Cartel bust details unfolding

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Cartel bust details unfolding
By Mike Ward | Thursday, October 22, 2009, 10:31 AM
An Austin press conference is scheduled this afternoon to announce area arrests in a nationwide roundup of more than 300 suspected gang members in what law enforcement authorities say is the largest crackdown against a Mexican drug cartel operating in the United States.
The only Austin info so far: Multiple search warrants and apprehensions have been carried out, a “significant amount” of cocaine and cash has been seized in the bust of the La Familia drug gang.
Officials so far are declining comment publicly, saying an afternoon announcement of the crackdown will provide further details.
In Washington, federal officials late this morning announced that 303 people in 19 states — including Texas — have been apprehended as part of the crackdown. More than 3,000 agents and officers made the arrests in a two-day sweep that netted 62 kilograms of cocaine, 729 pounds of methamphetamine, 967 pounds of marijuana, 144 weapons, 109 vehicles and two clandestine drug labs.
“Project Coronado, our massive assault on the La Familia Cartel, is part of our continued fight against all of the powerful Mexico-based drug cartels,” said Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
“This organization, the newest of Mexican cartels, is directly responsible for a vast majority of the methamphetamine pouring into our country across our Southwest Border, and has had a hand in fueling the cycle of violence that is wracking Mexico today.”
Authorities said the massive bust is the product of a 44-month, multi-agency operation called “Project Coronado,” targeting illicit drug and crime operations of the cartel that has gained in strength since it split off from the Gulf cartel in 2006.
It was formed in the 1980s in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacan and is involved in drug trafficking, bribery, contract killings, human smuggling, extortion, murders, torture and arms trafficking, according to several U.S. investigators who are familiar with the group.
According to federal officials, a New York grand jury has indicted alleged cartel leader and founder Servando Gomez-Martinez.
In July, after a dozen Mexican law enforcement officers were found murdered, officials say Gomez-Martinez publicly announced his membership in La Familia and said the cartel was locked in a battle with Mexican police, according to press reports at the time.
According to one federal indictment unsealed in New York, associates of La Familia based in the United States have acquired military-grade weapons, including assault weapons and ammunition, and have arranged for them to be smuggled back into Mexico for use by La Familia.
Officials said suspects indicted in the crackdown face charges ranging from conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana to trafficking in illicit drugs to money laundering; and other violations of federal law
In addition to Texas, states where arrests have been made or charges filed include California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington state, according to federal officials.
“This unprecedented, coordinated U.S. law enforcement action - the largest ever undertaken against a Mexican drug cartel - has dealt a significant blow to La Familia’s supply chain of illegal drugs, weapons, and cash flowing between Mexico and the United States,” said U.S. Attorney General Holder.
“We will not allow these cartels to operate unfettered in our country, and with the increases in cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities in recent years, we are taking the fight to our adversaries. We will continue to stand strong with our partners in Mexico as we work to disrupt and dismantle cartel operations on both sides of the border.”
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...unfolding.html

[ilbegone]

Mammoth Takedown' of Violent Mexican Drug Gang

Feds Operation Largest Ever Against Cartel in U.S.

By PIERRE THOMAS, JASON RYAN and DEVIN DWYER

Oct. 22, 2009

Just before dawn Wednesday, Drug Enforcement Administration agents launched a raid on suspected Mexican drug traffickers hiding out in a Los Angeles suburb.

The DEA raids suspected drug traffickers of Mexico's La Familia cartel.

Moments later, the suspects were brought out in handcuffs, caught in what authorities say is the largest national dragnet against Mexican cartels, which have been expanding their reach across the United States.

The California raid was one of dozens that took place over the past two days, targeting Mexico's La Familia cartel, an organization notorious for beheadings and its brazen attacks on authorities south of the border. La Familia also ships huge amounts of methamphetamines, marijuana and cocaine into the United States each year, the DEA says.

"They're very active, they're prolific and they're extremely dangerous," DEA agent Jose Martinez said at the scene of the Riverside, Calif., raid.

The operation -- which authorities have called Project Coronado -- involved more than 3,000 federal agents and police officers in 19 states, resulting in the arrests of more than 300 people. Authorities seized $3.4 million, 730 pounds of methamphetamines, and more than 400 weapons from members of the cartel.

"[La Familia] is the newest and it is the most violent of the five Mexican drug cartels," said Attorney General Eric Holder as a news conference in Washington Thursday. "The sheer level and depravity of the violence that this cartel has exhibited thus far exceeds unfortunately what we have become accustomed to from the other cartels."

La Familia's tactics are also ruthless. In a police surveillance tape released by federal officials, La Familia drug smugglers are seen removing methamphetamine stashed in a car's hidden compartment. Then, they wrap the drugs in a blanket with a toddler.

"Since its emergence as a cartel in 2006, we have tracked La Familia's expansion into cities scattered all across the United States," said DEA administrator Michele Leonhart.

In the past several years, the DEA says, the cartel has expanded into the U.S. in part because of the zealous belief that drugs need to be pushed north to avoid the scourge of addiction from damaging Mexican communities.

"We are fighting an organization whose brutal violence is driven by so-called divine justice," said Leonhart. "La Familia's narco-banner declared that they don't kill for money and they don't kill innocent people. However, their delivery of that message was accompanied by five severed heads rolled onto a dancefloor in Uruapan, Mexico."

The latest spree of arrests mainly occurred in California and along the southern U.S. border, but operations extended to nearly a dozen major U.S. cities. According to the DEA, La Familia has distribution cells in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and North Carolina.

More than 11 tons of drugs and $32 million have been intercepted as part of Project Coronado, which has netted more than 1,200 arrests in the past 24 months.

Attorney General Holder said today the U.S. and Mexican governments still have a long way to go in breaking up the cartels. "We have to keep hitting them," he said. "To the extent that they do grow back, I think we have to work with our Mexican counterparts to really cut off the heads of these snakes and get at the heads of the cartels."

[ilbegone]

Inside the U.S. Mexican Drug Ring Raids

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., Oct. 22, 2009

(CBS) They didn't knock. They didn't have to. From California's Central Valley to Atlanta's suburbs, they hit hard and fast before dawn - part of the biggest DEA operation in history - against a single Mexican drug cartel called La Familia.

They seized 2,730 pounds of methamphetamine, just under 2,000 kilos of cocaine, and $33 million in cash.

"The toxic reach of its operations extends to almost every state within our own country," said Attorney General Eric Holder.

In a house in Atlanta, they found kilos of cocaine hidden in a boxspring. More kilos of cocaine were found hidden in the bathroom walls.

Three pounds of crystal meth were found in plastic tubs. La Familia exports more crystal meth to the U.S. than any other drug cartel.

DEA Agent Steve Whipple led the raid in Atlanta. "They make money. They send it back to families in Mexico. Buy more dope. It's what they do," he said.

In suburban neighborhoods outside Atlanta, drug cartels hide in plain sight, in so called "stash houses."

"This is a drug stash. There are other houses they use for money," said Atlanta Field Division DEA Special Agent Rodney Benson. "There's other ones we've seen that they use to bring people in as kidnapping houses."

In one house alone, agents hauled away eight kilos of cocaine and five pounds of meth. Street value? More than a million dollars.

What appears to be an average suburban home was actually a massive methamphetamine conversion lab. The mixing chemicals inside were so volatile, at first everyone kept back a block. The house could blow sky high.

Agents in protective suits carefully removed buckets of volatile meth oil and acetone. There was so much meth, in so many stages, that even agents were startled.

"Every large city, every medium city, every small city - you look and say 'who are the wholesale suppliers of meth, marijuana cocaine and heroin,'" asked Benson. "It's Mexican organized crime."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...UpperPromoArea

[ilbegone]

More than 1,100 feds, LA police conduct gang sweep

(AP) 10-22-2009

LOS ANGELES — More than 1,100 FBI agents and police officers spread out through South Los Angeles, banging on doors before dawn Thursday in a crackdown against a gang implicated in drug dealing and violent crime, authorities said.

"They have a vise grip on the neighborhood, and we are going to release that grip this morning," LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said, referring to the Rolling 40s street gang.

Agents and officers went to 47 locations, serving arrest warrants for 75 people charged with federal or state crimes, mostly involving drugs or weapons. More than 30 have been indicted on federal charges that could carry sentences ranging from 20 years to life, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

By 7 a.m., 46 people had been arrested and some guns had been seized, said Albanese, calling the sweep the culmination of an 18-month investigation.

The suspects were taken to Exposition Park for booking. Televised reports showed men and women in handcuffs waiting in a parking lot to be bused to jail.

"Families get to raise their children, send the kids to school, without as much fear involving this particular street gang. ... The communities are held hostage, in a sense," Albanese said.

Eimiller said well over 500 people have been arrested since May in 10 Southern California anti-gang sweeps involving federal and local officials.

***

Thursday's operation also took place in the midst of a nationwide series of raids against a Mexico-based drug cartel.

Over the past two days, more than 300 people have been arrested in more than a dozen states, including California. The arrests are aimed at the U.S. operations of the La Familia cartel, two officials said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the results of the operation.

The Los Angeles gang sweep was unrelated, Eimiller said.

"This is a local ... violent street gang. They were targeted in this investigation based on the level of violence," Eimiller said.

In recent years, federal, state and local officials have staged a series of crackdowns against street gangs they accuse of running drugs and terrorizing neighborhoods with drug sales, robberies and killings.

Last week, federal immigration announced nearly 300 people had been arrested in the Los Angeles area during a six-month national anti-gang operation that ended Sept. 30.

Los Angeles and other Southern California communities also have used court orders to bar reputed gang members from activities that otherwise would be considered legal, such as gathering in public or flashing alleged gang signs.

More than 40 preliminary injunctions bar members of 71 gangs from gathering in certain Los Angeles neighborhoods.

Civil rights groups have expressed concern over the breadth of such injunctions, but authorities say they are useful in breaking the hold of street gangs on neighborhoods.

[ilbegone]

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #605, 10/23/09

by Bernd Debussman Jr.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations make billions each year trafficking illegal drugs into the United States, profiting enormously from the prohibitionist drug policies of the US government.

Since Mexican president Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and called the armed forces into the fight against the so-called cartels, prohibition-related violence has killed over 12,000 people -- the body count passing 6,000 for 2009 so far this week. The increasing militarization of the drug war and the arrest of several high-profile drug traffickers have failed to stem the flow of drugs -- or the violence -- whatsoever.

The Merida initiative, which provides $1.4 billion over three years for the US to assist the Mexican government with training, equipment and intelligence, has so far failed to make a difference. Here are a few of the latest developments in Mexico's drug war:

Thursday, October 22

In the United States, over 300 people were arrested, in what is being called the largest single-blow against Mexican drug cartels operating in the country. The arrests targeted the US operations of the La Familia cartel, which is based in the Mexican state of Michoacan.

Law enforcement officials said arrests were made or charges were files in multiple states, including California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennesee, Texas, and Washington State.

Many of the charges filed were directed against those involved with the cartels methamphetamine smuggling network in the US, with other charges being directed at those involved in cocaine and marijuana trafficking for the organization.

Additionally, a New York grand jury has indicted Servando Gomez-Martinez, who is linked to the July murder of twelve federal police officers who were found dead by the side of a roadway.

Wednesday , October 21

A suspected member of the Juárez Cartel was added to the FBI's ten most wanted list. Eduardo "Tablas" Ravelo, 41, is allegedly a high-ranking member of the Barrio Azteca gang.

In exchange for a steady supply of narcotics, Barrio Azteca performs enforcement tasks for the cartel on both sides of the border, and can effectively be considered part of the Juarez cartel which operates on American soil.

Ravelo is suspected of ordering the killing of another high-ranking gang member, David "Chicho" Meraz, during an internal power struggle. Meraz was killed in Ciudad Juarez last year.

Ravelo is reportedly hiding in Juárez under the protection of the cartel.

Earlier in the week, another man with suspected cartel connections was also added to the FBI's ten most wanted list. Jose Luis Saenz, of Los Angeles, is suspected of killing at least four people (including his girlfriend) and is allegedly an enforcer for an unnamed Mexican drug trafficking organization. In October 2008 he shot and killed another gang member in LA County who apparently owed $620,000 to the cartel.

Across Mexico, 40 drug-related homicides were reported in a 24-hour period, bringing the 2009 total to over 6,000. Thirteen of these were in Chihuahua, and of these, nine were in Ciudad Juárez. According to a running tally by El Universal,

1,000 people were killed in drug-related violence in Mexico in the last 40 days. The previous 1,000 had been killed over 41 days, and the 1,000 before that in 44 days. Since August 1st, an average of 24 homicides were reported daily, approximately one every hour.

One out of every three drug-related homicides was in Ciudad Juárez. Much of the violence is due to the conflict being fought by the Sinaloa Federation and the Juárez cartel over control of the Ciudad Juárez-El Paso drug trafficking corridor.

Tuesday , October 20

In Guerrero, at least three banners were found which threatened police and Genaro Garcia Luna, the Secretary of Public Safety. The signs were signed by what appears to be a new, Guerrero branch of the "La Familia" cartel which is based in Michoacan.

The signs also accused Garcia Luna of protecting the Beltran-Leyva cartel and the allied Zetas organization. In another part of Guerrero, the body of a bus driver was found by the side of the road, and showed signs of torture. A second body was found near Acapulco.

Near the city of Ciudad Mante, police arrested a man who had 107 kilos of marijuana in a hidden compartment of his pick-up truck.

Monday , October 19

Two people were killed after being ambushed by a group of heavily armed gunmen in Guerrero. One of the dead was a policeman, and the other was a civilian who was riding a bus that was caught in the crossfire.

Additionally, five bodies showing signs of torture were recovered from various parts of Acapulco. Attached to each of them were notes threatening "kidnappers, thieves and traitors" and signed by Arturo Beltran-Leyva, the boss of the Beltran-Leyva cartel.

18 people were killed in drug-related killings in Ciudad Juárez. At least 21 other drug-related homicides were reported in Mexico, including nine beheaded bodies found in Tierra Caliente.

Near the city of Ciudad Mante, police arrested a man who had 107 kilos of marijuana in a hidden compartment of his pick-up truck.

Saturday , October 17

In Tijuana, the nude, mutilated body of a man was found hanging from an expressway overpass. It is the second such discovery found in the last two weeks. Local news outlets reported that the man's tongue had been cut out, which suggests that drug traffickers suspected he was an informant.

Additionally, a gun battle between police and drug traffickers left one police officer dead and two wounded. A suspected cartel member was also killed in the incident. Police recovered five assault rifles and vests with federal insignia from several vehicles used by the gunmen.

The day before, the the decapitated body of a woman whose hands and feet had been bound were found in a different part of the city.

Friday , October 16

In Michoacan, three bodies were found, all with messages attached. The messages were directed at the Zetas organization, and appear to have been from La Familia. La Familia was once part of the Zetas organization, but the two groups have been fierce rivals since the group split from the Gulf Cartel (and the Zetas) in 2006.

In other parts of Mexico, two men were assassinated in Tijuana, and a boy who was jogging was killed after being caught in a firefight between gunmen and the army in Tamaulipas. Five people were murdered in Culiacan, Sinaloa, three in Hermosillo, Sonora, one in Durango, and six in the Ciudad Juárez area.

Total body count for the week: 203
Total body count for the year: 6,018

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/...rug_war_update

[ilbegone]

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #605, 10/23/09

by Bernd Debussman Jr.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations make billions each year trafficking illegal drugs into the United States, profiting enormously from the prohibitionist drug policies of the US government.

Since Mexican president Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and called the armed forces into the fight against the so-called cartels, prohibition-related violence has killed over 12,000 people -- the body count passing 6,000 for 2009 so far this week. The increasing militarization of the drug war and the arrest of several high-profile drug traffickers have failed to stem the flow of drugs -- or the violence -- whatsoever.

The Merida initiative, which provides $1.4 billion over three years for the US to assist the Mexican government with training, equipment and intelligence, has so far failed to make a difference. Here are a few of the latest developments in Mexico's drug war:

Thursday, October 22

In the United States, over 300 people were arrested, in what is being called the largest single-blow against Mexican drug cartels operating in the country. The arrests targeted the US operations of the La Familia cartel, which is based in the Mexican state of Michoacan.

Law enforcement officials said arrests were made or charges were files in multiple states, including California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennesee, Texas, and Washington State.

Many of the charges filed were directed against those involved with the cartels methamphetamine smuggling network in the US, with other charges being directed at those involved in cocaine and marijuana trafficking for the organization.

Additionally, a New York grand jury has indicted Servando Gomez-Martinez, who is linked to the July murder of twelve federal police officers who were found dead by the side of a roadway.

Wednesday , October 21

A suspected member of the Juárez Cartel was added to the FBI's ten most wanted list. Eduardo "Tablas" Ravelo, 41, is allegedly a high-ranking member of the Barrio Azteca gang.

In exchange for a steady supply of narcotics, Barrio Azteca performs enforcement tasks for the cartel on both sides of the border, and can effectively be considered part of the Juarez cartel which operates on American soil.

Ravelo is suspected of ordering the killing of another high-ranking gang member, David "Chicho" Meraz, during an internal power struggle. Meraz was killed in Ciudad Juarez last year.

Ravelo is reportedly hiding in Juárez under the protection of the cartel.

Earlier in the week, another man with suspected cartel connections was also added to the FBI's ten most wanted list. Jose Luis Saenz, of Los Angeles, is suspected of killing at least four people (including his girlfriend) and is allegedly an enforcer for an unnamed Mexican drug trafficking organization. In October 2008 he shot and killed another gang member in LA County who apparently owed $620,000 to the cartel.

Across Mexico, 40 drug-related homicides were reported in a 24-hour period, bringing the 2009 total to over 6,000. Thirteen of these were in Chihuahua, and of these, nine were in Ciudad Juárez. According to a running tally by El Universal,

1,000 people were killed in drug-related violence in Mexico in the last 40 days. The previous 1,000 had been killed over 41 days, and the 1,000 before that in 44 days. Since August 1st, an average of 24 homicides were reported daily, approximately one every hour.

One out of every three drug-related homicides was in Ciudad Juárez. Much of the violence is due to the conflict being fought by the Sinaloa Federation and the Juárez cartel over control of the Ciudad Juárez-El Paso drug trafficking corridor.

Tuesday , October 20

In Guerrero, at least three banners were found which threatened police and Genaro Garcia Luna, the Secretary of Public Safety. The signs were signed by what appears to be a new, Guerrero branch of the "La Familia" cartel which is based in Michoacan.

The signs also accused Garcia Luna of protecting the Beltran-Leyva cartel and the allied Zetas organization. In another part of Guerrero, the body of a bus driver was found by the side of the road, and showed signs of torture. A second body was found near Acapulco.

Near the city of Ciudad Mante, police arrested a man who had 107 kilos of marijuana in a hidden compartment of his pick-up truck.

Monday , October 19

Two people were killed after being ambushed by a group of heavily armed gunmen in Guerrero. One of the dead was a policeman, and the other was a civilian who was riding a bus that was caught in the crossfire.

Additionally, five bodies showing signs of torture were recovered from various parts of Acapulco. Attached to each of them were notes threatening "kidnappers, thieves and traitors" and signed by Arturo Beltran-Leyva, the boss of the Beltran-Leyva cartel.

18 people were killed in drug-related killings in Ciudad Juárez. At least 21 other drug-related homicides were reported in Mexico, including nine beheaded bodies found in Tierra Caliente.

Near the city of Ciudad Mante, police arrested a man who had 107 kilos of marijuana in a hidden compartment of his pick-up truck.

Saturday , October 17

In Tijuana, the nude, mutilated body of a man was found hanging from an expressway overpass. It is the second such discovery found in the last two weeks. Local news outlets reported that the man's tongue had been cut out, which suggests that drug traffickers suspected he was an informant.

Additionally, a gun battle between police and drug traffickers left one police officer dead and two wounded. A suspected cartel member was also killed in the incident. Police recovered five assault rifles and vests with federal insignia from several vehicles used by the gunmen.

The day before, the the decapitated body of a woman whose hands and feet had been bound were found in a different part of the city.

Friday , October 16

In Michoacan, three bodies were found, all with messages attached. The messages were directed at the Zetas organization, and appear to have been from La Familia. La Familia was once part of the Zetas organization, but the two groups have been fierce rivals since the group split from the Gulf Cartel (and the Zetas) in 2006.

In other parts of Mexico, two men were assassinated in Tijuana, and a boy who was jogging was killed after being caught in a firefight between gunmen and the army in Tamaulipas. Five people were murdered in Culiacan, Sinaloa, three in Hermosillo, Sonora, one in Durango, and six in the Ciudad Juárez area.

Total body count for the week: 203
Total body count for the year: 6,018

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/...rug_war_update

[ilbegone]

Mexican Drug Hit Men Behead 10, Chop Up Bodies

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) October 16, 2009

Drug hitmen beheaded 10 rivals, chopped up their bodies and left them in plastic bags on an isolated road in western Mexico, the latest gruesome attack in a raging drug war, authorities said on Friday.

The body parts filled 18 bags and were dumped in a delivery truck abandoned on a back road in the Pacific state of Guerrero along with a message from the "La Familia" (The Family) cartel that is fighting for smuggling routes in the area.

"La Familia doesn't kill innocent people. Those who die deserve to die," read a hand-scrawled message left on top of the bags.

Some of the victims were shot before they were beheaded, state police said in a statement. The Guerrero state attorney general's office said the 10 bodies were found late on Thursday.

More than 14,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an army-led assault on cartels soon after taking office in late 2006.

Most have been killed as rival drug gangs battle for key trafficking corridors into the United States.

La Familia has taken over drug trafficking in Calderon's home state of Michoacan, which is beside Guerrero, and is fighting the powerful Gulf cartel from northeastern Mexico.

The cult-like La Familia mixes violence and pseudo-religion to inspire its traffickers and says its purpose is to protect the local population from rival drug gangs.

Mexico's escalating drug war worries investors and the United States.

Washington has begun releasing part of a $1.4 billion anti-drug package to Mexico to provide training and equipment to security forces and has pledged to crack down on the smuggling of weapons from the United States into Mexico.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/...ico-drugs.html

[Jeanfromfillmore]

U.S. crackdown on Mexican drug cartel has Inland link


By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise
SAN BERNARDINO - Once arguably the nation's methamphetamine production capital, the Inland region has transformed into one of its most vital distribution points.
That, authorities said Thursday, became even clearer with the results of this week's multi-agency "takedown" targeting one of the largest Mexican drug cartels operating in the U.S.
Wednesday's coordinated strike against La Familia -- called the country's largest single-day operation targeting a Mexican cartel -- seized 728 pounds of meth during early-morning raids from Georgia to Washington.
More than a fifth of it -- 156 pounds -- came from in and around the Inland region.
"The area's a staging point, a flashpoint, whatever you want to call it," said Stephen Azzam, the assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Riverside district office. "You see it all the time."
The reasons, officials said at a Thursday news conference at the San Bernardino County sheriff's headquarters, range from the area's proximity to the border to its multiple interstate crossings.
In all, 300 trafficking suspects were arrested by federal and local agents who fanned out from 38 cities. Locally, there were 25 arrests. Some of the Inland men and women suspected of trafficking drugs were jailed in lieu of $5 million bail.
The local portion of the investigation, dubbed "Operation Tecate," began in June 2008, and in those 16 months netted about 500 pounds of meth, 128 pounds of cocaine and $531,000 in cash.
"We think we've made a significant impact," said San Bernardino County sheriff's Lt. Hector Guerra, a member of the Inland Regional Narcotics Enforcement Team, which led the local operation.
On display as officials announced the operation were tightly wrapped plastic packages of meth, some up to 10 pounds each. A photograph showed a children's backpack filled with drugs.
As the majority of large-scale meth production has moved outside of U.S. borders, La Familia is believed to have become one of the top suppliers of the drug to the United States, authorities said, and is increasingly dealing in other narcotics.
Over 44 months, the totals for the nationwide effort include 1,178 arrests, and seizures of 2,729 pounds of meth, 4,409 pounds of cocaine, 29 pounds of heroin and 16,390 pounds of marijuana.
Nearly 400 weapons, from semi-automatic handguns to high-powered rifles, and $32.9 million in cash also were seized.
VIOLENT CARTEL
La Familia, based in Michoacan, Mexico, has earned a reputation as one of the most violent cartels, officials said, using military-grade weapons to carry out kidnappings and killings of Mexican law enforcement.
There has been no reported violence attributed to the cartel in the Inland region, Guerra said.
"Fortunately, most of that stuff has stayed down south," Guerra said after the news conference.
The cartel likes to think of itself as a "Robin Hood" for its home state, Azzam said. It doesn't believe in providing meth to Mexicans.
But funneling the drug to U.S. users and having only cartel leaders reap the profits doesn't qualify as altruism, he said.
"They're not taking from the rich," Azzam said. "It's just greed."
The cartel's tentacles extend coast to coast and deep into America's heartland, with arrests announced Thursday from Boston to Seattle and from St. Paul, Minn., to Raleigh, N.C.
Drug deals went down in Oklahoma parking lots, suppliers were advised to weld drugs into tire rims for transport, and in the Dallas and Seattle areas, dozens of children were removed from houses where authorities found drugs, guns or cash derived from drug sales.
INLAND INVESTIGATION
The Inland narcotics task force is made up of members of both San Bernardino and Riverside counties' sheriff's departments, San Bernardino and Redlands police, the DEA and the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
The teams served 32 search warrants Wednesday.
Leads developed in the local investigation led to arrests and seizures in San Jose, the Central Valley and Washington state, among other areas. The cartel's two largest bases of operations were Southern California and Dallas, Azzam said.
"Information we put forward was instrumental in a lot of the stuff that took place across the country," he said.
Many details of the operation were withheld, such as the intelligence methods used and the specific locations targeted, with officials citing an ongoing probe.