Smaller police forces. "If you provide information to the Mexican government, its probably the last thing you would say.". or redistributed. Follow him onTwitterandFacebook. Betrayal led to the drug ring'scollapse. That load was headed from Portland to Baltimore. After his escape, the U.S. took its manhunt public. Bizarre / Cartel / Murder / Pure Gore. In America,ElMenchoexpectscartel members and associates to avoid violence, hidewealth anddisguise their CJNG affiliations, agents say. more proof that CJNG ain't shit but zetas 2.0 gente de Sinaloa no trabaja asi como vale vergas. There's a reason why gente de Sinaloa stay in business while everyone else eats shit and goes away. Many were scared silent and to this day no Mexican suppliers have faced justice for these crimes. "When they shot the helicopter out of the sky is when everyone respected CJNG as a powerhouse cartel and a rival of Sinaloa,"Donahue said. Brenda and Karl Cooley of Louisville certainly didnt know his name when their son Adam overdosed on fentanyl in March 2017. Adults and children are forced to work in CJNG's crude meth super labs vats on patches of dirt hidden in the jungle. including the drug-related killings of two Mexican brothers in 2014, one of whom was found . Cartel members issued a stark warning in Mexico that reverberated through the drug network in Oregon. Authorities identified one of the four victims as Rey Jose Poblete Ramos, a man with a lengthy criminal history. However, authorities did find bullet casings. U.S. drug agents believe he's in western Mexico, hiding in remote jungles or mountains of Jalisco, Colima or Michocan. But also by his own peers after they abandoned him to this . Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) gunmen lined up at least 17 victims and shot them during a funeral in western Mexico Sunday. Man filmed eating dead body parts of rival Cartel member. From there, Victor Farfan and his inner circle supplied drug trafficker John Armas in Hillsboro. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ACCOUNT, SIGN UP FOR ONE HERE. It's a very demoralizing experience for the male who was not only failed by the cartel. In Seaside, known for commercial fishing and timber, traffickers easily established a strong customer base. Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, underscored that as the criminal environment has become more fragmented with many groups and affiliated gangs, the amount of killing and its unpredictability has become more generalized. 7. Headless bodies were dumped at the doorstep of a business associated with the Farfan family in their home state of Michoacn. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, There's a lot of family back in Michoacn.". More:Mexico-US investigation links cartel downing of military helicopter to Oregon gun supplier, "I know that what I committed was wrong, but believe me, I'm not the worst person here. Ciro Macias Martinez led a double life, working as a horse groomer by day and overseeing the flow of $30 million worth of drugs into Kentuckyby night before being imprisoned in 2018 for meth trafficking and money laundering, federal records show. This case is another example of how CJNG is increasingly vying for turf in Michoacn, the birthplace of its leader, Rubn Oseguera Cervantes. And he realized he faced a mandatory minimum of 10 years if convicted at trial and would miss watching his 6-month-old son grow up. He doesn't make wild errors; he doesn't hesitate; one word for el Mecho is 'calculated,'" Wesley said. 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. Farfan got the drugs from CJNG members in Michoacn, a western state long controlled by the cartel, La Familia Michoacna. "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. CJNG has skirted Mexican and U.S. inspections at legal border crossings by hiding drugs in semitrailers hauling tomatoes, avocados and other produce, dumping at least 5 tons of cocaine and 5 tons of meth into this country every month, according to DEA estimates. A larger probe was underway by Washington County Sheriff's WIN Team, the Westside Interagency Narcotics task force that includes agents with the FBI, Hillsboro and Beaverton police and the Oregon National Guard County-Drug investigators. Ransom-seekers and other cartelsare responsible for many of those disappearances,with CJNG to blame for thousands,DEA agentssay. "When Eduardo got involved in this he was a very young man, and it was because of a family connection an uncle who had been involved in Mexico organized crime for decades," his attorney, Matthew A. Schindler, told The Courier Journal, referring to Victor Farfan. The victims' wrists were tied using ligatures to prevent them all from bleeding to death. Mexico's CJNG is currently making a series of territorial incursions around the country to take control of key fuel theft, drug trafficking, and human smuggling regions. And for those who make the gut-wrenching decision to stay, life has been reduced to the desperate, defensive gambit ofdigging trenchesacross highways in western Michoacn. It also forbids any U.S. bank to approve loans or credit card transactions for those CJNG-backed enterprises. At night,from 2015 through April2017, Maciasdirected the flow of $30 millionworth ofheroin, cocaine, ecstasy, crystal meth and fentanylfromMexico to Kentucky's two largest cities:Lexington and Louisville. on January 26, 2022. It also operated a tequila label, casinos, two shopping centers, a medical clinic, real estate companies and a Pacific Ocean resort frequented by Americans, according to U.S. Treasury Department records. On April 13, 2017, federal agents arrested Maciason his way to Calumet Farm. Regardless, prosecutors had strong evidence including transcripts from six months of wire taps in 2018 as Farfan chatted about drug shipments. The strategy: Make it illegal for any U.S. citizen or company to spend money at a cartel-affiliated business. . 2023www.courier-journal.com. Three of them are bare-chested. But Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador declined Trump's offer for U.S. troops, saying his country doesn't need help. "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. "As well as those who suffer from a lack of economic opportunity because businesses cannot thrive, and a lack of quality of life because public services, in some ways, do not function well.". During his three months in jail, he got sober. Provided by McCracken County Sheriff's Department. During Eduardo's detention hearing, prosecutors told the judge the Farfan drug ring was supplied by a Mexican cartel. 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. The CJNG has been fighting the Sinaloa Cartel in Zacatecas with one recent clash in June killing 35 people. According to U.S. officials, the CJNG is now the primary drug trafficking outfit in 24 of Mexico's 32 states. 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. But they didn't know about dogged sheriff's detective John Walker, who developed informants and bought drugs while undercover. Officials in Attorney General William Barr's office declined to comment on The Courier Journal's findings. She must report to a federal probation officer for five years. He reached 'kingpin' status by selling Mexican cartel-supplied drugs. Theyve got their money," Williams said. "Theyre a business," Hammer said of cartels. Flames leftMoralesdisabled and disfigured. The cartel has run brothels in Mexico, often using teens and women forced into CJNG's web. Next steps crucial, experts say. Armas also used a former nurse from Clatsop County who was battling addiction to cart drugs from Hillsboro to the coast. Agents followed Machado-Medrano as he took a taxi to a bus station and headed to a bathroom. 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. Guanajuato. The CJNG is one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico and has been behind some of the deadliest attacks on Mexican security forces, such as a 2015 ambush in Jalisco which left 15 officers dead. The 56-year-old rose from the humble roots of an avocado growing family, dropped out of primary school to work in the fields, to become one of the most potent drug lords on the planet. He co-founded Breitbart Texas Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. The Courier Journal's investigation into CJNG's surge comes during a recent wave of significantviolence among warring drug cartels in Mexico. 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. 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. Legal Statement. The investigation documented how in each new community, CJNG uses local traffickers who can blend in to sell their drugs, with no regard for their race or ethnicity. It could hide 9 kilos of drugs and a pile of cash. Mexican cartel murders bride at altar during her own wedding, kidnaps groom, Canada's defence minister pledges 200 armoured personnel carriers for Ukraine during . Courier Journal reporters pieced together CJNGs network, from the suburbs of Seattle, the beaches of Mississippi and South Carolina, Californias coastline, the mountains of Virginia, small farming towns in Iowa and Nebraska, and across the Bluegrass State, including in Louisville, Lexington and Paducah. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is Mexico's most violent crime gang. The case took place in Marcos Castellanos, Michoacan, where gunmen stormed a funeral service and forced mourners to line up against a wall before opening fire. So instead of blaming, we should look for solutions.. "What are they doing way out in the middle of nowhere?" I don't want to put my wife, my family in danger.'". Classic Of The Genre. ", Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. All rights reserved. In turn, the Sinaloans killed a high-ranking CJNG boss in the area, Emiliano Torres Ramrez AKA El Agapo. Known as CJNG, the cartel is a global powerhouse, detected on every continent except Antarctica. If someone you love dies from an overdose tonight, he may very well be to blame. Despite the capture of certain top leaders, it is now Mexico's foremost criminal threat . In mid-October, 13 Mexican police officers were killed in an ambush in El Mencho's home state of Michoacn in western Mexico. A cartel member even worked at Kentucky's famed Calumet Farm, home to eight Kentucky Derby and three Triple Crown winners. Agents and prosecutors didn't openly discuss in court records or hearings which cartel supplied Farfan, but The Courier Journal learned in February that he was supplied by a top U.S. target, the Crtel Jalisco Nueva Generacin the subject of a nine-month investigation and 28-page special report by the newspaper in 2019. At least three people including a pregnant woman in her early 20s languish in critical condition in Guanajuato,Mexico, after their hands were chopped off and their bleeding bodies were thrown from the back of a truck last week. Beginning in 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department designated El Mencho a "kingpin," along with his brother-in-law, Abigail Gonzlez Valencia, leader of the Los Cuinis cartel. Attackers in armored vehicles opened fire with high-caliber weapons, gunning down officers driving five SUVs. In Mexico, El Mencho is a household name. In early-morning raids Wednesday, federal agents fanned out across the U.S., culminating a six-month investigation with the primary goal of dismantling the upper echelon of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as CJNG. Pineda Sanchez's attorney, Lawrence Beaumont, disputed his client's involvement. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. They stormed a hideout west of Guadalajara, but the cartel leader climbed into a vehicle and was rushed to safety. 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. Police found seven guns in the couple's bedroom. In Mexico, a DEA investigator said he was stunned when he learned CJNG cells were popping up in communities as small as Axton. How a Mexican cartel turned a rural area into a hidden cocaine hub, One mistake trapped a desperate dad in a Mexican drug cartel's web. Who is La Vaca? Both are now in prison for money laundering, and her sister, who has two children living in Kentucky, faces deportation. But when the days chores were done, Maciasdidn'tsocializewith others over drinks or dinner. The Farfans and other defendants mulling over plea offers took it as a threat if they mentioned any cartel connections. The . "He was very minutely involved. "We have a problem of corruption. Farfan refused to talk to agents or prosecutors. The gruesome crimes took place in Mexico's state of Colima. 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. 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. Further details Roberto Alderete revealed about CJNG remain hidden in sealed documents. "But its a little different when you go to Boise, Idaho, and other small towns where they dont have the resources to really focus on an international cartel.". Why is The Courier Journal reporting on a deadly Mexican drug cartel? CJNG, which routinely faces off with its No. Histestimony helped convict a trafficker connected to CJNG in 2014. Experts estimate that the CJNG also brings in the millions in a multitude of methods aside from the drug trade including illegal mining, human trafficking, money laundering, and the extortion of farmers and their families for a cut in avocado exports and the forced protection payment or else meet a premature death. Investigators believe Bustos fled to Mexico. Drug dealers may not have worried about being caught here, in Clatsop County, a 90-minute drive northwest from the bustling city of Portland. Other bosses used threats of violence in the U.S., despite El Mencho's warnings against it. "And it is a football (soccer) player of a narco.". Throughout Mexico, more than 40,000 children and adults remain missing. 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. After agents toppled the Oregon drug network in 2018 and arrested 23 suspects, there were murders in Mexico that U.S. investigators suspect were meant to scare and silence potential witnesses in the Portland case. Enemies: CJNG, Juarez Cartel, Los Zetas. Alderete also is accused of asking a criminal informant in Paducahfor assault rifles andagrenade launcherto supplya cartel "war" in Mexico,saidJesseRiddle, the Narcotics Unit captain with the McCracken County Sheriffs Office in Paducah. His attorney lobbied for 13 years, claiming his client likely couldn't survive a longer prison stint. His attorney, Noel Grefenson, declined comment for this story. Watch a man being brutally beheaded by rival Cartel members in Mexico! The judge said Farfan's attorney negotiated "a very significant break for him," cutting his possible prison time in half, considering sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 30 years. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @holliesmckay. He knew he faced deportation back within reach of the cartels. Make no mistake, Taylor said. The young man, an opponent from a rival cartel, finds himself in the clutches of the Cartel de Sinaloa. Eduardo mulled over his future. The CJNG cartel and its backroads drug pipeline had caught the attention of federal authorities, who . Explore the investigation wall showing the connections of El Mencho and CJNG cartel. Hearing the word "cartel" uttered in open court instantly rattled Eduardo. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Agents arrested him in 2006, and he was convicted of illegally reentering the U.S. and trafficking cocaine and meth. 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