Cartels Fueling Violence In Mexico Take Root In U.S.
Map of Mexican drug cartel presence in the U.S.
The Obama administration is pledging a major new law enforcement push to try to keep the Mexican drug cartels at bay — both in Mexico and here in the U.S. Violence between the gangs and confrontations with authorities have taken thousands of lives in Mexico in recent years, and there's growing concern in the U.S. that the bloodshed will spill over the border. The administration is even considering sending in the National Guard.
While these moves may increase security along the border, they won't keep the Mexican cartels out of the U.S. That's because they're already here, and well-established.
The Justice Department says the cartels now have operations in at least 230 American cities, up from 50 in 2006. Many of those are smaller, agricultural cities with Hispanic communities — places like Mount Vernon, Wash. Less than an hour from the Canadian border, it's the last place you might expect to encounter the Mexican cartels. But Skagit County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Kading says the cartels are definitely here.
Driving through the town's heavily Hispanic apartment complexes, Kading says most Mexicans here are "good people, who work their tails off in the fields." But there's no avoiding the fact that narcotics investigations almost always lead back here.
The Mexican cartels have a near-monopoly on the distribution of wholesale quantities of drugs in most of the country now. Whether it's crystal meth by the pound or cocaine by the kilo, odds are it was supplied by the cartels and sold by their middlemen in places like this. Street-level dealers, on the other hand, often are not Mexican, or even Hispanic.
It's a pattern seen around the country: The cartels use Hispanic communities as cover — small towns like Pocatello, Idaho, and Oklahoma City. But Kading says you won't find the cartel bosses up here.
"These are the storekeepers, the worker bees, the disposable people. If they get caught, they get caught, there's four more who'll take their place," he says.
The Business Model
The cartels' American business plan is almost foolproof: The bosses stay in Mexico, and the money comes to them. Another detective working in Skagit County — who asked to remain anonymous, because he's still working undercover — says the money raised by the wholesale drug business doesn't stay in the U.S. very long.
"We've actually done deals and then watched afterwards as they've gone directly from the deal to the wire transfer place, and we can see our money going back within an hour," the detective says.
That means that when law enforcement raids a stash house in the U.S., there's rarely much money or expensive property for them to confiscate.
The cartels' American business model also benefits from the continued porousness of the southern border. Kading says Mexicans he's arrested on drug cases often come right back to town after their deportation. In one case, he says, a Mexican woman deported after a meth raid came back to town in less than two weeks — and even went to the local office of the state's Department of Social and Human Services to get help reclaiming personal property that had been impounded during her arrest.
Investigators say they're often confounded by changing names and fake ID's. Add to that the fact that many potential informants in the Hispanic community won't talk to the police, for fear of deportation, and it becomes very tough to track the cartels' movements.
A Different Type Of Operations
There's hardly a corner of the U.S. that doesn't have some Mexican cartel presence. The special agent in charge of the DEA's Seattle division, Arnold Moorin, counts at least five Mexican gangs or cartels with operations in the Pacific Northwest.
But while the cartels are here, he says, they don't operate the same way here as they do back home. This is a distribution operation, and they generally don't have the kind of savage turf wars seen in Mexico or along the border.
"For them to be as violent as they are in Mexico, that's counterproductive," Moorin says.
Still, that faraway violence has an effect here; Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Thomas says he feels it when he tries to get a Mexican to cooperate on a prosecution.
"Chances are, the organization will visit a member of their family. Typically, they might, you know, talk to their mother, say hello, and that gets back to them here," Thomas says.
But in Mount Vernon, no one seems too worried about the cartels bringing that kind of violence this far north. In the Hispanic neighborhoods, the presence of the cartels inspires more shoulder shrugs than fear.
Lucia Ortega tutors Hispanic kids in a small community center on the edge of one of the apartment complexes identified as one of the cartels' distribution centers. She says she knows a couple of people involved in the drug trade but keeps her distance.
"I think they just bring their stuff here, give it to other people to sell, and that's that," Ortega says.
She says she feels safer here than she would in Mexico. Another tutor, Linda de la Rosa, says the only thing that's really changed is that outsiders seem to be more aware of the cartels now.
"I guess it hasn't come out into the open as it is now. I think people are more aware of it, but I personally believe it's always been around," says de la Rosa.
In fact, that jibes with information from the DEA; Moorin says the Mexican cartels displaced the Colombians on the West Coast as far back as the mid-1990s. So the cartels' presence in the U.S. isn't really new. What's new is the level of violence in Mexico, which has made Americans look around and wonder whether that could be on its way here.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Mexico today, she'll have with her a new offer of U.S. help in fighting Mexico's violent drug cartels.
Thousands of people have been killed there over the past year as the cartels battle each other and the Mexican government.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
To try to stabilize the situation, the Obama administration is sending about 500 additional federal agents to the U.S.-Mexico border, along with new funding, equipment and technology, and the administration is considering sending the National Guard.
MONTAGNE: At the White House yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there are two goals. First…
Secretary JANET NAPOLITANO (Department of Homeland Security): To provide assistance to the government of Mexico, to break up these huge cartels, which are funneling tonnage quantities of illegal drugs into our country on a regular basis and are conducting this war of violence within Mexico that has resulted in over 6,000 homicides, over 550 of which were assassinations of law enforcement and public official personnel.
INSKEEP: So that's the first goal, and Janet Napolitano says the second has to do with the American side of the border.
Secretary NAPOLITANO: To guard against an increase in violence in the United States as a result of the actions undertaken in Mexico. We've seen some increase in violence, primarily between cartels themselves; kidnappings, for example, in the Phoenix area, in the Houston area. But what we want to do is to better secure the border area.
MONTAGNE: That's Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. The extra money and manpower may stop some of the violence from spilling over into the U.S., but it won't keep the drug cartels out. That's because they're already here. NPR's Martin Kaste reports on just how far their reach goes.
(Soundbite of car on road)
MARTIN KASTE: I've driven up to Mount Vernon, Washington. It's a little town about an hour and a half north of Seattle. It's about as far north from Mexico as you can get. In fact, turn on the radio here in the car, I think we can get…
(Soundbite of music)
KASTE: Yup, French radio from Canada. There you go.
(Soundbite of music)
KASTE: But even this far north, the Mexican cartels are going strong.
Deputy CHRIS KADING (Skagit County Sheriff's Department): You've got a criminal element in every race, nationality.
KASTE: Sheriff's Deputy Chris Kading is driving through one of Mount Vernon's Mexican neighborhoods. Most people came here to work in agriculture. In Kading's words, they're good people who work their tails off in the fields. But he says there's no denying the fact that drug investigations almost always lead back here.
Mr. KADING: The facts dictate that you're only going to get your dope, a big amount of dope, from a Hispanic guy.
KASTE: The cartels use this neighborhood as a kind of wholesale warehouse for product imported from Mexico: pounds of meth, kilos of coke. Local cops talk about confiscating bricks of the drugs imprinted with the cartel's insignia.
The drugs are then broken up and resold to street dealers. It's a pattern seen around the country. The cartels use Hispanic communities as cover, often in smaller agricultural towns, places like Sioux Falls, South Dakota, or Pocatello, Idaho. The Feds say the cartels are now operating in 230 American cities, up from 50 just three years ago.
But Deputy Kading says you won't find the cartel bosses in the U.S.
Mr. KADING: These are the storekeepers, the worker bees, the disposable people. If they get caught, eh, they get caught. There's four more guys that'll take their place.
KASTE: It's a pretty slick business plan. The cartel bosses are safe in Mexico, and the money comes to them. Riding along in the car with Kading is a detective. He's still working undercover and doesn't want his name on the air. He says the money never stays here very long.
Unidentified Man (Detective): We've actually done deals and watched them afterwards as they go directly from the deal to the wire-transfer place, and we can see our money going back, you know, within an hour.
KASTE: The cartels' American business model also benefits from the continued porousness of the southern border. Deputy Kading says he's seen Mexicans deported on drug charges that are back in town less than two weeks later.
Investigators are often confounded by changing names and fake IDs, and add to that the fact that potential informants are often afraid of being deported, and you can see why authorities often have a tough time tracking the cartels' movements in the U.S.
In the DEA's Seattle office, Special Agent in Charge Arnold Moorin lists some of the Mexican cartels that he believes are operating here in the northwestern corner of the country.
Special Agent ARNOLD MOORIN (DEA): Zambada Garcia, Juan Esparragoza. Then you have the Tijuana cartel and Chapo Guzman, him being the largest of the two. That's the Sinaloan cartel.
KASTE: But while those Mexican cartels are here, he says, so far they haven't brought with them their notorious gun battles.
Mr. MOORIN: For them to be as violent as they are in Mexico, that's counterproductive.
KASTE: When there's a dispute over business in the U.S., Moorin says, the killing usually takes place in Mexico. During a recent investigation of the Barragan family's meth operation near Tacoma, he says wiretaps intercepted at least 20 phone calls that involved murders, but all down south.
Still, that faraway violence does have an effect here. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Thomas says he feels it when he tries to get a Mexican to cooperate on a prosecution.
Mr. MATT THOMAS (Assistant U.S. Attorney): Chances are the organization will visit a member of their family. Typically they might go, you know, talk to their mother, say hello, and that gets back to them.
KASTE: But in Mount Vernon hardly anyone expects that the cartels are about to bring that kind of violence and intimidation this far north. In the Hispanic neighborhoods, talk of the cartels inspires more shoulder shrugs than fear.
In a local community center, Lucia Ortega tutors kids after school.
Ms. LUCIA ORTEGA (Tutor): (Speaking Spanish)
KASTE: Ortega says she knows of a couple of people involved in the drug trade here, but she figures she'll just keep her distance.
Ms. ORTEGA: I think they just bring their stuff here, give it to other people for them to sell, and that's that.
KASTE: Ortega, who was born in California, says she feels safe here, safer than she would in Mexico. Another tutor in the room, Linda de la Rosa, says she doesn't think the cartels are getting any more dangerous here than they were before; it's just that people are paying more attention.
Ms. LINDA DE LA ROSA (Tutor): I guess it hasn't come out into the open as it is now. I think a lot of people are more being aware of it, but I personally believe it's always been around.
KASTE: In fact, that jibes with information from the DEA. Agent Moorin says here on the West Coast the Mexican cartels displaced the Colombians back in the mid-1990s. So what's changed now? Maybe more than anything, it's the news of all the violence down in Mexico, which has made more Americans look around and wonder whether that could ever happen here. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Seattle.
MONTAGNE: And Martin's story is part of a series we're doing on the drug cartels and the violence in Mexico. You can view a map of the Mexican drug-cartel presence in the U.S. and read about how border cities in Texas are faring at our Web site, npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
