The Sinaloa cartel — that’s the biggest and baddest of the drug cartels. It has tentacles nationwide but are deepest in Arizona. Those words were spoken by U.S. Drug Enforcement Acting Special Agent in Charge for Arizona Doug Coleman at a Dec. 19 news conference at the Tempe Police Department announcing a 15-month investigation resulting in 203 arrests and the seizure of $7.8 million in cash, 650 pounds of marijuana, 435 pounds of methamphetamine, 123 pounds of cocaine and 4.5 pounds of heroin.
Present with Coleman were Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff to announce what was described as the largest drug investigation in Tempe’s history. Tempe detectives and DEA agents are to be commended.
The Sinaloa cartel is considered to be the most powerful drug trafficking organization in Mexico and defines a modern day definition of organized crime that makes billions off of more than just drugs. It’s run by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Forbes Magazine named him the 55th most powerful person in the world.
This is Tempe’s second large drug investigation involving the Sinaloa cartel. Two years ago they announced the arrest of 130 people involved in extensive drug trafficking. At the time, Tempe police called that case the biggest bust in their city’s history.
In 2010, Tempe police arrested 40 people for heroin possession and distribution.
Heroin and meth users contribute greatly to serious crime.
Tempe has long had the highest serious crime rate in the East Valley. According to the Arizona Association of Crime Analysts, in 2010 Tempe had 57.5 serious crimes committed per 1,000 residents. That’s 22 points higher than Chandler, nearly 20 points higher than Mesa, and over 9 points higher than Phoenix.
Tempe has blamed Arizona State University and commuters for its crime rate. But could it really be tied more to drugs and organized crime than college kids?
In a 2009 Tribune letter to the editor, the Arizona Department of Public Safety estimated organized crime is believed to be responsible for 60 percent of serious crime in Arizona.
The 2011 DOJ National Gang Threat Assessment reported “Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions and much higher in others. Some jurisdictions in Arizona report that gangs are responsible for at least 90 percent of crime.”
Arizona street gangs have been linked to the Arizona Mexican Mafia prison gang that the feds have linked to the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Tempe’s La Victoria Locos street gang, one of Arizona’s oldest gangs, was identified in the 2003 DOJ National Gang Threat Assessment as “a primary retail distributor of heroin.” Police sources tell me the gang is still in business.
Following the Tempe police press conference, KTSP Channel 10 did a story, “Today’s Bust Proof Cartels Have Invaded Neighborhoods,” and interviewed retired U.S. Dept. of Justice special agent Neville Cramer. Cramer told Channel 10, “We’ve got thousands of people in this community that technically work for the cartel.”
Tempe police didn’t respond to requests for comments about their city having an organized crime problem.
Based on the most recent Tempe police press conference, hundreds of Sinaloa cartel-related arrests and the seizure of millions of dollars in drugs and cash during the last two years, one has to wonder if Tempe has become the metro Phoenix equivalent of Pinal County’s notorious Vekol Valley when it comes to drug activities involving the Sinaloa cartel? And why Tempe?
Organized crime is here and not just in Tempe and Pinal County.
The time has come for our elected and law enforcement leadership to admit organized crime is here, how extensive it is and then come up with a plan to defeat it before “El Chapo” Guzman is Arizona’s Number One shot caller instead of Governor Jan Brewer.
The longer Arizona waits to act, the deeper the Sinaloa drug cartel’s tentacles will go.
Retired Mesa master police officer Bill Richardson lives in the East Valley and can be reached at bill.richardson@cox.net.
KJDaVinci777 posted at 7:22 pm on Thu, Dec 29, 2011.
Bill, your article tells like it is...The Mexican Cartels have cells in most major metro areas. They like smaller cities that have limited resources at the local level. They (The Cartels) like it even more when you have a county law enforcement agency concentrating in profiling broken tail lights and harassing native Americans and latinos due to skin color. As you are aware, as long as Arizona has a demand for illicit drugs "Chapo" will bring it across, even if GED Brewer moves the great wall of China to the AZ-Mex. Border. Chapo likes the FACT that the focus from the Gov. on down is the number of dishwashers and landscapers are here w-o documents. Chapo has requested that more Joe Arpiojos be elected nationwide. Thatys why Chapo likes Arpiojo--no clue on organized crime or sex offenders including the ones working under his command. Tempe like most metro cities needs a multi-agency task force to focus on organized crime. This task force cannot include MCSO due to corruption practices. Arizona needs to focus on ORGANIZED crime starting with indictments against MCSO persons that have made a joke out of county law enforcement....OC in Arizona is well established and Chapo wants you all to concentrate on fences and broken tailights.
KJDaVinci777 posted at 7:47 pm on Thu, Dec 29, 2011.
bill: corrections on my comments: your article tells it like it is..."number of dishwashers and landscapers that are here w-o documents."...that is why Chapo likes ARPIOJO who has No CLUE ON organized crime or sex offenders...A true law enforcement leader would be fighting organized crime in Arizona, rather than having his picture taken w-Gov. Perry...who has been duped by Arpiojo...Perrys advisers had to be on something to seek an organized crime leader..HINT for Joe and his low-life followers: Organized crime comes in all colors - NOT JUST BROWN. joe if you were not a coward you would go after BROWN HEROIN instead of brown skins. FBI - where is the indictment...you cannot afford to cover this one up, like HOLDER IS TRYING W- fAST AND fURIOUS..
Leon Ceniceros posted at 11:18 pm on Thu, Dec 29, 2011.
EXCUSE ME....EXCUSE ME.......A LITTLE ..."REALITY CHECK HERE" !!!!!
Santa's Elves did not bring the....650 lbs of marijuana, 435 lbs of methamphetamines, 123 lbs of cocaine and 4.5 lbs of heroin across the Arizona-Mexico Border..........ILLEGAL MEXICAN ALIENS DID.
Enough with the Liberal-Progressive-Democrat...."Political Correctness" and lets put the blame where it belongs....not on the ...Tempe Police Department....but on the..........OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.
The Tempe Police Department does not have jurisdiction on the Border....the US Department of Homeland "In"-Security does....good old worthless...Janet "Nappy" Napolitano....a prime example of...."diversity hiring" ..run amok.
Oh, and another thing....I read the AZ Republic's article and it mentions something that ....."Assistance and support for the investigation were provided by the Ariizona Department of Public Service, the MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, the Phoenix Police Department, the Avondale Police Department and the Gila River Police Department"...............as Sgt. Joe Friday of the L.A.P.D. would always say....."the facts, Ma'am, just the facts".
KJDaVinci777 posted at 1:33 pm on Fri, Dec 30, 2011.
LionCisnerso: Your reality check just bounced...Bills article gives credit where credit is due, however what I said is basic commonsense ---here are your Joe Saturday facts...1) a new strike force is needed for Tempe if the problem is as bad as Bill describes it...without corrupt MCSO security guard wannabees...the MCSO corruption led by your subhuman hero is a danger to legitimate law enforcement. 2) The MCSO can help transfer prisoners as long as they do not interfere with task force duties...3) Ther have been more "documented ' citizens arrested for smuggling dope than your so-called "illegals" ...Call ICE and DEA and they will tell you that the brains behind dope distribution and smuggling is concentrated with American citizens of all color INCLUDING your favorite color" cafe"...4) Chapo Guzman loves people like you and Joe because you guys (arpiojo) concentrate on dishwashers and broken tail lights...and he wants you all including your "bright star" gov. to focus on the McCain fence while HE (Chapo) uses tunnels and aircraft.5) About the only fact you came up with is the "worthless" Nappy and White Horse (oops) House) administration. This O b u m m e r adm. is CLUELESS and the people you mentioned can best be described as Dumb and Dumbner...I believe you qualify to enroll at the UofA and than you can be Sgt. Friday instead of Sgt Monday. Perry would have cleaned up the border situation but now he is TARNISHED with Arpiao the Piojo...and Arpiojo will seal him out of the nomination...And I thought Perry was smarter than Brewha...Happy New Year to all that do not support Arizona corruption....[wink]
Rich posted at 5:23 pm on Fri, Dec 30, 2011.
Bill,
You are advocating the worst police force in the East Valley, get better? According to the people running for office we need a fake swimming pool in a fake lake to cure our ills. Get with the program. Police in Tempe exist to make sure we all mow our lawns. So long as we do, and they build their fake swimming pool in the fake lake, we'll be fine (with a slight tax increase).
Masterrogue666 posted at 7:08 pm on Fri, Dec 30, 2011.
Leon's QUITE CORRECT:
http://www.azcentral.com/video/1252407858001
It's clearly stated that multi jurisdictional task force. The CP blames the Federal Govt for not doing more to safe guard the border.
What's REALLY INTERESTING is that it all started because of a "SINGLE TRAFFIC STOP".....
Rich posted at 8:20 pm on Fri, Dec 30, 2011.
Mr 666,
The first recorded law outlawing of a drug, or at least the first we know about, was made by a Chinese warlord 2000 years before Christ. Basically 'fighting' drugs hasn't changed, though an Emperor named Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC) did start building a wall to handle the problem. Needless to say it failed, as so ably proven by Mr, Richardson above. Over 4000 years later we haven't solved the problems. You see when a government abrogates it's responsibilities for a societal and human problem by 'washing it's hands' and making a 'law' against it, it just saddles society with the problem and profiteers.
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:38 am on Tue, Jan 3, 2012.
I never said a "wall" would stop the drugs. But it sure will make it much harder to bring them into the country. A wall would only be one facet of protection/enforcement.
However, since you thing a wall's superfluous, what's YOUR recommendation to stemming the flow of ILLEGAL ALIENS, DRUGS, and I don't doubt Terriorists?
Heck, it's so easy to cross our southern border, Jamaican drug runners are starting/HAVE BEEN USING the "AZ corridor" to get through:
http://mcso.org/MultiMedia/PressRelease/Jamaican%20National%20Arrested.pdf
Here's another example of how easy it is to cross:
http://mcso.org/MultiMedia/PressRelease/Two%20smugglers%20apprehended.pdf
VofReason posted at 12:34 pm on Tue, Jan 3, 2012.
It all makes sense now. Illegal aliens aren't all the same. Dishwashers and drycleaners are just here to work and therefore ok being here illegally. Drug cartel runners and gangmember illegal aliens bad. Though it is a waste of time to pull them over and ask them for their correct documentation to find out if the are here illegally. Finally, there is no reason to close down the border, just get more resources to try to deal with them once they get here, without asking them for documentation becuase of the above. Thank you for clarifying
Masterrogue666 posted at 10:39 pm on Wed, Jan 4, 2012.
Taking a person's comment out of context doesn't prove anything expect that you can't think with enough clarity to express your own viewpoint....
x1134x posted at 12:04 pm on Thu, Jan 5, 2012.
Bill, even if you multiplied the seizures you cite by a factor of 10, it STILL wouldn't affect the price nor availability of drugs on the streets of Tempe by even 1%. The SCALE of seizures is overwhelmed by the SCALE of usage. The amount of drugs you cited get consumed DAILY in the Tempe area.
It doesn't matter if you seized 10 lbs of pot of 10,000. If you didn't reduce the price nor availability of the drug ON THE STREET, then you didn't do ANY good. All you did was saddle society with the costs to arrest, prosecute, convict, and incarcerate otherwise productive citizens. The problems of the drugs and usage are still there at 99.9% of their former rates.
It is time for people like you to GROW UP, and respect FACTS. The fact is that most people can use these "dangerous drugs" without every being detected. The FACT that alcohol prohibition's failed attempt proved is that you cannot enforce a prohibition under the 4th amendment. You can only engage the most brazen or encounter only the most negligent *1%*. The other 99% will continue to SUCCESSFULLY provide money to those willing to break the law to provide them with their freedom to exercise self-sovereignty. It is not the cartels that guarantee there will be someone to supply illegal drugs: it is the USERS. The users cannot be deterred by threat of unenforceable law. Alcohol prohibition's failure proves this. The solution is to separate RESPONSIBLE usage, from IRRESPONSIBLE usage. Just like we did with our alcohol laws. Notice how much the cartels make from selling illegal liquor? Nothing. There's not a large enough profit margin in it when american business can provide for the needs of the RESPONSIBLE users. The way to defeat the cartels is to bankrupting them. The only thing you need to do to bankrupt them is stop providing them with a product to sell and stop providing them with the artificial markup due to its illegality. You deal with the users either way. History proves this.
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:27 pm on Thu, Jan 5, 2012.
x1134x: Are you saying that because alchol is so readily available there are no problems because everyone is a "responsible" user?
Guess you never heard of drunk drivers.....
x1134x posted at 4:12 pm on Wed, Apr 11, 2012.
Masterrogue666: Guess you never studied alcohol prohibition. Drunk driving accidents went UP not down during prohibition. Youth drinking went UP not down during prohibition. Overall consumption of alcohol went UP not down during prohibition.
Separating the responsible users from irresponsible users in the eyes of the law doesn't get rid of the irresponisble people, but it at least stops wasting money and effort on the vast majority that *are* responsible, plus it sends all *their* alcohol money to GOOD law abiding citizens rather than criminal organizations. I like alcohol profits paying for Sea World and Busch Gardens much more than when it bought tommy-gunns for cartels.
The key thing to realize is that all the people you see arrested for misusing drugs would be arrested for misusing them even if they were legal for responsible usage, because the only reason they were caught in the first place is that they were negligent. The vast majority (over 99%) of drug users use their drugs SO RESPONSIBLY, that we'll NEVER catch them. The question to ask is, if they 're so responsible, why would we try? The ONLY problem they cause is their MONEY in aggregate fuels cartel activity, and there's NOTHING we can do to stop it, not even prohibiting possession of drugs outright. The intelligent thing to do is to focus the laws on the negligent and allow for LEGAL pathways for money to flow for the vast majority of responsible users as we have already done for alcohol.