In 2017, Walker led a raid on a couple of Clatsop drug houses, teaming with Seaside, Cannon Beach and Oregon state police. 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. CJNG torture video - The man was poured alcohol on his head and set on fire The man was poured alcohol on his head and set on fire The gunmen used isopropyl alcohol to set fire to the man's face and mocked his nickname. Businesses in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Los Angeles would buy the goldand then send the payments through wire transfers to Mexico including to Parra Pedroza's precious metals business. 13 Mexican police officers were killed in an ambush, sold heroin to two undercover police officers, fired Russian-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Investigators uncovered a hidden hub of stash houses, state trooper working with a DEA task force nearly brought down El Mencho, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Agents arrested him in 2006, and he was convicted of illegally reentering the U.S. and trafficking cocaine and meth. 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. "They are, however, big on extortion and can turn to violence if victims refuse to cooperate," she asserted. Farfan got the drugs from CJNG members in Michoacn, a western state long controlled by the cartel, La Familia Michoacna. Macias' associate, Imanol Pineda Penaloza, headed a cell in Louisville while running his drug business through his used tire shop, Los 3 Hermanos. WARNING: THE VIDEO IS EXTREMELY DISTURBING AND GRAPHIC AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE TO ALL AUDIENCES. In Seaside, known for commercial fishing and timber, traffickers easily established a strong customer base. "They send their businessmen out into the U.S. to look for areas of opportunity." "Police and civilians are dying, and the CJNG and continues unfettered, flooding the U.S. with methamphetamine and other drugs," Tabor added. 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. "Either you or your family could be killed. CJNGmembers or associates would sell drugs to traffickers inWisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, California, Texas, Kentucky, Illinois and North Carolina. 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. His cousin, Roberto Carlos Farfan Alvarez, known as "Raton" or "Mouse," pleaded guilty but never talked to police. But betrayal awaited, Will El Chapo son's arrest slow export of drugs to US? Since the arrest and extradition to the U.S. of Sinaloa frontman Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn in 2016, analysts say that the CJNG has steadily encroached on new terrain including Tijuana bringing with it a recipe for bloodletting and groups waginga war of dominance. 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. For example, a Lexington waitress seekingcash to pay fordental assistant courses ended up making bank deposits that she didnt know were for CJNG, according to court transcripts. The gruesome crimes took place in Mexico's state of Colima. Armas, in turn, supplied the former nurse and other dealers who carted the drugs further west into Seaside and other communities in Clatsop. He can be contacted atIortiz@breitbart.com. Unlike his reclusive father, the 25-year-old lived in a luxury high-rise apartment in downtown Guadalajara and often stepped out in designer clothes to eat in fancy restaurants. Dozens of couriers throughout the U.S. would then collect the drug profits and use the dirty moneyto buy scrap and fine gold. Investigators trailed behind Eduardo to the Lloyd Center shopping mall in Portland on July 10, 2018. A young woman en route to selling street food was also fatally struck by a stray bullet through a car window. "It's gonna be hard to catch him slippin'," said Mori, the DEA agent overseeing the U.S. criminal investigation against El Mencho. "He was terrified to talk about this," his attorney told The Courier Journal. Because it's here, A short film: What Courier Journal uncovered about Jalisco New Generation Cartel's El Mencho. Police had long known John Armas was a major meth trafficker, but he was careful. John Walker in uniform (left), and Walker in his undercover look (right). Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Snchez was once a top lieutenant in the CJNG, but split to form his own cartel called La Nueva Plaza in 2017. But in America, few know who he is or why his rise to power matters. Farfan brought in at least 20 kilos of meth, half a kilo of heroin and nearly two kilos of fentanyl. 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. He co-founded Breitbart Texas Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darbyand senior Breitbart management. Other bosses used threats of violence in the U.S., despite El Mencho's warnings against it. ", "Thats kind of hard to believe, but its true.". In May, a judge sentenced Armas to serve seven years and six months in prison, followed by five years of supervision. "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. Twomasterminds now in prisonorchestrated the scheme from Guadalajara:Carlos Parra Pedroza,aliasWalt Disney, who owned a jewelry store; and Diego Pineda Sanchez, an accountant. "If its coming from a cartel, they could have sold a pound to Asians, black guys, outlaw motorcycle gangs, white trash," said Lt. Jeremy Williams, of the Ashe County Sheriff's Office inNorth Carolina. GRAPHIC VIDEO: CJNG cartel members behead two men from rival cartel July 12, 2022 UNCENSORED VIDEO BELOW / New horrifying video shows three CJNG cartel members beheading two men from a rival cartel in Mexico. Make no mistake, Taylor said. 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. Why is The Courier Journal reporting on a deadly Mexican drug cartel? They found drugs and drug couriers, including a former nurse, linked back to Hillsboro in neighboring Washington County. He briefly worked as a police officer in Tomatln, a small town in Jalisco, learningthe inner workings of law enforcement,said DEA Special Agent Kyle Mori, who is heading the U.S. criminal investigationagainstEl Mencho fromLos Angeles. "The violence in Mexico and elsewhere is something that doesn't stop at the border. He had at least five aliases and kept slipping back into the U.S. "There would be times on surveillance where you'd see 15 to 25 people roaming the local trap house waiting for the next supply to come in, walking around or sitting in cars, just waiting," said Walker, who later left the department. Federal police officer Ivan Morales, his partner andsoldierswith theMexican national defense climbed aboard helicopters andheaded toward a CJNG compound in theJaliscomountains. American authorities are still seeking his extradition to the U.S. to face drug charges. Much of the violence is attributed to the battle for territorial surface and thus the control oftheillicit drug flow into the United States. Roberto never talked to agents or prosecutors. In America, Hispanic workers find themselves looked atwith suspicion because of political rhetoric that brands the drug trade and immigration as one and the same, say advocates for those workers. 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. Signed Elite Group.". Histestimony helped convict a trafficker connected to CJNG in 2014. 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. 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. He shares intel with the DEA,but not his own people. Observers and anti-trafficking personnel who closely monitor the CJNG, which emerged around 2009 after splintering from the Sinaloa cartel, broadly conclude that much of its bloody approach can be attributed to its ruthless leader, Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera. In June 2015, the Mexican military arrested El Menchos son and second-in-command, Rubn Oseguera Gonzles. 2023www.courier-journal.com. Guanajuato. Roberto, 22, had a fianc and young daughter in Morelia, a city in Michoacn. Two years earlier, they stumbled onto a drug business at the same auto repair shop allegedly run by suspect Jose Cruz Gutierrez Bustos. 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. The billion-dollar criminal organization has a large and disciplined army, control of extensive drug routes throughout the U.S., sophisticated money-laundering techniques and an elaborate digital terror campaign, federal drug agents say. MEMBERS ONLY. Los Cabos allegedly engaged in this violence in support of CJNG, one of the most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world. Echeagaray pointed out that CJNG, although very violent, does not target civilians systematically. She recruited helpers, too, and they frequently made deposits of less than $10,000 amounts small enough to dodge federal reporting requirements at bank branches in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee,as well asGreensboro and Winston-Salem,North Carolina. Enemies: CJNG, Juarez Cartel, Los Zetas. 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. While Luis Alderete maintains his innocence,court records show that his brother, Roberto Alderete, identified Luis asa cartel lieutenant. Both are now in prison for money laundering, and her sister, who has two children living in Kentucky, faces deportation. I don't want to put my wife, my family in danger.'". Using others to deposit drug profitsin cartel-controlled bankaccounts. Reporters Jonathan Bullington, Kala Kachmar, Chris Kenning andKarol Suarez contributed to this story. 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. Maciasand Sosa were convicted of meth trafficking and money laundering and are serving 31 and 15 years, respectively, in federal prison. For police, it was d vu. It's still a little shocking when you can tie it together and say for certain that's where it came from.". If someone you love dies from an overdose tonight, he may very well be to blame. A cartel member even worked at Kentucky's famed Calumet Farm, home to eight Kentucky Derby and three Triple Crown winners. Who was to blame? 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. //]]>. He co-founded Breitbart Texas Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Three of them are bare-chested. The Elite Group is the top tier enforcement wing of the Jalisco New GeneralCartel, often referred to as CJNG. Somewhere deep in Mexico's remote wilderness, the worlds most dangerous and wanted drug lord is hiding. 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. Pineda Sanchez's attorney, Lawrence Beaumont, disputed his client's involvement. "He has transformed his life from being an insular methamphetamine abuser to an active member of the recovery community, mentoring and guiding others who struggle," his attorney argued in a May 6, 2020, sentence memo asking for leniency. ", The mother of his two youngest children wrote a letter saying: "He is one of the greatest fathers that there is. CJNGs increased distribution of fentanyl across the country has helped the synthetic opioid unseat heroin as the nations No. "Once 'safe' areas such as Mexico City and Puebla State and the tourist zones of the Yucatan Peninsula are now contested. Adults and children are forced to work in CJNG's crude meth super labs vats on patches of dirt hidden in the jungle. He was not a millionaire," Beaumont said. Drug trafficking is popping up in unlikely tourist areas along the Oregon coast: Photos. Americans who may not know of CJNG today should take note, Dodds said. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. ", "He said: 'I'll do the time. It's a very demoralizing experience for the male who was not only failed by the cartel. 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. Hollie McKay has a been a Fox News Digital staff reporter since 2007. She got her older sister, a struggling single mom, involved to make quick money. In mid-October, 13 Mexican police officers were killed in an ambush in El Mencho's home state of Michoacn in western Mexico. // When Calls The Heart Rosemary Pregnant, Articles C