Mexican drug cartel

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ICE Busts Hundreds in 168-City Gang Sweep

Half of those nabbed in multi-city raids have Mexican cartel links

(Newser) - A vast multi-city gang sweep shows the extent to which Mexican drug cartels have penetrated American cities—and, say federal officials, the extent to which the government is willing to go to take them down. Some 678 gang members, including 421 nationals, were busted in 168 cities during Project Southern...

Mexico: Cartel Goofed When Suspects Killed US Agent

Agents' SUV mistook for vehicle of rival gang

(Newser) - The Feb. 15 killing of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was a case of mistaken identity, a suspect told soldiers. Julian Zapata Espinoza and five other suspected members of the Zetas drug gang were captured during an army raid yesterday, and the army says the Zetas gunmen thought...

Alleged Cartel Hit Men on Trial in California

Tijuana drug boss ordered killings in US

(Newser) - Three men are on trial in San Diego for what a prosecutor calls "another glaring example of cross-border violence." The trio are accused of plotting to murder a California family on the orders of Tijuana drug barons, the AP reports. Prosecutors say the men were offered $25,000...

53 Killed in 72 Hours in Ciudad Juarez

City has seen 8 deaths per day this year

(Newser) - The number is a hefty one even for the crime-ridden town of Ciudad Juarez: 53 dead in one of the deadliest 72-hour periods the Mexican city has recently seen. Police tell CNN that 14 were killed on Thursday; 20 on Friday; and 19 on Saturday, including a police officer shot...

US Gun Laws Hand AK-47s to Mexican Drug Lords

Loophole lets Romanian assault weapons into the country

(Newser) - It’s supposedly illegal to import semiautomatic weapons that don’t have a “sporting purpose” into the US. Yet Mexican drug cartels are buying hundreds of Romanian AK-47s legally here in the US of A, a Center for Public Integrity investigation finds. Mexico’s strict gun control laws have...

Arizona Busts Gun-Running Ring

20 indicted for buying 700 guns, planning to smuggle them to Mexican gangs

(Newser) - Twenty Phoenix-area men were indicted yesterday on charges of buying more than 700 guns—including AK-47 assault rifles—and conspiring to smuggle them to Mexican drug gangs. The accused acted as "straw purchasers," claiming that the weapons they bought were for their own use, when in fact they...

Mexican Cartel Claims to Have Retired

La Familia dissolved, banners say

(Newser) - Banners have appeared in the heartland of Mexico's La Familia drug cartel claiming that the criminal organization has been dissolved but authorities are understandably skeptical. The cartel, one of Mexico's most brutal, declared a month-long truce earlier this month and authorities believe that it is weakened and in disarray but...

Vicente Fox: It's Time to Legalize Drugs

Mexico's former president says prohibition isn't working

(Newser) - When he was president, Vicente Fox was a huge proponent of Mexico’s war on drugs. But with his nation reeling from the drug-related violence that claimed 12,000 lives last year alone, Fox has done a 180. He now believes production, transit, and distribution of narcotics—and not just...

13 Killed, 14 Decapitated in Hours in Acapulco

Wave of violence sweeps tourist mecca

(Newser) - This won't exactly help tourism: Acapulco, once known more for its white sand than its white powder, began its weekend with 27 drug cartel-related murders in a matter of hours. Police found 14 decapitated men, along with a 15th corpse, in a shopping center alongside handwritten warnings from a Sinaloa...

Top Mexican Drug Cartel Calls Truce ... for One Month

La Familia claims break will prove it's not as bad as reports indicate

(Newser) - When it comes to Mexican drug cartels, members of La Familia are apparently the good guys. A one-month truce in the western state of Michoacan was announced yesterday in a letter supposedly signed by the gang. In the message, circulated through email and distributed door-to-door in some cities, the cartel...

Texas Top Seller of US Guns Traced to Mexico
Texas Top Seller of US Guns
Traced to Mexico
investigation

Texas Top Seller of US Guns Traced to Mexico

Washington Post probe reveals leading dealers

(Newser) - More US guns seized in Mexican drug violence come from Texas than any other state—and more come from Houston than any other Texas city, the Washington Post finds after a year-long investigation. The probe isolated the top 12 US dealers of guns traced to Mexico, and uncovered the biggest:...

Mexico Sending More Troops to Violent Border Zone

Cartel boss Carlos Montemayor busted

(Newser) - Mexico says it is deploying extra troops and federal police to reassert its authority in two states bordering the US. Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon have become a battleground for the Gulf and Zetas cartels, and cities like Monterrey, once considered relatively safe, have seen a huge surge in violence. The...

Mexican Drug Honcho Killed in Shootout

Fed sting in border town yields top prize

(Newser) - Shots rang out for hours in a pitched gun battle between Mexico's military and a drug cartel, and when the dust cleared, a key drug kingpin, Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, or "Tony the Storm," lay dead along with four cronies and three marines. Cardenas, 48, is one of...

Drug Bust Uncovers 1,800-Foot Tunnel

25-ton seizure is one of the largest in San Diego history

(Newser) - US officials seized more than 25 tons of marijuana from drug warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana after finding a 1,800-foot tunnel linking the two. The lighted, ventilated tunnel—which is about six football fields long—was discovered after officials found 10 tons of marijuana in a suspicious tractor-trailer,...

Mexican Police Force Quits After Cartel Attack

Town's entire force flees as gunmen attack new station

(Newser) - The entire police force of a small Mexican town rapidly decided police work wasn't for them after cartel gunmen attacked their new headquarters. All 15 members of the force in Los Ramones, on the outskirts of Monterrey, resigned and fled in terror as gunmen attacked the building—inaugurated just three...

15 Killed in Mexico Car Wash Massacre
 15 Killed in Car Wash Massacre 

15 Killed in Car Wash Massacre

Most victims were drug rehab center clients

(Newser) - Suspected drug cartel gunmen opened fire at a car wash in Tepic, western Mexico, killing 15 people in the violence-wracked nation's third massacre in less than a week. Ten of the victims are believed to have been clients of a drug treatment center, the New York Times reports. Thirteen people...

105-Ton Pot Cache Seized in Mexico

Tijuana raids net huge stash, some in Homer Simpson packaging

(Newser) - Mexican authorities have made the biggest marijuana bust in years. Some 10,000 packages of pot weighing a total of 105 tonssome of it wrapped in Homer Simpson packagingwere seized in pre-dawn raids in Tijuana, the BBC reports. Gangs had been planning to smuggle the dope into the...

Gunmen in Acapulco Kidnap 22 Men

Resort city has been plagued by drug violence

(Newser) - Gunmen kidnapped 22 men who were traveling together in Mexico's Pacific coast resort city of Acapulco, authorities said today. The group was visiting from the western city of Morelia and looking for a place to stay when they were abducted Thursday. Witnesses said the men, ranging in age 17 to...

Mexican Mayor Stoned to Death
 Mexican Mayor Stoned to Death 

Mexican Mayor Stoned to Death

Latest casualty in violence-plagued town

(Newser) - Mexico's drug violence grows seemingly more brutal with each headline: This time, two small-town politicians were found stoned to death in Michoacan, a western state mired in the country's drug war. Mayor Gustavo Sanchez and city adviser Rafael Equihua, who served in 26,000-strong city of Tancitaro, were found in...

US Grants Asylum to Mexican Journalist

Jorge Luis Aguirre got death threat in 2008

(Newser) - A Mexican journalist who was the target of death threats like those made by drug cartels says he has been granted asylum in the US in a case believed to be the first of its kind since the country's bloody drug war began. Death threats are at the heart of...

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