Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Mega Edition: Mexican Cartels And The Clandestine Operations In America (10/13/26)

Transcript

Mega Edition: Mexican Cartels And The Clandestine Operations In America (10/13/26) · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. Over
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the past weekend, I was in Montana and I can
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: confirm some of these reports that we're hearing about Mexican
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: drug cartels targeting Montana and the native reservations up in Montana. Now,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I was there speaking to a group of people about
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the Jeffrey Epstein case, but in my spare time, which
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I had plenty of, I was also investigating This situation,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and there is no doubt that there is a huge
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: problem in Montana and in places like Montana when it
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: comes to the cartels infiltrating and setting up shop. So,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I'll keep the whinging to a minimum, and we'll just
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: dive right into this NBC News article, and we'll get
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: caught up. Headline, Mexican drug cartels are targeting America's last
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: best place. This article was authored by Lisa Chavez. Cavazzuti,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Cynthia McFadden, and Rich Shapiro. On the evening of March 17, 2020,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: a former Mexican police officer working for the Sinaloa cartel
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: left his hotel room in Tijuana and walked across the U.S.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: border into Southern California at 10.09 p.m. So walks across
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: from TJ into San Ysidro and then just like that
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: can get to anywhere he wants in America. Ricardo Ramos
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Medina's first stop was San Diego International Airport, where he
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: picked up a rental car. He drove to a nearby
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: location and met a female drug mule who handed off
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: a grocery sack filled with methamphetamine. Then he set out
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: on a much longer journey, a 16-hour drive to Montana.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: And just like that, that's how it starts. You have
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: an operative who ends up in a place like Montana,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: sets up shop, and before you know it, they're off
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and running. And that's certainly what's going on in not
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: just Montana, but we're seeing it in Tacoma. We're seeing
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: it in a lot of places where you would never
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: expect there to be a gigantic fentanyl operation. And that's
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: because these cartels are not stupid. This is what I've
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: been telling you folks for how long now. These cartels
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: are not dumb. They understand business and they understand that
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: there is a need that needs to be filled when
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: it comes to manufacturing in places like Montana. Medina had
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: made the trip a handful of times before, but this
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: time it didn't go as planned. Before he reached Butte,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: he was pulled over by state and federal officers. Inside
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: his white Jeep Compass, they found about two pounds of
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: pure methamphetamine, enough, authorities say, to get the entire town
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: of Townsend, Montana, high for multiple days. The arrest, which
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: was outlined in court papers and interviews with investigators on
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the case, helped bring down a drug trafficking ring that
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: federal prosecutors said brought at least 2,000 pounds of meth
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and 700,000 fentanyl-laced pills into Montana from Mexico over the years.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: And Montana's not exactly what I would call a populated state.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: There's like, what, 2 million people or so in the
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: whole state? And the state is gigantic. So it's not
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: like there's, you know, all these diverse population centers. I
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: flew into a place called Kalispell and the airport has
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: like six gates. Think about that for a minute. Think
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: about how small that is. I mean, I'm from Las Vegas.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: We're talking about, you know, McCarran Airport or Harry Reid International,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it nowadays. But that airport's gigantic.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Or think of the local airport in your city. Not
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: in Kalispell. And while I was in Montana, folks, I'm
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: telling you right now, I was there for three days.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: And I saw maybe two cops the whole entire time
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I was there. And that means on the road, in
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the cities, everything. So they definitely don't have the coverage
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: that they need in a place like Montana not to
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: deal with the cartel. No way in hell. And forget
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: about it on the reservation. They're already up against it
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: when it comes to resources and the rest of it.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: So you can't expect the reservations to be the ones
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: handling this. So it has to be the federal government
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and it has to be the state and local municipalities. Now,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: of course, the tribal authorities, they can help, but it's
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: very difficult. And then you start running into all kinds
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: of issues with these guys on tribal land. And, you know,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the feds coming in there and it becomes a whole
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: bunch of gray area. So the cartels know exactly what
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: they're doing. And they're going to these areas in these
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: reservations for a reason. Why Montana? Why Montana? said Chad Annerberg,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: a Montana Division of Criminal Investigation agent, who was one
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: of the lead investigators on the case. It boiled down
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: to money. He can make so much more profit from
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: drugs he sold here than any other place. And that's
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: because it's harder to get them there. Supply and demand, baby.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: That's how it works. That's why cocaine is so much
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: more expensive over in Europe. A lot harder to get
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the cocaine to Europe, right? Not just bringing it across
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the border. You got to ship it across the ocean,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: across the whole world. So it's more money. And the
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: same goes up in Montana. It's not like they have
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: a flood of fentanyl up here or had a flood
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: of fentanyl up here. They're starting to get one, but
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: they're able to charge a lot more money than usual.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Like you go to a regular city, you go to
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: San Diego or Vegas or Chicago, you can get these
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: pills for three, five bucks. In a place like Montana,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: you're looking in some cases all the way up to
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: 80 bucks. Illegal drugs have long flowed from Mexico to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: the more remote parts of the U.S., But with the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: rise of fentanyl, cartel associates have pushed more aggressively into Montana,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: where pills can be sold for 20 times the price
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: they get in urban centers closer to the border, state
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and federal law enforcement officials said. One thousand percent. It's
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: all about the risk that's being taken or the perceived
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: risk to the cartel and their product. So the cheaper
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: it is for them to move the product to the destination,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the cheaper, obviously, the drugs are going to be to
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: buy for the dealers who are at that destination. And
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: then that goes all the way down the line to
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the user. Well, you flip the script and you make
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: it more difficult. It's going to raise the price of
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the product. So that's why it's more money up here
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: in Montana. And we're talking about reservations where poverty is
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: a big problem as it is. So you have people
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: out here who are already impoverished. being preyed upon, because
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: that's what's going on here, being preyed upon by the cartels,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: and their misery just being extended. And you couple that
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: with all the addiction problems that are already found on reservations,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: and it's all bad. Some areas of the state have
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: become awash with drugs, particularly its Indian reservations, where tribal
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: leaders say crime and overdoses are surging. On some reservations,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: cartel associates have formed relationships with indigenous women and as
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: a way of establishing themselves within the communities to sell drugs,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: law enforcement officials and tribal leaders have said. More frequently,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: traffickers lure Native Americans into becoming dealers by giving away
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: an initial supply of drugs and turning them into addicts
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: indebted to the cartels. And what better than an army
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: of zombies that are addicted to drugs to do your bidding?
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: And that's what these cartels do. Everywhere they go, usually
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: poor communities, they'll show up. They'll give people samples of
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: their drugs. And before you know it, well, everybody's addicted.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: And when you have all this depression, all this, you know,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: no hope as it is, how do these people have
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: any sort of shot at having some kind of productive life?
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: When you're being smothered by poverty, and then on top
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: of that poverty, you have cartel presence on the reservation.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Very difficult to dig out from that. And talking to
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: people up in Montana when I was just there, there
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: is no doubt that there is a presence. And there
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: is intimidation. People are scared. People understand very clearly that
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: these cartels are not messing around. Right now, it's as
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: if fentanyl is raining on our reservation, said Marvin Weatherwax Jr.,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: who serves on the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and represents
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the 15th District in the Montana House of Representatives. Cracking
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: down on the drug trade is especially challenging in a
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: state as vast as Montana, where law enforcement struggles to
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: police the wide open spaces, and Indian reservations rely on
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: underfunded and short-staffed tribal police forces. On at least one reservation,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: tribe members have formed a vigilante group in a desperate
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: bid to fight drug-related crime, and that's what it comes
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: down to. The localized people, the tribes themselves, are going
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: to have to do this. As unfortunate as that is,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: What else are you going to do? Just let your
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: community continue to be victimized? And the federal government, they're
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: going to have to figure something out. If that means
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: sending some federal troops to Montana to help, you know,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: get this under control, then that's something that needs to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: be investigated and talked about. Because Montana is certainly not
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: equipped to deal with this. But Montana authorities have made
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: inroads in the last couple of years. The arrest of
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the former Mexican police officer was part of a massive
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: bust that ensnared 21 other members of a drug trafficking
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: ring tied to the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: powerful criminal organizations in the world. And since last April,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: 26 suspects have been charged in a second federal drug
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: case involving Mexican cartel associates and members of two Native
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: American tribes. And that's what it has to be. It
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: has to be federal involvement. Without federal involvement, there is
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: no hope. You're not going to stop this shit, even
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: with federal involvement. But at least with that, you're getting
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: the resources, right? And for these native tribes, that's what
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: they need. They need more resources to help them fight
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: this sort of thing off. People are surprised, said Jesse Laslovich,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the U.S. attorney for Montana. who has been overseeing the investigations.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: You're as far north as you can get in the
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: United States and we have the cartel here. Well, I'm
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: not surprised. And anybody listening to this podcast, you shouldn't
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: be surprised either. I've been telling you guys this now
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: for over three years. and it's not going to get
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: any better anytime soon. They know how to choose. Stacey
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Zim spent her first four years with the DEA in
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: El Paso, Texas, where she investigated Mexican cartels. She went
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: on to work in Afghanistan and Peru, pursuing narco-terrorists and
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: cocaine traffickers. In 2014, the DEA transferred her to Montana
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: and later placed her in charge of its office in Billings,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Great Falls, and Missoula. When I was promoted and they said,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: you're going to Montana, I'm like, Montana? Are there drugs
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: in Montana? recalled Zinn, who retired from the DEA in
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: October after 23 years. The state is sometimes referred to
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: as the last best place in America. Its 1.2 million
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: people are spread out across 150,000 square miles of mountains, rivers,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: and mostly rugged terrain. I can confirm that. So I
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: was staying in a place called Eureka or right outside
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: of Eureka. And I flew into Kalispell. Kalispell is about
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: 75 miles or so from Eureka, which sits about two
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: miles from the Canadian border. And it is sparsely populated.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Not many people. And when you're talking about a police
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: force that's in charge of maintaining order, oh, they're definitely
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: spread thin. 100% without a doubt. I thought that they
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: were spread thin here in Nevada, but boy, in Montana,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: it is vast, it is open, and like they're just
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: saying here in the article, there are not very many people.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Locally made methamphetamine was Long Montana's primary drug scourge, but
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: in the mid-2000s, the once plentiful meth houses in the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Midwest and northern states began to disappear amid new restrictions
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: banning access to the drug's precursor chemicals. Mexican cartels saw
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to and began capitalizing, law enforcement officials said,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: flooding the U.S. with the super potent form of meth
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and targeting indigenous communities in particular. And when there's this
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: much money to be made, there's going to be people
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: who are going to get involved. And when you get
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: down and you knock out all the shake-it shops like
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: they did here in America, you know, your backyard redneck cook,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: those guys hardly exist anymore. All the meth that's coming
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: into America, I'd say the vast majority of it is
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: coming from Mexico. And we're talking about chemist level methamphetamine.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: That's why it's so addictive. That's why you see people
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: out there throwing karate kicks and shit when they're walking
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: down the street. It's not the meth that was being
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: made like in the old days. So it's causing a
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: lot more issue. And that's crazy to even think about
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: because that old meth was fucked up too. Zinn was
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: shocked by the scope of the meth problem when she
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: arrived in Montana 10 years ago, but then came the
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: arrival of fentanyl, which is even cheaper to produce and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: far more deadly. A counterfeit fentanyl pill can be made
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: for less than 25 cents in Mexico and sells for
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: $ 3 to $ 5 in cities like Seattle and Denver, where
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: drug markets are more established, but up to $ 100 in
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: remote parts of Montana. It was one of the few
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: states that hadn't been a focus of Mexican cartels, Zinn said,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: but That soon changed. All it takes is one operative
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to show up up here and understand that it's time
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: to exploit this place. And that's what happened. And when
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: you're talking about $ 3 to $ 5 a pill, that's even
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: cheaper than the cheapest heroin. You're talking about black tar heroin,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: which is like $ 10 a bag. Now you have these
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: fentanyl pills out here, $ 3 to $ 5, right in the
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: price range of people with addiction. And what it does
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: is it keeps the money flowing in because they're getting
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: mass quantities of these pills sold. So they're bringing all
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: this money in and it's just a vicious cycle. They
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: know that their customers are going to keep coming back.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: They know that these customers can't get off these drugs
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: and there's only one way out for most of them
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and that's death. So these cartels, they understand that and
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: they just pile the misery right the fuck on. The
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: profits are just out of this world, she said. Zinn
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: was more than 1,300 miles from the southern border, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: here she was once again investigating Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: and the CJNG. I got excited, Zinn said. This is
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: the territory I know and understand. At first, she just
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: heard whispers of a cartel presence. But over the years,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: cartel associates have appeared to grow bolder, she said, showing
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: up more often as they seek to expand their operations.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: That's why when people act like the cartels aren't active
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: here in America, I just shake my head. Not only
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: are they active, they're increasing their footprint. They're out here
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: making sure that communities like this have this poison readily available.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: The cartel will send out their advance team or individuals
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: to get to know who's distributing small amounts on this reservation,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: who we can get our claws into, Zinn said. And
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: then when they do that, they own them. We've seen
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: that over and over. Once they show up, they fold
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: you into the operation, right? Now you used to be
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: an independent street-level dealer. Well, now you answer to whoever
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: this operative is. And he answers to the cartel. So
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: you better do the right thing. And if you don't
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: want to play ball, that's cool. They'll just kill you.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Women are often the prime targets. Cartel associates have pursued
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: single women on reservations, according to law enforcement and tribal officials,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and then use their homes as bases of operations. They
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: know who to choose, said Stephanie Ironshooter, the American Indian
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Health Director for the Montana Department of Health and Human Services.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Just like any other prey-predator situation, that's how it is.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: The drug crisis has been felt most acutely on Montana's
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Indian reservations. And that's because the cartels are going to
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: exploit them. They know that they can. They understand that
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the laws are different. They understand there's gray area. So
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: they're going to use whatever they can to make sure
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: that they're making as much money as possible. Between 2017
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: and 2020, Montana's opioid overdose death rate almost tripled from 2.7
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: deaths per 100,000 residents to 7.3. In the decade leading
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: up to 2020, the rate of overdose deaths among Native
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Americans was more than twice that of white Montana residents,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: according to the State Department of Health and Human Services.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: And again, there is a lot of addiction problems on
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: these reservations to begin with. So you add something like
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: this to the mix and you're just asking for a disaster.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: In many ways, Indian reservations make for ideal places for
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: a drug operation to set up shop. The community suffer
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: from high rates of drug addiction and low numbers of
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: law enforcement. The Northern Cheyenne tribe relies on two federally
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: funded Bureau of Indian Affairs tribal police officers per shift
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to patrol more than 440,000 acres of land, home to
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: roughly 6,000 residents, according to the tribal council. The adjacent
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Crow Reservation, the largest in the state, has four to
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: six police officers per shift to patrol a swath of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: land the size of Rhode Island. According to Quincy Dabney,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: the mayor of Lodgegrass, a town on the reservation. So
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: you can just see from there in your mind how
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: difficult that would be. You have all this land to
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: cover and not enough officers to do it. This is
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: a dream come true for organized crime. When we don't
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: have the boots on the ground and people aren't being
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: held accountable, it really becomes the wild, wild west, said Lazlovich,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: the U.S. attorney. I think you see that in Indian country,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: here in Montana, more than we should. Complicating matters further,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: the reservations are sovereign nations where local law enforcement is
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: restricted from operating without an agreement with the tribe. Even
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: when agreements are in place, local and state authorities are
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: often barred from arresting tribal members. and the tribal police
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: officers are largely prohibited from arresting outsiders on the reservation.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: So that's where the gray area is. You know, I
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: was just talking about how things are difficult. You're looking
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: at it right there. There's all kinds of red tape.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: It adds up to jurisdictional maze that hampers crime fighting
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: at a time when drugs are ravaging Indian communities, current
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: and former law enforcement officials say. We are fighting this
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: problem standing on one leg, and half the time we're handcuffed,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Zinn said. All right, folks, we're going to wrap up
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: part one right here, and in the next episode, we're
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: going to pick up and finish this article off with
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: part two. All of the information that goes with this
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: episode can be found in the description box. What's up, everyone,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: and welcome back to the program. In this episode, we're
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: going to pick back up where we left off with
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: that article from NBC News talking about the cartel and
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: their operation up in Montana. And again, the authors of
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: this article are Lisa... Kabazuti, Cynthia McFadden, and Rich Shapiro.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Dismantling a Drug Trafficking Ring The case involving the former
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Mexican police officer turned drug trafficker was set in motion
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: a couple of years earlier when the Butte Silver Bow
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office received an intriguing tip. In September 2018, a
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: worker at a local FedEx store called to report that
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: multiple people had been coming into the shop and stuffing
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: wads of cash into packages addressed to the border town
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: of San Ysidro, California. Now, San Ysidro is the little
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: town that is the gateway from Baja Mexico into America.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: And San Ysidro is literally right on the border. And
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: as you can imagine, it's a jump-off spot for a
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: lot of illegal activity. You have a lot of cartels,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of people who are just engaged in illegal
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: activity one way or the other, who set up shop
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: in places like San Ysidro. That way they have access
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: to and from, and they're all ready to go on
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: both sides of the border. And the cartels have this
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: down to a T. They have a whole network of people.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Never mind just in San Ysidro or in Montana, we're
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: talking about a network of people all over the country,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: all over the world. A couple of months later, one
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: of the people who was sending the cash admitted to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: investigators that it was drug proceeds tied to an organization
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: in Mexico. Over the next couple of months, investigators with
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the DEA task force developed cooperating witnesses The witness introduced
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: an undercover agent to the man who was supplying the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: drugs from his base in Sinaloa, Mexico, Humberto Villarreal. So
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: this dude is out here so worried about going to
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: prison that he's going to snitch on the Sinaloan cartel.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Probably not the best idea you've ever had. And hopefully
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: law enforcement can protect whoever this witness is. You just
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: don't get to see these kinds of cases that we're
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: dealing with Straight from Mexico, said Sergeant Kevin Maloney, an
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: 18-year veteran with the Butte Silver Bow Sheriff's Office. Yeah,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing that up in Butte, Montana, the last thing
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: that they had on their bingo card was cartel behavior.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Because you don't think that's going to happen up there, right?
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: You're like, the cartel? What the hell do they want
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: to do with Montana? They have no business up here. Well,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: they do. Any place where there's money to be made,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: you better believe the cartel is showing up. And if
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: they have to drop bodies, if they have to get
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: rid of local dealers, if they have to, you know,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: X out competition, they're going to do that too. And
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: don't think for a minute that they care one single
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: bit about law enforcement or the threat of law enforcement.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Next man up, somebody gets arrested, they'll have another operative
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: up here the next day. Soon the agents were ordering
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: methamphetamolase pills directly from Villarreal. The drugs typically flowed to
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Montana from stash houses in Southern California, authorities said. Yeah,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: that's what they do. So they'll bring the drugs from
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Mexico to a stash house, and then from that stash house,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: they'll be distributed around the United States. They'll have their
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: mules show up, and everybody will get a load, and
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: then it'll get distributed to wherever it's going. And once
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: it gets to that destination, it gets handed off to
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: the local dealers. And either the dealers buy that load
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: or they're working on a front. And if they're working
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: on a front, they have to make sure that every
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: bit of money that they owe the cartel is paid
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: back for the package before they take one single dollar
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: for themselves. Investigators focused on Medina, the former police officer
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: and a cousin of Villarreal, after he was pulled over
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: on the Fort Peck Reservation in the far northeastern corner
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: of the state for running a stop sign in March
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: of 2019. The sheriff's deputy let him go with a warning,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: but a report of the unusual encounter with a Mexican
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: national in a remote part of Montana later made its
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: way to the agents investigating drug trafficking. They discovered that
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Medina was a key part of the drug ring. He
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: had valid U.S. visas, which made it easy for him
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: to cross into the U.S. at the port in San Ysidro, California,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: on trips to collect cash and deliver drugs. Because he
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: had no criminal history, there would be no reason for
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: him to be further scrutinized, said Anderberg, the Montana investigator.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: And when they're looking for mules, that's what they'll do.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: A lot of times they'll try and find people who
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: don't have a criminal record. Somebody who, you know, won't
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: draw suspicion, maybe an older person, women, stuff like that.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: And they'll hope that, you know, these people who have
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: never been in trouble before, if they get pulled over,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: that they'll just be let go. After his arrest, Medina
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: told investigators that he had traveled to Fort Peck in
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: an effort to expand the cartel's drug operation to the reservation,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: according to Anberg. The multi-agency investigation resulted in the seizure
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: of 65 pounds of meth, more than 2,000 counterfeit OxyContin
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: pills laced with fentanyl, and three pounds of heroin. The
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: agents also confiscated more than $ 32, 000 in cash, 19 firearms,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Villarreal was sentenced to 17 years in prison after he
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to distribute
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: meth and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Medina pleaded guilty
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: to possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances. He
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: was sentenced to eight years in prison. A whole eight years, huh?
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Eight years in prison, that's it. But yet you have
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: people out there right now who are rotting in prison
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: because they got nailed with drugs three separate times. Oh,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: possession will put you in prison for, I don't know,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: 15 years. But if you're a Mexican drug dealer, a
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: cartel member, and you're out here slanging all kinds of
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: fentanyl to people, eight years sounds about right. The penalties
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: for people who are trafficking this poison, they need to
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: be harsh. When I talk about drug laws, I'm talking
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: about for simple possession. If you're somebody who's out here
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: pushing this shit, you're selling these poisonous pills to people,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: you're ruining communities, you're ruining lives, I have no use
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: for you. And I think that the penalties need to
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: be severe. 20 others were also convicted for their roles
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: in the drug trafficking network. A second federal case in
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Montana has led to charges against more than two dozen
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: people and include allegations of Mexican cartel members using Native
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Americans as pawns in the operation. The still-ongoing probe centers
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: on the Crow Indian Reservation, where authorities say cartel associates
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: took over at least two properties and used them to
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: distribute meth to people on the reservation as well as
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the nearby northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and in the town
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: of Billings. Remember when I said to you that this
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: stuff was coming to a neighborhood near you? So if
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: you think that it's not, I have to tell you,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: you're wrong. Because if it's coming to Billings, do you
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: really think it's not going to be coming to whatever
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: city you're in? As if the city that you're in
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: is insulated from this madness? It's not. And these cartels
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: know it. They know that kids are looking to get Adderall.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: They know that there's a shortage of Adderall. So they're
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: going to make fentanyl pills that look like Adderall. What
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: do they care if people die? They'll just get more customers.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: In the old days, it was different, right? Drug dealers
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: didn't want people dropping dead from their drugs. That was
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: a bad move. That was not good for them. Nowadays,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: it doesn't even matter. Lawyers for the mid-level defendants, Renita R.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Redfield and Zachary D. Bacon, described in court papers how
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: they were used by the cartel. Redfield's lawyer wrote that
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: she returned to the Crow Reservation after enduring a period
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: of family turmoil and heartbreak only to get drawn into
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the cartel's clutches. And it's not like she can tell
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: them no. Plato e plomo. So either you take the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: silver or you get the lead. And everybody knows it.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: The law enforcement officials know it, and the people who
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: are engaging in this, they certainly know it. And when
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you have nothing left to lose, like them here, well,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: what are you going to do? Hopefully you turn witness,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: and then the government can protect you. But I don't
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: know how far that's going to go, honestly. I wouldn't
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: feel comfortable... If I went against the cartel, I would
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: never feel comfortable again the rest of my life, honestly.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Choosing to distance herself from acquaintances who knew her from
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the past and had no place to live, she often
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: stayed with the cartel. The lawyer, Jessica Poland Wright, wrote,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Trapped in the vicious cycle of addiction and under the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: cartel's control, Renita became a pawn in their operations. Redfield, 47,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: who pleaded guilty to dealing meth, was sentenced in December
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: to five years in prison. Bacon, 35, got involved in
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: the operation after meeting the daughter of one of the
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Native American drug dealers, his lawyer wrote in court papers.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: He pleaded guilty in September to selling meth. He was
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: sentenced to five years of probation. So, they gave him
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the five years because he cooperated, right? He only got
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: five years probation because he turned state's witness. If he
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: didn't do that, he would have had a much more
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: significant penalty that he was looking at. So, He was like,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: you know what? I'd rather be free and worry about
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: the cartel than go sit in prison for the rest
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: of my life. The cartel's business model involves first locating
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: and ingratiating themselves upon the local distributors. Then, when the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: bills started coming due, they brought in other, less friendly individuals.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: The lawyer Matthew Claus wrote, Yeah, if you don't pay up, well,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: you're gonna pay up. And if you think because there's
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: only one operative, on seeing that they're not going to
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: have more operatives than Sicario show up, you have not
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: been paying attention. The cartel extracted tens of thousands of
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: dollars in cash, guns, and vehicles from the Crow Reservation.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Money and guns flowed out of the state and out
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: of the country, and then the cartel left. In their wake,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: they left addicted, strung out, impoverished tribal members facing prosecutions
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: and lengthy prison sentences. Like Zach Bacon, Kloss added, The
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: suspected ringleader, a member of the CJNG, who goes by
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: the name of Carlos, is now on the run, according
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: to law enforcement officials. You will never find Carlos. Carlos
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: is hanging out down in... in Jalisco right now as
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: we speak. Him and Almencho are having some empanadas. Anguish
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: on the reservations. The Blackfeet Reservation in northern Montana was
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: rocked by tragedy in March 2022. Over a single week,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: 17 people suffered fentanyl overdoses, four of them fatal. You
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: don't hear about that on the news, huh? No mass overdoses.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: We don't ever hear about that. We hear about mass shootings.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: How come we don't hear about mass overdoses? Considering that
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: overdose is taking more lives than gun violence, I would
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: think that it would be something that would be talked
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: about more, no? Oh, that's right. It doesn't move the needle.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: It's not a political subject yet. One side or the
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: other can't score political points off of it yet. So
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: it's not a big deal. Imagine if there was a
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: shooting up here where 17 people got shot on a
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: reservation and Oh, it would have been all over the news.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: They would never would have stopped talking about it, right? Well,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: how come this isn't worthwhile? How come this story isn't
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: wall to wall? The community is home to the only
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: inpatient treatment facility that existed on a Montana Indian reservation.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: But the 16 bed facility, Crystal Creek Lodge Treatment Center,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: has long focused on people struggling with alcohol abuse. We're
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: lacking a lot of resources to deal with a crisis
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: that even our facility is not equipped to handle, said
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Duran Tylan Bear Medicine, the director of Crystal Creek Lodge
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Center Treatment. In the southeastern part of Montana, the Northern
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Cheyenne Reservation is also in the grip of a drug epidemic,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: but it's fueled by methamphetamine. Some of the drugs pouring
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: into the reservation came from the cartel network operating out
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: of the neighboring Crow Reservation, prosecutors said in court papers.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Serena Weatherhelt, president of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, said violent
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: crime and burglaries surged during the pandemic and calls to
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: the police often resulted in no response. The situation got
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: so dire, she said, that some tribal members formed their
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: own vigilante group, the People's Camp. Same thing they did
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: down in Mexico. They couldn't, you know, fight off the
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: cartels and they couldn't have any hope of the police
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: helping them, so they put together their own vigilante groups. Unfortunately,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: a lot of those vigilante groups turned into cartels themselves.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: They had cars, they had spotlights, they had a phone,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: she said. People would call that number rather than call
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: the cops. In 2022, the Northern Cheyenne tribe filed a
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: federal lawsuit against the Interior Department and its Bureau of
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Indian Affairs, alleging that the federal government had breached its
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: obligation to keep residents on the reservation safe by failing
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: to provide adequate law enforcement officers. Yeah, 100%. We need
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: to do a better job. And if there needs to
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: be more federal officers working in conjunction with the tribes
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: to stop this shit, then that's what they need to do.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: A Bureau of Indian Affairs spokesperson said the agency does
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: not comment on ongoing litigation. Wareholt said the situation went
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: from bad to worse in the months after her tribe
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: filed the lawsuit last December, whether or not Notified by
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: a tribal police chief that a reorganization of the federally
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: funded force meant the number of officers and other staff
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: would slash from 19 to 7, according to members of
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council. That is unacceptable. That needs
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: to be dealt with. These people on these reservations, they
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: deserve some safety. They deserve to have law enforcement that
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: shows up. I mean, for real? We're not asking very
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: much from the government, Weatherelt said. We are asking for
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: basic law enforcement to help our people. Her voice cracked
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: with emotion, and then she briefly went silent. I'm sorry,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: but this really makes me emotional, she continued. We just
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: can't seem to get anywhere. So where are all the
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: big shots in D.C.? Where's Joe Biden? Where's his administration?
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Nobody cares what's happening in Montana? You would think during
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: election season they'd care, but I guess not. Meanwhile, the
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: people of Montana, they're up against it. And they have
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: no resources. They don't have the proper amount of law
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: enforcement officials. So instead, what they get left with is
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: more and more suffering. And unless the federal government does
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: the right thing here and provides more officials to help
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: maintain order, the cartels are going to continue to exploit
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: this loophole and we're going to see more overdose deaths
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: and more addiction problems overall in the state of Montana.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: So there's no time to waste. And hopefully this new
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: report will spur them into action. Because the longer you wait,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: and the more you let this problem fester, the harder
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: it's going to be to deal with. Alright folks, that's
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: going to do it for this one. All of the
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: information that goes with this episode can be found in
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: the description box. What's up everyone, and welcome back to
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: the program. When I tell you that drugs like fentanyl, cocaine,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: and other drugs are coming to a neighborhood near you,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: I'm not kidding around. And while most people think of
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: drugs and drug cartels in big cities like New York
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: or Los Angeles or Chicago, the fact is there are
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: operatives everywhere. In every single state in this country, there
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: are cartel operatives setting up shop or a shop that's
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: already been set up. And if you think your community
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: is immune... you're really not paying attention to what's going on.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Or you just refuse to believe the facts that are
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: right in front of your face. And the facts say
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: that this is a problem that is affecting us all
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: or will be affecting us all very shortly. Because if
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: you think that the amount of drugs coming into America
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: is going to slow down anytime soon, you are sorely mistaken.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Year after year, They're ramping up the amount of drugs
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: that they're pumping into this country. But remember, the reason
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: that they're ramping that up is because of the demand.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: We're driving this whole entire thing here in America by
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: our demand for these drugs. And what are you going
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: to do? Arrest every single person who has a drug
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: addiction in America? We already have more people in prison
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: per 100,000 than anybody in the whole world. So what's
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: a few hundred thousand more, right? A few million more.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Because that's worked so well thus far. And it's not
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: like it's just here. Anywhere you look where they're pursuing
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: the war on drugs in such a violent manner as
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: our government pursues it, it brings nothing but pain and
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: misery to every community that it's in. And while it
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: feels good to say stuff like, we need to have
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: a wall to stop the drugs from coming into America...
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: In the story we're about to read, you're going to
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: see why the wall doesn't really matter when we're talking
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: about big loads of drugs. Now, I'm not saying people
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: aren't mulling drugs across. They most certainly are. But you
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: can only carry so much drugs on you, right? So
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: many pounds, so many kilos. Whereas if you have a
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: private plane that's not getting checked in Mexico and when
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: it lands in America, able to bust through customs, how
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: much more drugs could you put on a plane like that? Or,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: on the flip side, how much more drugs can you
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: put in a 53-foot truck and bring it across the
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: border because of NAFTA? See where I'm going with this?
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: I think that a border wall is a good idea
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: in areas down on the border, and the only people
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: who don't think that's a good idea are people who
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: have never been down there. Because you have to control
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: what's going on right. It's not only good for the country.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: But it's good for people who are trying to get
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: into this country. Because the situation we have down there
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: right now. Is bad news folks. Real bad. And when
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: you have people coming through a place like the Darien Gap.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: To try and come to America. You know that they're
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: hopeless where they are. And they're willing to go to
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: great lengths to come here. But as far as the
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: drug trade itself. The wall. Even if we had a
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: wall across the whole entire border that was a thousand
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: feet high, it would do very little as far as
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: punching a hole in the overall amount of drugs coming
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: into America. And today, in this article from the I-team
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: over at ABC Eyewitness News, you're going to see why. Headline,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: three drug cartel operatives admit smuggling cocaine on a private
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: jet from Mexico to To Gary, Indiana. Now, would you
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: think that Gary, Indiana is the kind of place that
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: the cartels smuggling drugs into a big load? Of course
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't. Because it's not really the kind of place
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: you think about when you're thinking about cartels or operatives
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: or drug distribution. But when you look at it on
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: the map, where Gary, Indiana is... and how easily it
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: is to bring the drugs from there and distribute them
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: to the Midwest and elsewhere. Makes a lot of sense, right?
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Especially considering you go to these clandestine airports that are
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: out of the way, less regulation, and you're able to
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: bring these loads in at a huge clip. And especially
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: if you start paying people off. This article was authored
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: by Chuck Goody, Barb Markoff, All three accused drug traffickers
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: admit they are guilty in the case, signing off on
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: a plea deal with the federal prosecutors. So they're willing
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: to snitch on their cartel and they're going to get
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: a lighter sentence. obviously but they're still going to have
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: to probably do some time right so they're going to
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: have to go into the system and now once you
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: snitch on the cartel what happens is you're greenlit throughout
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: the whole entire system so you're going to go to
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: federal prison here and that's a little bit more beneficial
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: to you Because say you were going to prison in
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: the California penal system and you had a green light
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: on you. Well, it would be bad news for you
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: because it would be La Eme who would be, you know,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: carrying out that hit for the cartels. And you'd really
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: have no recourse if you were in, say, the California
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: penal system. But being in the federal penal system, there's
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: a little bit more protection that the government can give
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: these dudes. So people are more willing to play ball
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: if it's a federal rap. The private jet they used
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: to transport 220 pounds of cocaine packed inside several suitcases
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: from Mexico to Gary, Chicago International Airport last November is
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: now officially owned by the American taxpayers. It was seized
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: by U.S. drug investigators. So that's pretty run of the mill.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: If the feds nail you with a car full of drugs,
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: a plane full of drugs, doesn't matter. They're going to
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: seize whatever that is that was containing those drugs. And
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: that's all part of their interdiction method, right? And they'll
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: do the same with your home. When the feds or
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: the cops raid a house and say South Central and
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: drugs are found, they can seize that house, even if
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: the drug dealer doesn't own it. So say he's living
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: with his grandma. They could seize grandma's house because he
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: was selling drugs and he was living there. They find
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: drugs there, money, whatever. They'll find a way and they'll
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: seize that house. Funny how they didn't seize Jeffrey Epstein's pads, huh?
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Former federal marshal in Chicago, Ed Farrell, originally reviewed the
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: case for the I-Team and said drug operatives always look
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: for back doors such as Gary, Indiana. And here's what
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: I was talking about in the opening. If you think
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: that insert town near you because you live in a,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: you know, Upper Crust Suburb or a place where you
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: don't see this on a regular basis, don't think because
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: you don't see it, it's not occurring. A lot of
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: these people are moving in silence. And when we're talking
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: about cartels especially, not so much street gangs, right? They're
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: obviously nowhere near as sophisticated. But the cartels, they're operating
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: in every big city in this country. And you want
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: to talk about little places where they're at? Just take
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: a look here. Gary, Indiana. So you know they're in
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: other places just like this that make it easier for
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: them to bring this blow in and then distribute it
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: from these areas to whatever destination they have set up.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: They went to a further away airport, which tells me
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: there's less scrutiny, Farrell told the I-Team last November. Three
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: men suspected by investigators of being deployed by Mexico cartel
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: bosses were arrested in the case. They don't say what cartel,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: but my guess is obviously either Sinaloa or CJNG, considering
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: how worldwide these dudes are. I mean, they're like Pitbull
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: at this point, right? Mr. Worldwide? The last of the
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: three is pleaded guilty to flying in the cocaine and
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: driving the drug-packed suitcases to a Gold Coast hotel. So
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: that's pretty standard. You know, these guys will smuggle it in,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: then either the load will be picked up at the
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: airport from an operative, or they'll be charged with bringing
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: it from the plane to wherever they're going, depending on
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: how elaborate the scheme is, depending on what their role is.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: The onboard leader of the trafficking scheme, Sebastian Vasquez Gomez,
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: has admitted to the multi-kilo deliveries. The crime carries a
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: penalty up to life in prison, Although the government will
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: ask for a reduction in his potential sentence. So whenever
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: you see that, you know for a fact they're playing ball.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: The government, they're not going to reduce your sentence if
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: you're not playing ball with them. So you know this
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: dude's definitely singing like a canary and telling the government
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: everything they want to know. Federal agents say sales ledgers
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: revealed hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug deals. There
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: was no inspection of the alleged drug ferrying plane, according
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: to Gary officials, because it had cleared customs in Houston
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: after a flight from Toluca, Mexico. So what's going on there?
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: Was somebody paid off throughout this process to allow this
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: plane just to go through with no scrutiny? Or did
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: it slip through the cracks? What's the deal? The plane
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: traveled from Mexico to Texas to Gary on several occasions,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: and authorities said they had it under surveillance. So a
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: lot of times that's what will happen. They'll let one
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: or two of these deals go through, right? And then
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: when they have that big load they're looking for and
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: all the intelligence built up and they feel like they're
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: going to make some meaningful arrests, then they'll come swooping in.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: As the I-Team reported last November, aviation website FlightAware publicly
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: snapped photos of the jet at several airports in the U.S.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: and Mexico. Vasquez-Gomez said there were two unwitting passengers on
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: the drug jet with them. It is not known if
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: they were just hitching a ride to Chicago. Oh yeah,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: I'm sure they were unwitting. They had no idea what
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: was going on. Come on, man. The other two drug
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: traffickers who were pleading in this plot were on-the-ground operatives,
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: according to court records. Prosecutors say they moved cartel cocaine
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: through the Midwest and collected cash totaling $ 5. 2 million in
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: drug proceeds. The sentencing will be in January. But you
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: know the stark reality, folks, and the truth of it all?
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: It don't matter. You could arrest 100,000 of these people
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: and it's not going to matter. There's going to be 100,000
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: more willing to take their place. But the point I
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: want to make to you is this. Don't think that
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: you're insulated. I don't care if you're living in Irvington,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: New York. I don't care if you're living in insert,
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: you know, higher upper crust area, California, wherever you think
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: you're living and it's safe. It is not. These drugs
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: are pervasive and they're making their way to a community
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: near you. If you'd like to contact me, you can
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: do that at bobbycapucci at protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I at protonmail.com.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: You can also find me on Twitter at B-O-B-B-Y underscore C-A-P-U-C-C-I.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: The link that I discussed can be found in the
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: description box.