Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. Farfan brought in at least 20 kilos of meth, half a kilo of heroin and nearly two kilos of fentanyl. Histestimony helped convict a trafficker connected to CJNG in 2014. Through corruption and intimidation, CJNG has thrived, even as it found additional ways to make money. "I had a prosecutor who was sympathetic that this guy was just a bond-hit, video-game type of kid," Schindler said. "If one wants to gain power, control and territory, it's a must that they conquer non-alliance cartels and gain the assistance of police and government entities to assist them in their global success.". The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is Mexico's most violent crime gang. He reached 'kingpin' status by selling Mexican cartel-supplied drugs. Eight soldiers and Morales partner died. "If you provide information to the Mexican government, its probably the last thing you would say.". His attorney, Noel Grefenson, declined comment for this story. Both are now in prison for money laundering, and her sister, who has two children living in Kentucky, faces deportation. Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) gunmen lined up at least 17 victims and shot them during a funeral in western Mexico Sunday. Yet, no sooner had authorities busted Kentucky's CJNG ringthan the cartel replaced Macias, sending in another team. El Menchos powerful international syndicate is flooding the U.S. with thousands of kilos of methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl every year despite being targeted repeatedly by undercover stings, busts and lengthy investigations. The cartel circulates these images of torture and execution on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to spread fear and intimidation. Rapid gunfire could be heard in videos that appeared to have been recorded at the scene of the mass murder. During a brief telephonecallfrom prison in August 2019,Palomerasaid heis a family manwhonever harmed anyone. Even if U.S. and Mexican investigators can track El Mencho's location, capturing him won't be easy. CJNG burns rivals face alive as a way of mocking his nickname Ghost Rider. And court records detail how the cartel lures those who need money to serve as drug or cash couriers or money launderers. According to the military, the vehicles were used by the CDG (Gulf Cartel) to transport drugs and hitmen. 21 258 33 0. "One of the techniques cartels use here in the United States is to take young people and make them responsible for significant amounts of drugs in order to shield themselves," Schindler said. For two years, Farfan's nephew, Eduardo Alvarez Farfan, was scared silent. During his March sentence hearing, Farfan apologized for his crimes, but insisted, "I've never been a violent person. In a desperate bid to cling to its remaining territory, the group has joined forces with a former rival: a fast-growing cartel called the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Investigative reporter Beth Warren spent threedays in Mexico City and Guadalajara with the U.S. DrugEnforcement Administration and Mexican police and government officials. That designation allowed the department to levy sanctions against Mexican businesses linked to the cartels, includinga sushi restaurant, a tequila business, shopping centers, a medical clinic, two newspapers and famed Hotelito Desconocido, visited by Hollywood stars. 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. Moreover, the U.S. lacks the authority to make arrests in foreign countries, said Evans, a senior DEA official. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. . or redistributed. But they didn't know about dogged sheriff's detective John Walker, who developed informants and bought drugs while undercover. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. It's a very demoralizing experience for the male who was not only failed by the cartel. "That said, shootouts and attacks on authorities have happened in cities like Guadalajara in the middle of the day with no regard to innocent civilians' lives.". This case had some odd twists, including the involvement by a retired U.S. Marine and his wife, an agonizing test of family loyalties and a gruesome threat from Mexico. The Elite Group is the top tier enforcement wing of the Jalisco New GeneralCartel, often referred to as CJNG. 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. Macias' associate, Imanol Pineda Penaloza, headed a cell in Louisville while running his drug business through his used tire shop, Los 3 Hermanos. ", More:Ignoring cartel danger, Mexican families scour wilderness for missing loved ones' remains. In Mexico, a DEA investigator said he was stunned when he learned CJNG cells were popping up in communities as small as Axton. %privacy_policy%. UNCENSORED VIDEO BELOW / New horrifying video shows three CJNG cartel members beheading two men from a rival cartel in Mexico. All rights reserved. 12:52 you're really coward and pathetic what about cjng all the killings from . "The CJNG is one of the most powerful (cartels) and in a short time may become the dominating force in Mexico if not restrained. In just six months, smugglers brought across the border almost two kilos of fentanyl up to 1 million lethal doses of the No. The case took place in Marcos Castellanos, Michoacan, where gunmen stormed a funeral service and forced mourners to line up against a wall before opening fire. Farfan agreed to forfeit $100,000, and the judge ordered him to remain on supervised release for five years after he serves his time in prison. Who was to blame? Many are committed by cartels. It is known for its aggressive use of violence and its public relations campaigns. Follow him onTwitterandFacebook. I don't really care what the prosecutor says.. I hate violence," according to a transcript of the hearing, with Farfan appearing before the judge from prison on Zoom. The CJNG has been fighting the Sinaloa Cartel in Zacatecas with one recent clash in June killing 35 people. "I know Im not that person," he said, refusing to elaborate. Pullup the seat. In June, operatives attempted to assassinate Mexico City's police chief, Omar Garcia Harfuch hammering his body with at least three bullets and slaying two of his bodyguards. With a $10 million reward on his head, hes on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administrations Most Wanted list. He previously was convicted on federal drug charges in the U.S. and was deported at least twice. He and Helida Montes, his partner for 16 years, settled their two children in Oregon City as Farfan grew his business, roping in two of his nephews. Months later, the veteran texted his adult son about his gratitude that agents arrested him, saving his life. ", "Thats kind of hard to believe, but its true.". He was thought to be one of the leaders of Carteles Unidos. It also identified at least two dozen "cells," which the DEA defines as places where cartel members set up shop to do business and live in the communities. And though few Americans know his name, authorities promise they soon will. At first, he supervised work crews at his uncle's construction business building houses, Roberto's attorney, Robert Salisbury, said. There's a reason why gente de Sinaloa stay in business while everyone else eats shit and goes away. Those who tried to run were tortured, killed and sometimescannibalizedby fellow recruits in what U.S. federal agents describe as a disturbing riteof passage. More:US drug czar wants India to stem flow of chemicals used by Mexican cartels for fentanyl. 2020 has been an especially savage year in the border city of Tijuana,racking upalmost 2,000 murders almost on par with 2019 and once again earning the label of having the highest murder rate per capita of any city in Mexico. The incident is only one of many deeds of bloodshed to have been carried out by the CJNG, whose barbarity is said to be on ascendance in recent weeks and months spilling on to U.S. soil and livelihoods. Then he vanished, How this couple ran a redneck meth empire in an Appalachian county ravaged by addiction, How a Mississippi trooper almost took down the worlds most powerful cartel boss, Mother searches photos of mutilated dead men, hoping to find her abducted son, Officer disabled after helicopter shot down by rising Jalisco New Generation Cartel. In turn, the Sinaloans killed a high-ranking CJNG boss in the area, Emiliano Torres Ramrez AKA El Agapo. CJNG's plan tomove intosmall-town America and cashin on the country's addiction crisis played out in Lexington, Kentucky. Then in September 2020, a video believed to have been filmed in the central state of Zacatecas showed CJNG members directly threatening Ismael Zambada Garca, alias "El Mayo," leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. A video allegedly showing El Cholo surrounded by CJNG captors was uploaded ahead of the mutilated body's discovery Credit: YouTube. Pictures taken of the victims show them blindfolded, with their arms and legs bound. A larger probe was underway by Washington County Sheriff's WIN Team, the Westside Interagency Narcotics task force that includes agents with the FBI, Hillsboro and Beaverton police and the Oregon National Guard County-Drug investigators. The U.S government has crippled dozens ofbusinessesthat supported CJNGandsentElMenchosson and chief financial backer to prison, along with members of his inner circle. He had at least five aliases and kept slipping back into the U.S. It has an army of 5,000 members . By the time of the hearing, the veteran was 560 days sober. Tipped off that a police caravan was on its way to grab El Mencho, CJNGhitmen hidalong the route in April 2015 and ambushed fourpolice vehicles. The cartel has run brothels in Mexico, often using teens and women forced into CJNG's web. The unending stream of narcotics has contributed to this countrys unprecedented addiction crisis, devastating families and killing more than 300,000 people since 2013. Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, underscored that as the criminal environment has become more fragmented with many groups and affiliated gangs, the amount of killing and its unpredictability has become more generalized. They stormed a hideout west of Guadalajara, but the cartel leader climbed into a vehicle and was rushed to safety. "My family knows Im not that person. Agents say Macias didn'tinvolveCalumet in his drug crimes. He can be contacted atIortiz@breitbart.com. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. The government also alleges that Los Cabos targeted law enforcement in Tijuana, killing at least three police officers. "I still expected that they would be in markets in the Southwest, a little bit into some of the other major corridors, such as Atlanta and Chicago, Evans said. "He spoke with Mexican-based members of the conspiracy, met interstate couriers and directed subordinates," prosecutors noted in a government motion to keep Farfan locked up pending trial. Throughout Mexico, more than 40,000 children and adults remain missing. ", The mother of his two youngest children wrote a letter saying: "He is one of the greatest fathers that there is. Passed over for promotion, ElMenchoteamed withhis in-laws who ran an affiliatedcartel and forged his own criminal organizationin early 2011 CJNG. But also by his own peers after they abandoned him to this . Walker then secured search warrants to monitor social media accounts, where drug ring members chatted in code on Facebook Messenger. Paying semitruck drivers to haul hidden caches of drugs into the U.S. and return cash to Mexico. "Theyre a business," Hammer said of cartels. He doesn't make wild errors; he doesn't hesitate; one word for el Mecho is 'calculated,'" Wesley said. Provided by McCracken County Sheriff's Department. Walker realized he wasn't the only one watching this drug ring. "I don't know who they are, but they know who I am, and they know what's going on here. "Different groups are active in virtually all Mexican territory, with the Sinaloa federation being concentrated in the north/west portion of the country, and CJNG being concentrated in the south/central but extending across Mexico to Veracruz.". In June 2015, the Mexican military arrested El Menchos son and second-in-command, Rubn Oseguera Gonzles. He received credit for time in jail awaiting trial and has since been released and deported. CJNG wasn't the only cartel in the Bluegrass State in 2017, but authorities say it was the main supplier of fentanyl when Louisville's Adam Cooley, who sought heroin, snorted 20 times alethal dose. Ciro Macias Martinez led a double life, working as a horse groomer by day and overseeing the flow of $30 million worth of drugs into Kentuckyby night before being imprisoned in 2018 for meth trafficking and money laundering, federal records show. It was run by a deported felon who kept sneaking back across the border. His followers have spread tonearly all of Mexico's 32 states, including the cities ofGuadalajara and Tijuana, both crucial to moving drugs into the U.S. From there, ElMencho's empire went global, withasteady and growing customerbasein the U.S., as well as in Australia, Europe andJapan. Armas enlisted help from his neighbors, a retired U.S. Marine and his wife. The Michoacan Attorney Generals Office revealed that the bodies were removed and the scene was largely cleaned by the perpetrators. 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. CJNG, which routinely faces off with its No. Who is El Mencho, the most powerful drug kingpin in the world? Three of them are bare-chested. "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. Officials in Attorney General William Barr's office declined to comment on The Courier Journal's findings. On 2/10 Narcocorrido band Grupo Arriesgado was forced to cancel a concert in Tijuana after a report of shots were fired during an event vice.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. 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