Colleagues: I received this map of the U.S. denoting the rapidly expanded influence of cartels and gangs, which nearly blew my peace of mind—or what’s left of it. I asked our expert, Larry Martines, to look at the map and provide us with his observations. Larry notes:
“I am very concerned with what is taking place here in our county. More and more folks are letting me know they have seen the tattoos, coupled with suspicious or threatening behavior. Look at the map below:
Narcos expand networks in US/Narcos extienden red en EU
(Source: “Narcos extienden red en EU,” El Universal, 06 January 2011.)
NSF members should note the following:
1. The red dots denoting US gangs (Bandas de Pandilleros) directly connected to the Mexican drug cartels are clustered in both major, mid sized, and small cities. Indicative of huge cartel manpower resources that are provided by the American gangs. Made up of Hispanic, Black and outlaw motorcycle members.
2. The majority of the gang clusters are away from the southern border and heavily rooted in the US land mass extending from east Texas to Maine. They are not nearly as clustered along the southern border as one would expect. This indicates that the main Mexican drug cartel controlled distribution sites are well entrenched in the American heartland, apparently more so than on the the southern border.
3. It should also be noted that the red dots follow cities along our major interstate highways! If one were to put an interstate highway overlay map on the drug cartel sites, the connection would be very visible to the eye. This is due to long term strategic planning and not by chance.
What does this mean? Basically that the cartels have the gangs operationally exactly where they are needed to transport their drugs or other contraband across the USA to wherever they choose. This would also include major drug drop-off sites and storage facilities close to our transit corridors. Financially quite expensive, to say nothing of labor intensive. The rewards are obviously huge!
4. These thousands of gang members must be paid for their services. Normally the cartels allow the gang cells to keep a portion of the product they sell in the various communities. This poison they can sell at their own prices or keep for personal use. However, for every operational site, every dollar earned has to be accounted for. The cartel accountants are very sharp and have the power to call in “enforcers” promptly to impose discipline and dispense punishment! This is indicative of a sophisticated network maintained by the cartels.
5. Note the clustering around Washoe County and across northern Nevada, contiguous with I-80. Look west to the coast and see the heavy “Nortenos” pandillero clustering in the Bay Area, across Sacramento and into Reno/Sparks. This represents a direct linkage to both the Sinaloa and Tijuana Cartels – which if you have attended my past cartel presentations, are fighting each other in Mexico over control of the drug routes into and across the USA. This puts our region in a future target zone as the gangs sink roots deeper within our county.
6. It could be highly possible that the cartel funded gangs have more members than we currently have law enforcement personnel at the state and local level. For sure in Nevada as funding for expert gang investigators and resources shrink along with uniformed patrol officers – which are critical to pressuring gang members from openly walking our streets and selling drugs on our street corners. Recall that gang members purposely mark themselves via tattoos and other highly visible symbols. The uniform patrol officer is the first line of offense against the gangs.
Conclusion: From my own experience backed up by national crime statistics, the gangs are very violent and very bloody. The media rarely mentions gang affiliations when reporting criminals involved in violent incidents, whether with law enforcement or other gang members. The general public is never made aware of the “turf” issues, drug connections – or even more important – the connection to the huge Mexican cartels south of the border. Therefore, the public has been silent on the topic and our local politicians have not had pressure from the community(ies) to demand action. Once our streets become unsafe, it is difficult to reclaim them.
Lastly – of the gangs listed on the map, at least 6 of them are made up solely or significantly of illegal aliens from Mexico or Central America. Where are the feds on this issue? Surely if the Mexican media can pin point within the USA, and name the gangs working for the cartels, might not our own federal law enforcement figure out how to saturate and break up these violent criminal organizations? The DOJ and ICE do not seem to be strapped for cash as are state and local agencies.
Larry Martines –
Former Law Enforcement /Organized Crime investigator and current Mexican Drug Cartels specialist (and NSF “Minister of Insecurity and Angst”)