Selling drugs in bulk to local traffickers, who then sold to area dealers. 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 a lethal . CJNG is "among us. Provided by McCracken County Sheriff's Department. Based on the average street value, its trade could net upwards of $8.1 billion for cocaine and $4.6 billion for crystal meth each year. In eightmonths, Sosas crew laundered about $1million for CJNG,stacking drugs and cash behind a wall of their trailer. And though few Americans know his name, authorities promise they soon will. "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. Viral videos captured the gruesome execution on social media. It's a common and effective tactic used by many cartels. 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. Drug trafficking is popping up in unlikely tourist areas along the Oregon coast: Photos. Drug dealers may not have worried about being caught here, in Clatsop County, a 90-minute drive northwest from the bustling city of Portland. Pineda Penaloza and his crew were convicted of drug trafficking and are now in federal prison. CJNG took credit on social media for the massacre. Authorities identified one of the four victims as Rey Jose Poblete Ramos, a man with a lengthy criminal history. . 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. Walker then secured search warrants to monitor social media accounts, where drug ring members chatted in code on Facebook Messenger. Treasury Department officials stood with Sessions and announced more sanctions on businesses linked to CJNG and its affiliate, Los Cuinis. The unparalleled speed of CJNGs growth coasttocoast in less than a decade has made the cartel a clear, present and growing danger, says Uttam Dhillon, DEA's acting administrator. The . 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. Who was to blame? Robertois awaiting sentencing in Paducah in August for trafficking meth while armed with a gun. The cartel exploits its connections with otherwise hard-working immigrants, said Dan Dodds, who leads DEA operations in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. From there, Victor Farfan and his inner circle supplied drug trafficker John Armas in Hillsboro. "It's gonna be hard to catch him slippin'," said Mori, the DEA agent overseeing the U.S. criminal investigation against El Mencho. He received credit for time in jail awaiting trial and has since been released and deported. killing on turf wars between the Jalisco cartel and its rivals as it expands into new territory. As Farfan's day of reckoning neared, he and his family pleaded for leniency. "I had a prosecutor who was sympathetic that this guy was just a bond-hit, video-game type of kid," Schindler said. There, he built a thriving drug trafficking business, but the city's dominantcartel ordered him to leave when leaders became threatened by his success. For police, it was d vu. WARNING: THE VIDEO IS EXTREMELY DISTURBING AND GRAPHIC AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE TO ALL AUDIENCES. Instead, The Courier Journals investigation documented cells where CJNG members moved in, settling into a luxury condo near downtown Nashvilles honky-tonk district; an upscale Hollywood high-rise apartment near Sunset Boulevard; and sidewalk-lined suburbs in Cairo, Illinois; Johnson City, Tennessee; and Kansas City, Missouri. 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. 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. Agents say Macias didn'tinvolveCalumet in his drug crimes. 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. "They are also very adept at using social media, such as Facebook and even Tik Tok, to show their strength and aggressiveness. The CJNG has also been accused of directly extorting businesses in the capital. Mexican Cartel Members Behead Two Men. A video allegedly showing El Cholo surrounded by CJNG captors was uploaded ahead of the mutilated body's discovery Credit: YouTube. "Theyre a business," Hammer said of cartels. 17. Flames leftMoralesdisabled and disfigured. He doesn't make wild errors; he doesn't hesitate; one word for el Mecho is 'calculated,'" Wesley said. 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. It has drug cells all across the U.S., even in tiny towns. And court records detail how the cartel lures those who need money to serve as drug or cash couriers or money launderers. He shares intel with the DEA,but not his own people. Pointing to more than 70,000 Americans who overdosed and died in 2017, Coleman said, Were fighting a war for our families, and (the cartels) are winning.. He ran a drug network that trafficked kilos of meth with help from his then-wife, Socorro Elena Gutierrez, from their Washington County home. Farfan agreed to forfeit $100,000, and the judge ordered him to remain on supervised release for five years after he serves his time in prison. 2023www.courier-journal.com. 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. His followers have spread tonearly all of Mexico's 32 states, including the cities ofGuadalajara and Tijuana, both crucial to moving drugs into the U.S. From there, ElMencho's empire went global, withasteady and growing customerbasein the U.S., as well as in Australia, Europe andJapan. 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. On April 6, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against Carlos . His attorney lobbied for 13 years, claiming his client likely couldn't survive a longer prison stint. Last year, there were 2,513 killings in tourist hotspot Tijuana . 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. While Luis Alderete maintains his innocence,court records show that his brother, Roberto Alderete, identified Luis asa cartel lieutenant. This case had some odd twists, including the involvement by a retired U.S. Marine and his wife, an agonizing test of family loyalties and a gruesome threat from Mexico. Attackers in armored vehicles opened fire with high-caliber weapons, gunning down officers driving five SUVs. The military veteran served in Operation Desert Shield in 1990 and didn't have a criminal history, but he and his wife suffered from addiction. Watch a man being brutally beheaded by rival Cartel members in Mexico! LOG IN TO WATCH THIS VIDEO. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is Mexico's most violent crime gang. "If you provide information to the Mexican government, its probably the last thing you would say.". In the recordings, it can be seen how little by little assassins from the Sinaloa Cartel are killing the woman's life and dismembering her, first it is observed how they remove her arms, later they cut her neck and thus continue with the other extremities. CJNG members have followed relatives or friends who left Mexico for the U.S. to find jobs. "I was surprised that CJNGs efforts and tentacles were reaching into Kentucky, that they had expanded their reach that rapidly, said Evans, who previously headed the Louisville Field Division. He remained in prison until his deportation in 2015, court records show. Los Cabos allegedly engaged in this violence in support of CJNG, one of the most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world. WARNING: THE VIDEO IS EXTREMELY DISTURBING AND GRAPHIC AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE TO ALL AUDIENCES. ", "He said: 'I'll do the time. When he gets out, he again faces deportation. Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Prosecutors say Parra Pedroza and Pineda Sanchezwould keepa percentage, with the rest going tocartel members in Mexico. He initially came to the U.S. to earn money as a mechanic for another relative. El Menchos drug empire "is putting poison on the streets of the U.S.," said Chris Evans, who runs the DEAs day-to-day global operations. Then he vanished, How this couple ran a redneck meth empire in an Appalachian county ravaged by addiction, How a Mississippi trooper almost took down the worlds most powerful cartel boss, Mother searches photos of mutilated dead men, hoping to find her abducted son, Officer disabled after helicopter shot down by rising Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The young man, an opponent from a rival cartel, finds himself in the clutches of the Cartel de Sinaloa. A veteran Jalisco police officer, whoasked not to be identified for his safety, said CJNG has officials on its payroll at thelocal, state and federal levels. That load was headed from Portland to Baltimore. 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 . CJNG, which routinely faces off with its No. But soon, he was asked to deliver drugs. For two years, Farfan's nephew, Eduardo Alvarez Farfan, was scared silent. Its extreme savagery in Mexico includes beheadings, public hangings, acid baths, even cannibalism. Brenda and Karl Cooley of Louisville certainly didnt know his name when their son Adam overdosed on fentanyl in March 2017. Colima: Four members of the CJNG cartel mistakenly identified a ten year old girl as the daughter of a rival involved in a conflict over drug market territory. 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. He dropped out of sixth grade to helphis family pickavocados. 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. While officials can't say how much of the U.S. drug trade comes from CJNG, they predict the powerful organization is poised to supplant the more well-known and established Sinaloa Cartel as the world's most powerful drug trafficking organization. Other bosses used threats of violence in the U.S., despite El Mencho's warnings against it. Hollie McKay has a been a Fox News Digital staff reporter since 2007. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. "We have a problem of corruption. He agreed to talk to agents only about certain drug crimes, including detailing his actions and his uncle's actions inside the U.S., after a judge released him from jail on bond and after his elder family members gave him their blessing. Dozens of couriers throughout the U.S. would then collect the drug profits and use the dirty moneyto buy scrap and fine gold. "If he was, I didnt charge him enough.". hammering his body with at least three bullets, stolen cars converted into armored vehicles to drones and high-powered machine guns. 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. But Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador declined Trump's offer for U.S. troops, saying his country doesn't need help. By 2018, the CJNG became the second most powerful cartel in Mexico, and was believed to have over 100 methamphetamine labs throughout the country. There's a reason why gente de Sinaloa stay in business while everyone else eats shit and goes away. DEA agents take a suspect into custody during an arrest of a suspected drug trafficker on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 in Diamond Bar, Calif. The victims' wrists were tied using ligatures to prevent them all from bleeding to death. ", 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. ", More:Ignoring cartel danger, Mexican families scour wilderness for missing loved ones' remains. 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. Reporters Jonathan Bullington, Kala Kachmar, Chris Kenning andKarol Suarez contributed to this story. Officials in Attorney General William Barr's office declined to comment on The Courier Journal's findings. 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.". Farfan refused to talk to agents or prosecutors. The violence of 2015 was a wake-upcall,saidTerryCole, a former New York City police officer who oversees DEA agents in Guadalajaraas the assistant regional director forNorth and Central America. 1nemesis, the Sinaloa Cartel, dominates the majority supply of everything from methamphetamine and heroin to the devastating synthetic opioid fentanyl into its northern border and beyond. When authorities arrested him, they found twoassault rifles, one inscribed with "Menchito" little Mencho and anotherengraved with"CJNG 02 JR.". Despite the capture of certain top leaders, it is now Mexico's foremost criminal threat . A high-ranking state official in Jaliscosaid Americans are too quick to blame Mexico for the U.S. drug crisis. 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. 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. "All intelligence indicates hes still there, moving regularly," said Craine, the retired DEA supervisor who led the successful hunt for El Chapo. The group has also upped the ante for sea and air authority too fighting the likes of Sinaloa and the vestiges of Los Zetas and Los Pelones to take heed over the vital port of Chetumal and the Yucatan Peninsula, according to ananalysisby InSight Crime. Known as CJNG, the cartel is a global powerhouse, detected on every continent except Antarctica. 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. But federal agents say CJNG was Kentuckys main supplier of fentanyl at the time of his death. In the past, student filmmakers have been kidnapped and tortured to death, journalists frequently killed before they can even begin to probe a likely CJNG crime, dozens of lawmakers and judges have been butchered and death threats have haunted scores of Mexican officials. Armas used the couple's home as a drug stash house, paying them with enough meth for their daily fix. Macias found success following the cartel's three-pronged business model: Macias recruited Brizeida Janett Sosa, the mother of his youngest child, to help organize themoney laundering scheme, court records would later show. 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. He had at least five aliases and kept slipping back into the U.S. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"AT9cPsLXmTcu5DvoOKyYtBnoaFpnyDzcOkF8t9PIjh4-1800-0"}; more proof that CJNG ain't shit but zetas 2.0 gente de Sinaloa no trabaja asi como vale vergas. Maciasand Sosa were convicted of meth trafficking and money laundering and are serving 31 and 15 years, respectively, in federal prison. I would like to be able to be with them. We have all had a drug consumption problem," said the official, who asked not to be identified for his protection. Eleven months after the Lexington raid, a SWAT team crept in the darkness and blasted off the front door of the tire shop owner's house in Louisville. And the lifelong, medieval punishment of physical disability is one that has become synonymous with both state and non-state actors over the years, from ISIS and al-Qaeda to theIranianregime. The cartel has its hands in trafficking multiple deadly substances. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Farfan brought in at least 20 kilos of meth, half a kilo of heroin and nearly two kilos of fentanyl. "If one wants to gain power, control and territory, it's a must that they conquer non-alliance cartels and gain the assistance of police and government entities to assist them in their global success.". Members of a cartel cell inKansasCity, withdrug houses in both Kansas and Missouri between 2013 and 2016,splurged on $10,000ticketsto rapper Pitbulls concertand a Louis Vuittonpurse. With high-caliber weapons, gunning down officers driving five SUVs received credit for time jail., there were 2,513 killings in tourist hotspot Tijuana fentanyl in March.! 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