Seeing a growing market, Ted Daniels started the company and uses ex-military and law enforcement to provide security for the stores' money and supply shipments, and the growing operations. Colorado Springs mayoral candidates address affordable homeownership. The indictment says Tarango-Rodriguez also told Rivera-Beltran that it would be done very quickly, which agents believed to be in reference to the drug deal. The 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office said the following defendants will be prosecuted in Douglas County: RELATED: 2 Colorado nurses illegally took controlled substances at work, U.S. Attorney's Office says. Our children stronger than we give them credit. Commerce City Police Department officers identified the driver as Trevizo and a passenger as Misael Acosta-Garcia. Nuevo Laredo is the worst of all the border cities for kidnapping US citizens. At least one of the five young men killed by the Mexican military had alleged links to Cartel del Noreste, which operates in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo across from Texas. A Mexican cartel assassin butchered one of his rivals, cut his heart out and took bites from it in harrowing footage posted online as a warning to other gang members. They discussed concern over a camera pointing towards the carport, and the indictment says Rivera-Beltran commented that he would go to the residence of Albert Sanchez Rodriguez or somewhere else. EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD FOLLOW OUR LEAD! plus 'Those cities are Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, and Longmont. "This group I put together is designed specifically to protect product, people, and money. Los Zetas Cartel is also the only Mexican cartel that uses Dallas as a major hub. DENVER Authorities on Wednesday announced the indictments of 30 people who are accused of being members of a Denver-based drug trafficking group with suspected ties to a Mexican cartel, according to officials and court documents. COVELO, Calif. Mexican drug cartels are muscling in on America's burgeoning multi-billion-dollar marijuana industry, illegally growing large crops in the hills and valleys of Northern California. The two seized deposit boxes, tied to Monicas Taco Shop, contained more than $800,000, the complaint said. 22:55 03 Mar 2023, updated 23:04 03 Mar 2023. We are stronger than this crap. Marshals Service The Flores brothers admitted to smuggling at least 1,500 kgs of cocaine for the Sinaloa cartel into the US every month between 2005 and 2008. Investigators also followed the vehicle driven by Peterson, watched him transfer the items into another truck, and pulled him over, the indictment says. The DEA said the organization was led by Saul Ramon Rivera-Beltran, 30, of Thornton, who would order drugs and have couriers pick them up. The defendants are alleged to have brought large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States through California using secret compartments in vehicles. right now to get cant-miss stories, Next and Broncos content, weather and more delivered right to your inbox. A third photograph showed Mata smiling and flashing a thumbs up inside a jail cell. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here. POLL: How will the Rockies fare this season in the NL West? COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - A Sierra High School student was shot off-campus on Tuesday. Also in June, Tarango-Rodriguez continued to make calls on a third phone number that was being monitored by agents, and the indictment says he told a user he was going to sell 500,000 "small blue ones," which investigators believed to be 30-milligram fentanyl pills, in Kansas. Tarango-Rodriguez said in the calls that the "buttons" Rivera-Beltran had were not good. He . It is based in Culiacn, Sinaloa state, Mexico. Claims of jury misconduct arose after a juror told VICE News in February 2019 report that several jurors followed media accounts of the three month-long trial. @ 4:00 PMThe article is about cartel presence in Colorado among other things. She joined the Gazette in 2016. Juarez Cartel is the only Mexican cartel that uses Oklahoma City as a major hub. Vanda Felbab-Brown Sunday, May 29, 2022 Mexico Today Editor's Note: In a new series, Vanda Felbab-Brown outlines the way Mexico's two largest cartels the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel Jalisco. She wants you to know he's more than a number. Around 6:36 p.m. that evening, Tarango-Rodriguez called Rivera-Beltran and asked if he could use a truck inside Rivera-Beltran's carport for five minutes, according to the indictment. He also made calls to customers and suppliers throughout the month, the indictment says. FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2020 file photo, a policeman drives past town hall in Apaseo El Alto, Guanajuato state, Mexico. "We still don't know what the fall out will be but when there is this much money involved the potential is great for groups to want capitalize.". 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. DENVER Details of an eight-month investigation into a Colorado-based drug trafficking organization with links to a Mexican cartel have been released in a grand jury indictment. As CJNG [Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion] has consolidated territory over the past decade, it has added other crimes to its core activity of drug trafficking, OFAC director Andrea Gacki said in a statement. They've inspired songs and telenovelas. After consenting to a vehicle search, Diarte told the troopers someone put a box in his suitcase and was going to pay him $10,000 to transport it to Los Angeles, the indictment says. In Colorado Springs, those are three Taco Star eateries, at 318 N. Wahsatch Ave., 7434 Ridgewood Drive and 605 N. Circle Drive; two Monicas Taco Shops, at 30 E. Fillmore St. and 5829 Palmer Park Blvd. (YouTube) Mexican authorities believe a body found wrapped in plastic and left . On Sept. 23, the indictment says Rivera-Beltran called asking Guadalupe Ortiz to bring his birth certificate and some money from Colorado to Arizona, and Guadalupe Ortiz said he would fly down. Beltran-Leyva Organization (BLO) is the third most significant Mexican drug cartel in the United States, followed by Juarez Cartel, Gulf Cartel, and Los Zetas Cartel. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. DENVER (AP) - The U.S. Department of Justice says two Mexican cartels are active in five Colorado cities. Denver police are taking a wait-and-see posture as to what may emerge. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. In 2017, 16-year-old Nathaniel Czajkowski was shot to death in Albertacos while eating with three friends, two of whom also were shot. Its owner, Hilario Montejano-Aleman, also operates the local Viva El Taco at 5945 N. Academy Blvd. A cellphone of Jose Aguilar-Martinez, who purported to own the unregistered wholesale distributor El Potosino Foods, had significant contact with suspected cocaine distributors in the city and in Pueblo and was linked to Guzmns and Zambadas trafficking, the complaint says. The same drug cartels causing chaos on the U.S./Mexico border are also active in Colorado. Later that night while Guadalupe Ortiz was at the airport, he spoke about concealing money in notebooks while going through security with Rivera-Beltran, according to the indictment. Heroin is where their making money. They each face homicide, bodily injury and disobedience charges. The undercover officer who first made contact with Rivera-Beltran arranged another drug purchase, and the indictment says $2,200 was exchanged for a pound of meth in the same Target parking lot on June 17. A sixth shooting victim, who was wounded and is fighting for his life at a local hospital, also belongs to the same criminal organization. kaitlin.durbin@gazette.com, Colorado Springs restaurants appear to be implicated in alleged drug money laundering scheme, expected to be sent to Colorados maximum-security prison in Florence, 16-year-old Nathaniel Czajkowski was shot to death in Albertacos, Feds: El Chapo's sons indicted on drug conspiracy charges, Survey: Coloradans happy with State Patrol, but not traffic safety, Two teens accused of using cocaine at Colorado Springs high school, Alex Murdaugh trial: Autopsy photos shown, and witnesses paint graphic picture as trial continues, Stimulus update: Direct payment worth up to $400 to be available for Massachusetts residents in 12 days, New downtown Colorado Springs transit center plans updated, councilman calls it a 'boondoggle'. Rivera-Beltran then called Antonio Ortiz and old him "s*** went to hell," and that they needed to save what they could because there was a lot of "work," believed to be drugs, at the house, according to the indictment. Legal Statement. In addition, two related defendants were identified and arrested after the indictment, the district attorney's office said. The covert operation saw police drop the fake shipment about 40 nautical miles west of Perth, where a shore party allegedly made multiple efforts to locate and retrieve it. Most notably, the Juarez cartel has reportedly seen its dominance in most of New Mexico eroded by the Sinaloa cartel. The Flores brothers admitted to smuggling at least 1,500 kilograms of cocaine for the Sinaloa cartel into the US every month between 2005 and 2008. She wants you to know he's more than a number, 2 Colorado nurses illegally took controlled substances at work, U.S. Attorney's Office says, About 3,184.43 grams of 30 milligram fentanyl pills (about 41,500 pills). Their families would laugh and say keep them. "This was an industry here that created a lot of challenges," Daniels told WDVR television news in Denver Jan. 7. "In recent years, the Gulf cartel has weakened due to the arrest of key leaders in Mexico and intra-cartel conflict, which has led to a decline in its drug trafficking influence in the United States.". DENVER Details of an eight-month investigation into a Colorado-based drug trafficking organization with links to a Mexican cartel have been released in a grand jury indictment. Investigators said Rivera-Beltran began negotiating with a person later identified as Juan Francisco "Guerito" Sarabia-Mancinas for pounds of meth and pills believed to be fake 30-milligram oxycodone pills. Sinaloa Cartel is one of the oldest and most successful drug cartels in Mexico. In addition to more than 110,000 fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills, the DEA said it seized numerous other drugs and weapons. One veteran border narcotics agent told FoxNews.com Colorado's legal pot industry will find it hard to keep the criminals from horning in on a lucrative business they once controlled. The legal marijuana industry could be the fastest growing sector of the. During the spring of 2020 as Covid-19 was sweeping the world and Mexico, Mexican and international media became mesmerized by how various Mexican criminal groups, including the Sinaloa Cartel . as well as other partner offers and accept our, NOW WATCH: This is how Mexican drug cartels make billions selling drugs, an offshoot of the Sinaloa cartel around 2010, violent turf wars in several areas on Mexico's west coast. It is believed to have a more horizontal structure, as an organization of allied factions, frequently working together but often in control of different aspects of the drug production, trafficking, and distribution processes. Mexican army soldiers display $15 million U.S. on November 22, 2011, in Mexico City. Seven of the defendants are considered fugitives. The owner of the Colorado Springs dispensary told the Denver Post he is planning to get a concealed-weapons permit, for protection when he has to move money out of the store. Maybe he was hoping the Zetas would kidnapped that girl because she was stupid enough to follow him there. The car was stopped by state troopers. Guzman-Loera is the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, becoming involved in drug trafficking in the late 1980s. After multiple messages were exchanged, the indictment says, surveillance captured them meeting at a gas station, hugging and Zytacua getting in and out of her car. Surez was chased by two Army pickup trucks before he lost control of his own and crashed into parked vehicle. Troopers located the box and found about 728.8 grams of heroin, about 2.32 kilos of several pre-packaged blue 30-milligram fentanyl pills and about 32.3 grams of meth seized from Ernestina Montoya, a passenger in the car, according to the indictment. Villasuso also said that even if legal stores do face extortion efforts by cartel groups it is unlikely law enforcement will even be made aware of it if merchants are too frightened to come to police. Joaquin Guzman, the Mexican drug lord known as "El Chapo," entered a Colorado prison known as "the Alcatraz of the Rockies" on Friday to begin a life sentence after being found guilty of a raft of crimes including conspiracy to commit murder. Chinese nationals aren't allowed to transfer their wealth outside of China, so they are willing to pay Mexican drug cartels a premium for the cartels' US dollar cash holdings in exchange for RMB payments in China. According to the indictment, the investigation began in April, when DEA agents learned that Samuel Padilla-Romo was selling methamphetamine in the 18th Judicial District and Denver metro area. RELATED: DEA seizes more than 110,000 fentanyl-laced pills, issues 19 indictments. He also told the informant a load he was waiting for had arrived, and he could give the informant 40 pounds of meth, according to the indictment. A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging 17 defendants for drug trafficking in direct connection with a Mexican drug cartel. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File). Two days later, the indictment says, Tarango-Rodriguez called Rivera-Beltran, and investigators said it was clear that Rivera-Beltran was nervous about going to a party after the search warrant was executed. Photos shared by Mata's friends on social media showed him holding a rifle and wearing a black vest with the Cartel del Noreste's (Northeast Cartel) initials, 'CDN,' across the chest and ammunition hanging from it. On July 8, after a phone call between Zytacua and a woman concerning a drug transaction, the indictment says, agents witnessed Zytacua conduct a hand-to-hand exchange with a woman at a nail salon in Aurora. Stay up to date with what you want to know. The queens of the Mexican drug cartels are fond of tight jeans, red lipstick and stilettos. Extortion has proven to be a lucrative ancillary enterprise for cartels in Mexico resulting in thousands of businesses closing rather than pay the quota, as it is called, or the store owners face the threat of death, which too has occurred. Boogie! However, no firearms were recovered from their pickup truck. The indictment says six rectangular bricks with "CHANEL" stamped on them that tested positive for cocaine were found in the vehicle. Drug cartel gunmen invaded Culiacan International Airport in the western Mexican province of Sinaloa and opened fire . Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia did not originate in Mexico, and is entirely a U.S. criminal prison organization.Law enforcement officials report that the Mexican Mafia is the deadliest and most powerful gang within the California prison . According to the DEA, these six Mexican drug cartels generate tens of billions of dollars every year and employ a multitude of financial transactions and arrangements to launder and smuggle their earnings into Mexico. The identity of that cartel is not being released as it remains the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The arrests and indictments of the 17 defendants were the result of a year-long investigation into a Mexican drug cartel operation that smuggled narcotics into the United States from California to Colorado, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. I can buy a pound in texas for 300 to 400 and bring it to MN and sell for 1000-1500 and thats where all the shit brick trees go, Mexican drug cartels are getting into the game of hydroponics. You can get killed for just walking around the east side. [The sniper rifles flowing to Mexican. Analysts are still trying to work out the long-term effect this shift will have on Mexican cartel finances and violence. Legal Statement. In a traffic stop of one suspect in January, investigators seized about 1,000 fentanyl pills that were hidden in a vent inside the vehicle, according to the complaint. On Oct. 30, the indictment says GPS showed Rodriguez's phone was traveling north on I-25, and around 1040 p.m., he was stopped in the car with Nancy Vargas by Douglas County Sheriff's Office deputies. Prez's brother, Alejandro Prez, was unharmed and told Univision that he saw the moment his sibling was shot at point-blank range. Escamilla called Beltran-Beltran later that night, who told Escamilla he needed to pick up 24,000 pills that were moved out of the house after the traffic stop, according to the indictment. The money was seized from alleged members of the Guzman Loera drug cartel . In June 1993, Guzman-Loera was arrested in Chiapas, Mexico and sentenced to a 20-year prison term. Richard Nixon. Antonio Ortiz asked Rivera-Beltran over a call if he had received the "chocolates," believed to be heroin, and asked for "two," believed to be two kilos, according to the indictment. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. Castillo said Surez lived with her and that he worked in the construction business with his stepfather. He was shot 12 times and died, Luis Martnez survived after he was shot twice by the Mexican military following a high-speed chase in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Texas. I'm scared! Rivera-Beltran specifically mentioned that a load of drugs agents believed to be cocaine that was arriving the first week of September, lamented that one of his loads had been taken, and offered the informant "1,000 almonds" which investigators believed to be fentanyl pills, according to the indictment. The Defendants from California are Juan Carlos Medina-Soberanis, 31; and Erik Parra. "In the past 31 days of 2023, there have been 1,937 Mexican Cartel drone's incursions in three South Texas border counties," according to a preview of Martinez's remarks as a witness in the House . The following items were discovered when investigators searched the Kearney Street address, according to the indictment: According to the indictment, that Corvette was the same vehicle driven by Rivera-Beltran during the two drug deals with undercover officers, according to the indictment. The informant continued to negotiate prices for more meth with Padilla-Romo throughout June, and the indictment says Romo mentioned he was going to get more from Jesus Tarango-Rodriguez. Ooooohhhh!!!!!! Behind the nicknames of notorious Mexican drug cartel figures In Texas, the many offices appear to have their time spent dealing with cases involving the Sinaloa, Gulf, Juarez, the Knights Templar . The cartel invests substantially to ensure that the right people are in key positions so as to further their objectives. Based on calls and surveillance, the investigators said, it was clear a drug transaction took place for more than seven grams of meth. According to the DEA's assessment, however, the amount of US territory controlled by Mexican cartels has shifted slightly from 2015 to 2016. Wow, cross and walk down the streets of Nuevo Laredo as everyone there stairs at you. Rivera said Escamilla had left Colorado to deliver the $170,000, which agents knew to be a lie because Escamilla's GPS pings were still in Colorado, the indictment says. Trucks with mounted machine guns and henchman with body armour rolled into the town in one of the bloodiest recent episodes in the drug war blighting Mexico. It has concentrated in some areas of California, appeared in South Florida and the Pacific Northwest, and set up outposts on the East Coast. On Aug 19., the indictment says, state troopers stopped Anali Saavedra Flores on I-25. Contact the writer at 719-636-0362 or find her on Twitter: @njKaitlinDurbin. We are pleased to provide the experience and expertise of Victor Manual Galarza Abizaid, considered a subject matter expert by the 22nd and 13th Judicial Districts in the State of Colorado in criminal interdiction, narcotics, narcotics investigations and the Mexican Cartels.Victor has been in active service as a Law Enforcement officer since 2011. Authorities have seized more than $1.5 million from 15 bank accounts and two safety deposit boxes of the restaurants. Since the 1980s, they have dominated the international narcotics trade. It is understood that the mutilated corpse in the video belongs to a gunman working for the Sinaloa Cartel, whose former leader, Joaqun Archivaldo Guzmn Loera, otherwise known .