*Updated Mar. 29*
Guadalajara -
On Feb. 14 the Chicago Crime Commission named Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán "Public Enemy # 1."
It was the first time the Commission had invoked the term since the Prohibition-era struggle against American gangsters in the early 20th century. The CCC, which follows crime trends, picked Al Capone for its newly created award of dubious distinction in 1930.
"Since the Commission was founded 94 years ago, no other criminal has so merited the title," said its president J.R. Davis last month. "In my opinion, Guzmán is the new Capone," said Davis. "But by comparison, really, Capone was an amateur." Chicago calls El Chapo Guzmán "Public Enemy # 1."
Now the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which joined the CCC at a press conference announcing the designation, reports that in Chicago and other large American cities up to 90% of narcotics trafficking is controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel. Their products include not only marijuana and cocaine, but increasingly heroine as well.
"Heroine is becoming the preferred drug on Chicago streets," said a DEA spokesman. "The cartel uses local gang associates to distribute it widely, thereby generating even higher consumer demand. After heroine, the order of preference is methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana."
DEA contends that other Mexican cartels pay royalties to Sinaloa for the right to distribute drugs in U.S. territories controlled by Guzmán's organization. It cited La Familia Michocana, one of Mexico's oldest cartels, as an example of one willing to pay a license fee to peddle its own products.
The DEA analysis suggests that powerful Mexican drug traffickers have adopted sales techniques and commercial accords which mirror those used by modern business organizations. Mexico's attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam reported on Dec. 18 that 60-80 cartels are in business today. They work with and through an estimated 33,000 local gangs in the United States. DEA claims that the Sinaloa Cartel has a staff of 100,000 sales associates just on Chicago streets. Federal authorities say that altogether, Mexican drug cartels operate in 1,286 U.S. cities.
"Guzmán and his cartel have killed at least 10,000 people. And before they killed them, many were brutally tortured. The fingerprints of Guzmán are all over the weapon that is killing thousands of Chicago kids, too, and that weapon is drugs," said Chicago Crime Commission president Davis in February. "What Capone was to beer and whiskey, Guzmán is to narcotics. Guzmán poses a far greater threat to this city than Al Capone ever did."
Guzmán, the most wanted drug trafficker in the world, escaped from a Mexican prison in January 2001 and has been on the lam since. The U.S. and Mexico have offered combined rewards of $7 million for his capture. He has been indicted several times in American courts, including last April in El Paso. In that case Guzmán faces allegations of drug smuggling, kidnapping, conspiracy, murder, money laundering and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The charges carry up to life imprisonment without parole. Twenty-two other Sinaloa cartel operatives were charged with him. El Chapo Guzmán indicted by feds in El Paso.
Mar. 29 - A Mexican researcher has published a study which reports that the Sinaloa Cartel became a global enterprise by diversification in the manufacture and distribution of drugs, including cocaine, opiates, marijuana, designer drugs and above all methamphetamine. José Luis León Manríquez, a Ph.D. in political science at Colombia University in New York, concluded that the cartel controls a triangular market between Mexico, the United States and Asia. Dr. León found that Sinaloa has been a major producer and exporter of meth since the 1990s and enjoys a virtual monopoly on the drug in many countries, including 80% market domination in the U.S. according to a DEA analysis.
Aug. 17 - Mexican meth flows into the Kansas City area
Apr. 14 - The sun never sets on the vast Sinaloa empire of El Chapo Guzmán
Feb. 11 - The Chicago Connection: Sinaloa Cartel moves cocaine from Windy City to Australia
Feb. 10 - Mexican marines arrest chief executioner for El Chapo Guzmán in Sinaloa state
Jan. 7 - Until drug demand is reduced in the United States, "the violence in Mexico will continue."
Jan. 6 - Mexican drug cartels enjoy global presence via cocaine
Dec. 19 - The drug addict next door
Oct. 23 - Mexican analysts agree: crime gangs replacing drug cartels will be difficult to track and fight
July 15 - Political power is ultimate goal of Mexican drug cartels, says U.S. security expert
June 22, 2012 - Mexican drug cartels will likely morph into "super gangs," says U.S. security firm
Nov. 16, 2011 - Los Zetas in Chicago, and U.S. guns "gone walking" in Mexico
Oct. 13, 2011 - Drug cartels present greater threat to U.S. security than Iran, says State Department
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
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