August 9, 2013 on procedural grounds.  Caro-Quintero is a fugitive from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on felony murder, felony kidnapping, and other criminal charges. Caro-Quintero was the mastermind of the atrocious acts against Special Agent Camarena, and DEA will vigorously continue its efforts to ensure that Caro-Quintero faces charges in the United States for the crimes he committed. 

Similar billboards are being placed in El Paso, Texas, San Diego,  and Los Angeles, California. 

Today from Los Angeles Register:

A new billboard has joined I-5’s usual lineup of signs touting casinos, concerts, and cows inviting you to “eat mor chikin.”

This one’s a little grimmer than most: Three grainy mug shots stare down, and the text promises a “REWARD of up to $5,000,000.00 USD” for tips leading to the arrest of notorious Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero.

The billboard is part of a Drug Enforcement Administration program,  to turn billboards into modern-day “wanted” posters officials hope will help them track down Caro Quintero.

Los Angeles County’s Caro Quintero billboard is on the southbound I-5 after the Slauson Avenue/Montebello exit near the city of Commerce.

The $5 million reward is being offered by the DEA under the Narcotics Reward Program, which was created by Congress to find violators who transport drugs into the United States.

People with information about Caro Quintero can call 866-629-6036 or email CAROQUINTEROTIPS@usdoj.gov

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Phil Jordan: Chapo funded EPN's Campaign

El Chapo contributed money to the campaign of Enrique Peña Nieto in order to become a candidate for the presidency, a former director of intelligence for the DEA revealed.

Phil Jordan said that something bad happened between the PRI and El Chapo because of his capture.  He says that it was a triumph for Mexico, that the president allowed the apprehension of El Chapo.

El Chapo Guzman contributed financial resources to Peña Nieto’s campaign, denounced Phil Jordan, former director of intelligence for the DEA in El Paso, Texas.

“Something bad happened between the PRI and the narco,” he said when being interviewed on a special segment on Univision.

The interviewer asked him: What evidence is there to confirm that El Chapo supported the campaign of Peña Nieto?

“That is documented in past campaigns of the PRI. El Chapo, Caro (Quintero), everyone gave money to whoever was running for president.  I don’t have the papers but there are intelligence reports indicating that the cartel of El Chapo is very involved in politics.”

 Wouldn’t it be contradictory that the government of Peña Nieto was the one who captured El Chapo but he received money from him?

“Something bad happened between the PRI and El Chapo Guzmán.  What I can’t tell you now, because I don’t know why they arrested him, when he was paying millions of dollars to not arrest him, like how he paid millions of dollars to let him out the previous time.  He has all the money in the world.”

Jordan said that the relationship between the narcos and Mexican politicians is well known; the ones they need to operate and create their empires.

The interviewer then asks: If Chapo talked about his ties with Mexican politicians, would we have a big surprise in the political landscape of this country?

“There won’t be any surprises because the PRI and Chapo know very well that he was well involved in politics with money,” he replied.

Another question asked was that if Chapo also bribed officials from the United States.  Jordan replies:

“With the money that El Chapo has anything is possible.  Corruption just doesn’t occur in Mexico, it also occurs in the U.S.”

 He warned that the jail that El Chapo ends up in, he can also run his business.

He didn’t rule out, however, that El Chapo negotiated his capture.

He stated that with Mexican narcos, there shouldn’t be more than one king, and with Caro Quintero free, he may be the new king.

Here’s a conversation that’s been circulating social media. It’s an excerpt from Rafael Loret de Mola’s book: Nuestro Inframundo: Los 7 Infiernos De Mexico released on January 1^st, 2010.  It’s a book written by a journalist who after 32 books, no one can deny it.  Rafael Loret has won many awards including: Medalla Libertad de Expresión, Premio Jesús Romero Flores, El Chimalli de Oro, El Azteca de Oro, and Premio Quetzal.

-“Governor is that you?”

-“Yes, who’s calling?”

-“Take note governor.  I’m Joaquín Guzmán Loera.  Does the name ring a bell?  I know that you protected the hitmen of Arturo Beltrán.”

-“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Peña Nieto.

-“From this moment on, I’m going to reserve your life for myself.  You will never reach the presidency.”

Loret notes that on the day of his wedding with Angélica Rivera, on November 27, 2010, Peña Nieto seemed very anxious.

Source:  Revolución 3.0

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