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. FBI agents lauded Walker's work, which helped the Bureau and Homeland Security Investigations expose an extensive drug distribution cell that targeted the Pacific Northwest. Follow him onTwitterandFacebook. There, amid the lush pastures and white rail fences, a Mexican immigrant with asinister secret quietly groomed prized thoroughbreds at historic Calumet Farm, according to court records. 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. His boss, Eddie Kane, Calumet's general manager, declined repeated requests for comment. Mexican Cartel Members Sending Message To Rivals. 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. Despite the capture of certain top leaders, it is now Mexico's foremost criminal threat . The cartel has run brothels in Mexico, often using teens and women forced into CJNG's web. In2015, ElMenchoflexed that power to strike back at law enforcement who tried to stop him. 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 . Police had long known John Armas was a major meth trafficker, but he was careful. After agents toppled the drug ring, the cartel turned on the gang. "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.". ", The mother of his two youngest children wrote a letter saying: "He is one of the greatest fathers that there is. It could hide 9 kilos of drugs and a pile of cash. Guanajuato. Attackers in armored vehicles opened fire with high-caliber weapons, gunning down officers driving five SUVs. The answer, The Courier Journal found, kept pointing to CJNG. All rights reserved. "He was very minutely involved. He knew that cartels have connections inside U.S. prisons. As they hovered over a cartel convoy, CJNG members fired Russian-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers, shooting down Morales helicopterinto a cluster of trees. The investigation documented CJNG operations in at least 35 states and Puerto Rico, a sticky web that has snared struggling business owners, thousands of drug users and Mexican immigrants terrified to challenge cartel orders. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"AT9cPsLXmTcu5DvoOKyYtBnoaFpnyDzcOkF8t9PIjh4-1800-0"}; For 53-year-old El Mencho, success did not come early. The government also alleges that Los Cabos targeted law enforcement in Tijuana, killing at least three police officers. ", "The cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!". On April 13, 2017, federal agents arrested Maciason his way to Calumet Farm. Watch a man being brutally beheaded by rival Cartel members in Mexico! 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Enemies: CJNG, Juarez Cartel, Los Zetas. They seized more than $1 million in drug moneyhis couriers were hauling to Mexico. "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. Police found seven guns in the couple's bedroom. He reached 'kingpin' status by selling Mexican cartel-supplied drugs. 21 258 33 0. "The tug of war between CJNG and Sinaloa is getting more violent, likely driven by a stronger CJNG, which managed to make several territorial gains while Sinaloa saw bouts of infighting after El Chapo's capture," Ines Echeagaray, a Mexico-based Senior Analyst at Global Risk Analysis, told Fox News. SEASIDE, Ore. This tranquil coastal town is known for its wide beaches and grand promenade and for becoming a target for drug traffickers peddling meth supplied by a Mexican super cartel. Farfan wasn't as lucky. 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. A video allegedly showing El Cholo surrounded by CJNG captors was uploaded ahead of the mutilated body's discovery Credit: YouTube. Someone aware of the Lexington-Louisville operation talked to a DEA agent in 2016, who, in turn, flagged investigators in Kentucky. March 30, 2022 MEXICO Grisly videos have emerged showing CJNG cartel members beheading rival narcos working under commands from La Vaca. A few instances of the harm: A co-defendant killed himself to avoid prison, and a 9-year-old girl tested positive for meth after her parents helped repackage drugs for resale. The CJNG cartel and its backroads drug pipeline had caught the attention of federal authorities, who . He dropped out of sixth grade to helphis family pickavocados. We're guests in their country.. "They are, however, big on extortion and can turn to violence if victims refuse to cooperate," she asserted. He had at least five aliases and kept slipping back into the U.S. He received credit for time in jail awaiting trial and has since been released and deported. 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. The Courier Journal's investigation into CJNG's surge comes during a recent wave of significantviolence among warring drug cartels in Mexico. Dozens of couriers throughout the U.S. would then collect the drug profits and use the dirty moneyto buy scrap and fine gold. As a young adult, he and his older brother, Abraham Oseguera Cervantes,sold heroin to two undercover police officers at a San Francisco bar in 1992 and were sent to federal prison on drug trafficking charges. I don't want to put my wife, my family in danger.'". Sheriff's investigators say a Paducah, Kentucky, business owner who fell behind on a drug debt was warned last year by the cartel: "If we dont get our money, were gonna kill you and your family.. 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. CJNGs increased distribution of fentanyl across the country has helped the synthetic opioid unseat heroin as the nations No. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. In Mexico, El Mencho is a household name. U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon said he was troubled by Farfan's repeated drug crimes dating back at least to 1999. Mexican marines almost captured El Mencho in October 2018. But someCJNGbossesdidnt follow those rules. Cannibalism in Mexico! "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. 7. He quickly amassed a privatearmy, with CJNG members recruitingor kidnappinghundreds of men in their 20s and boys as young as 12. 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. 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). "Big cities have big police departments and DEA, FBI and (Homeland Security Investigations) and an ability to look at intelligence and focus on their cells and contacts, said the DEA's Donahue. Still, The Courier Journal traveled to Portland, its suburbs, the Oregon coast and Seattle to review court records and interview federal agents, defense attorneys and prosecutors to learn about the Farfan drug ring, its cartel ties and how it finally imploded. Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) gunmen lined up at least 17 victims and shot them during a funeral in western Mexico Sunday. During Eduardo's detention hearing, prosecutors told the judge the Farfan drug ring was supplied by a Mexican cartel. He shares intel with the DEA,but not his own people. Agents say he typically travels in a convoy, surrounding himself withdozens of well-trained mercenaries armed with military-grade weapons that can tear through tanks, even aircraft. 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. Signed Elite Group.". 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. Uncensored versions of the videos can be seen below. 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. From the shadows, he continues to lead CJNG with ruthless authority. Sam Upshaw Jr., Louisville Courier Journal. //]]>. Unlike most cartels and affiliated crime units that permeate Mexico, the CJNG has long posted its most extreme real-life horror films on display for the world to see across social media beheaded bodies left to hang and rot on bridges in broad daylight and beatings so brutal that the sound of bones cracking can be heard. 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. "And it is a football (soccer) player of a narco.". In Seaside, known for commercial fishing and timber, traffickers easily established a strong customer base. At first, he supervised work crews at his uncle's construction business building houses, Roberto's attorney, Robert Salisbury, said. 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. All rights reserved. Law enforcement agencies say that Mexican cartels have been targeting tourist destinations along the Oregon coast in an attempt to conceal their operations. The information leaks make catching El Mencho extremely difficult, he said. 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. Soldiers seized a couple of modified and armored trucks at a warehouse in the municipality of Camargo during a patrol on Saturday, local media reported. "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. Both serve as popular entry ports for the precursor chemicals in synthetic drugs, mostly brought in fromChina. . Victor Alvarez Farfan began sneaking into the U.S. and targeting the Portland area more than two decades ago when he was in his early 20s. Farfan refused to talk to agents or prosecutors. Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) gunmen lined up at least 17 victims and shot them during a funeral in western Mexico Sunday. 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. Months later, the veteran texted his adult son about his gratitude that agents arrested him, saving his life. That fight has been waged across America over the past seven years, federal court records show: CJNG is also using a mix of street gangsand white-collar businessmen to move the drugs and hide the money. We have all had a drug consumption problem," said the official, who asked not to be identified for his protection. First, Mexican cartel suppliers established a pipeline to the Portland area. Who was to blame? Pineda Penaloza and his crew were convicted of drug trafficking and are now in federal prison. Narcocorrido band Grupo Arriesgado forced out of Tijuana for singing about CJNG. Walker then secured search warrants to monitor social media accounts, where drug ring members chatted in code on Facebook Messenger. The young man, an opponent from a rival cartel, finds himself in the clutches of the Cartel de Sinaloa. Next steps crucial, experts say, US drug czar wants India to stem flow of chemicals used by Mexican cartels for fentanyl, Ignoring cartel danger, Mexican families scour wilderness for missing loved ones' remains, This small-town Oregon bricklayer had a side hustle: Gun supplier for Mexican drug cartel, Mexico-US investigation links cartel downing of military helicopter to Oregon gun supplier, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Hearing more details, the investigator, who asked not to be identified to protect his work, acknowledged to The Courier Journal: "Its a great strategy.". Legal Statement. He knew he faced deportation back within reach of the cartels. ", Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Armas and his wife, known as "Coco," used a handful of drug associates to store and repackage the drugs and drive them to Seaside and surrounding areas. But betrayal awaited, Will El Chapo son's arrest slow export of drugs to US? Americans who may not know of CJNG today should take note, Dodds said. The . Reply Delete VIEWER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED. Rubn "Nemesio" Oseguera Cervantes is the leader of Crtel Jalisco Nueva Generacin, better known as CJNG. 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. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. But two years later, agents discovered he had slipped back into the U.S., returned to Portland and resumed trafficking cocaine and meth and had added heroin to his offerings. Reporter Beth Warren: bwarren@courier-journal.com; 502-582-7164; Twitter @BethWarrenCJ. 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. . Many were scared silent and to this day no Mexican suppliers have faced justice for these crimes. 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. Guns in the clutches of the Lexington-Louisville operation talked to a DEA agent in,! Helped the synthetic opioid unseat heroin as the nations No, 2022 Grisly. 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