The charges surrounding Hurd are for intended distribution of cocaine to almost two dozen NFL players that apparently are being investigated by local Chicago police. This story could pose a major scandal for NFL owners and their top officials as the league assesses how to prevent these types of issues from affecting the game.

According to a recent article, Hurd was arrested last week on an alleged attempt to buy cocaine from an undercover agent. He was reported to have purchased around $700K in marijuana and cocaine.

Chicago authorities portray Hurd as one of the most prominent drug dealers in the Chicago area and say he was involved in roughly $2 million of drug business each month and aspired to do more. If the allegations pan out to be true, it would appear his primary occupation was as drug dealer and football was secondary.

Hurd will likely face a trial scheduled for next year and if convicted he will face somewhere between five and 40 years of prison time. His career is definitely in danger as he was waived just last Friday by the Chicago Bears. The NFL has had several scandals in recent years with Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress and now will be facing some troubling questions about their players who choose to engage in illegal activity.

This incident raises concerns as to how the Bears organization could not have known about this if Hurd was such a prominent drug dealer in the Chicago area.

The sophisticated international tunnel contains rail cart transport, air circulation and lighting systems and is the second tunnel to be discovered in the same area this month. In fact, the two tunnels are within one half-block of each other. At the Mexican end, users dropped almost one hundred feet into a cinderblock entry vestibule and landed on a wooden floor. Upon exiting in the US, the user would climb a staircase into a room full of pot, almost fifty feet under ground.

Authorities have yet to determine how long this most recent tunnel has been in operation for. However, an investigation into surrounding warehouses began this summer as a result of a tip gleaned after a drug bust in San Bernardino. During the investigation, US law enforcement officials tracked a truck from one of the San Diego warehouses to a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoint in Temecula; they seized almost 30,000 pounds of marijuana that had been packed into the back of the trailer.

In addition to the tunnel, authorities discovered over twenty tons of marijuana (three in an underground room and in the tunnel, four at a Mexican ranch and the rest in the tractor trailer); they believe that the tunnel and drugs belong to the “Sinaloa” cartel, headed by “El Chapo” Guzman. However, each tunnel was run by an independent faction within the larger cartel. Although the tunnel was a major find, US officials were able to arrest just three individuals connected with the scheme; Mexican officials did a bit better and nabbed five.

The most recent discovery is likely the most advanced tunnel discovered by authorities to date, given the reinforced entry and rail line. US law enforcement has uncovered over one hundred drug tunnels under our border with Mexico over the past twenty years, although most were unfinished. The tunnel discovered at the beginning of November netted over thirty tons of pot.

Due to the overwhelming number of warehouses in the southern San Diego area and, thus, the overwhelming number of possible active tunnel outlets, law enforcement officials have little chance of discovering them all. As a result, ICE has begun meeting with the owners of the warehouses in the area to warn about the dangers of leasing space to unknown tenants. However, what liability property owners have with regard to the tunnels, if any, remains to be seen.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that CVS pharmacies repeatedly failed to monitor sales of pseudophedrine, which indirectly helped meth traffickers obtain large amounts of the ingredient. Prosecutors said the sales led to a sharp increase in meth production in California.

The $75 million fine is the largest civil penalty ever paid under the Controlled Substances Act, according to the prosecutors. CVS also agreed to turn over $2.6 million in profits from illegal transactions.

U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. said this case shows what can happen when companies fail to properly follow their responsibilities. CVS was aware of the need to prevent sales of pseudophedrine for use in methamphetamine trafficking, but the company failed to take the necessary steps to control the sale of the regulated drug.

CVS admitted to the charges and agreed to a compliance agreement, so criminal charges will not be made against the pharmacy. The company said it will continue to cooperate with prosecutors on the case.

CVS CEO Thomas Ryan said that the lapse occurred in 2007 and 2008 and has been address, and that the company supports the federal government and states’ measures to prevent drug abuse.

Source: CNN, Blake Ellis, CVS to pay $77.6 million in meth case, October 14, 2010

Prosecutors charged Banton with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, as well as aiding others in possessing a firearm during cocaine distribution. In his defense, Banton claims that he asked the undercover cop about where he could buy cocaine just to impress him; the cop also enticed Banton with claims that he had connections in the extremely competitive music industry.

How the actual bust transpired is the stuff of fiction. Alexander Johnson, a former drug transporter for Colombian drug cartels, had been turned and was cooperating with law enforcement officers with efforts to disrupt drug trafficking rings. According to Johnson, he was sitting in his seat on a flight from Spain to Miami when Banton randomly sat down next to him and struck up a conversation. The well-known singer was initially curious as to whether Johnson recognized him; Johnson claimed that he did not. Eventually the conversation turned to drugs, with Banton boasting to Johnson about his involvement in a Venezuela to St. Martin drug ring. Banton claimed that his job was to transport money out of England.

By the end of the flight, the pair was exchanging digits and names, promising to meet to discuss drug running the next day. And meet they did. The pair met up at a Ft. Lauderdale restaurant where, recordings reveal, Banton questioned Johnson about his cocaine sources. Although Johnson told Banton he wasn’t a supplier, just a transporter, Banton insisted that Johnson supply him with cocaine. Defense attorneys for the singer claim that he really didn’t want to get involved in the drug trade and that the conversation was recorded after the men had been drinking.

About four months later the pair met again, this time at a restaurant in Sarasota. Banton introduced Johnson to a friend, and the group discussed trafficking five kilos (11 pounds) of cocaine. After the conversation, Johnson took Banton to a wired warehouse where the bust occurred.

US District Judge James Moody declared the mistrial when he determined that the twelve members of the jury would not be able to reach a verdict; he had already sent them back to the jury room once after receiving reports that they were hung.

Banton has been in jail since his arrest in December 2009. After the judge declared a mistrial, Banton’s criminal defense attorney immediately requested that the singer be released on bond.

By all accounts, Banton is truly a remarkable artist, having collaborated with Bussta Rhymes, Fat Joe and Ice Cube. In a bizarre twist, the singer’s new album was released the day after the case ended. However, Banton has also been the subject of controversy. Banton has used anti-gay lyrics in his songs since he was a young boy. In fact, his hit song “Boom Bye Bye” incites murdering gay men. After his arrest on drug charges, supporters of Banton claim that he was set up by members of the gay community.
 

More than 40 percent of marijuana coming into the United States is from Mexico. Marijuana is the Mexican drug cartels’ biggest and most lucrative export. The illicit marijuana trafficking is so enticing – representing $8.6 billion annually – that the two biggest Mexican drug cartels, the Sinaloa and the Juarez, are waging nonstop war over control of the Juarez/El Paso drug trafficking route. This has resulted in thousands of murders and kidnappings in the past couple of years, spiking most recently and involving innocent bystanders. Juarez today is the world’s murder capital – not an enviable accolade. More than 25,000 people have died as a result of the drug wars in Mexico since 2006 – another grim statistic. Most of these cases remain unsolved.

Kidnapping of relatives of rival drug gang members, tourists, wealthy Americans, government officials and members of the news media has become commonplace. Of cause for concern to the citizens and governor of Arizona is that Phoenix is now the second biggest murder capital in the world.

But it’s not just marijuana that accounts for the pervasive damage of drugs and crime. There’s also methamphetamine, another cash cow with Mexican origins. And heroin, black tar heroin, cocaine, street peddling of prescription drugs (painkillers, sedatives, tranquilizers) floods into the U.S. from countries around the world – all with ties to huge and well-funded drug trafficking organizations.

From the street peddler to the mules who carry vast quantities of illegal drugs into this country, to the area gang leader who controls his soldiers, to the kingpins back in their home country raking in the profits and continuing the cycle, drugs and crime are big business. Estimates of the annual value of the worldwide illicit drug trade put the number at $360 billion. And, make no mistake about it, this big business, when threatened, turns violent to the extreme.

The various attempts of war on drugs seems to temporarily thwart distribution and does result in vast quantities of drugs along with weapons caches being seized in raids. Usually the raids net a few low-level criminals, but there are occasional arrests of big-name cartel go-to bosses. Where one is taken down, another two or three quickly spring into action to take the place. The drug business continues unabated. Think of the reach of drugs and crime in society as a multi-tentacled beast devouring people and ruining lives, fostering decay and destruction everywhere in its path.

Relationship of Crime to Drugs

From the perspective of individuals in society, there are three different types of relationships between drugs and crime. These are drug-defined offenses, drug-related offenses, and drug-using lifestyle.

• Drug-defined offenses: By definition, these are violations of laws that prohibit or regulate the possession, use, distribution, or manufacture of illegal drugs. Examples include drug possession or use, marijuana cultivation, methamphetamine production, and sales of cocaine, heroin, or marijuana (among others).

• Drug-related offenses: These are offenses motivated by the user’s need for money to support continued use, offenses connected to drug distribution, and offenses to which a drug’s pharmacologic effects contribute. Examples include stealing to get money to buy drugs, violent behavior resulting from the effects of drugs, and violence against rival drug dealers.

• Drug-related lifestyle: This refers to a lifestyle in which the likelihood and frequency of involvement in illegal activity are increased due to the fact that individuals (drug users) may not participate in the legitimate economy and are exposed to situations encouraging crime. A drug-related lifestyle may include criminal skills learned from repeat offenders, opportunities to break the law because of contacts with criminals and illegal markets, and, in general, a life orientation with a focus on short-term goals supported by illegal activities.

Violent Crime and Drugs

Violent crime has always been associated with trafficking of drugs. The reasons for this association include: ongoing competition for drug customers and markets, disputes among those involved in the illegal drug market, and the tendency toward violence among individuals involved in drug trafficking.

In addition, the locations where drugs are available are often disadvantaged economically as well as socially, legal and social controls tend to be ineffective against such violence and crime, and the proliferation of lethal weapons makes drug-related violence more likely and deadly.

In addition to the drug charges he now faces in Mexico, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, also called “La Barbie” due to his blond hair and blue eyes, is facing charges in the United States for cocaine smuggling; it is alleged that Valdez is responsible for importing thousands of pounds of cocaine into the US. Mexican sources claim that federal police captured Valdez near Mexico City and that he is currently incarcerated at a secure location near the capital.

Valdez began his drug smuggling career in the Sinaloa Cartel, but left when one of the higher-level operators established his own drug trafficking ring. When the leader of the new cartel, Arturo Beltran Leyva, died in a conflict with members of Mexico’s military in late ’09, Valdez was elevated to a top position. Unfortunately for Valdez, the promotion has been disputed by both members of his own cartel and members of rival drug gangs. Hector Levya, the former leader’s brother, fought Valdez for control of the operation. This rivalry evolved into an all-out gang war, with tactics of beheading among the more heinous methods of killing. Valdez is also accused of killing rivals in other cartels, who once challenged his ascension by hanging and torturing members of Valdez’s cartel.

US prosecutors recently indicted Valdez in Atlanta on federal drug trafficking charges for activities that took place between 2004 and 2006. The government attorneys claimed that Valdez smuggled the drugs through Texas before delivering them to drug dealers in Atlanta. Atlanta currently stands as the center of drug trafficking in the south east of the US. Once the drugs were sold, however, the profits were returned to Mexico via the reverse route.

Valdez was born and raised in Laredo, Texas where he was a star football player. La Barbie is represented in the US by Houston criminal defense attorney Kent Schaffer, who indicated that his recent capture was not at all unexpected. Schaffer has expressed concern that Valdez will be tortured by Mexican authorities before he can be extradited back to America for his criminal trial. The lawyer’s concern for his client’s safety is growing, as he is currently unable to locate Valdez. However, US government sources are confident that La Barbie will be returned home unharmed given his notoriety – all eyes will be on Mexican law enforcement authorities and how they handle his incarceration and extradition proceedings.

Although Americans do not typically serve in the higher-level posts of Mexican drug cartels, La Barbie is not the only US citizen who has climbed this unique career ladder. Another Texan, Juan Garcia Abrego, ascended to the head of the Gulf Cartel in the 90’s, but was eventually extradited back to Houston to stand trial for drug smuggling crimes. He was convicted and is currently serving multiple life sentences.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7178804.html
 

In one USA Today article, multiple experts were quoted as suggesting this regime is either turning a blind eye or actually supporting traffickers directly. One Brookings Institution fellow noted that parts of the Venezuelan military are likely trafficking with drugs and other substances.

He did note that Chavez is helping to promote this activity by not cracking down on them. He lacks the necessary motivation as he needs the military. As a result, he is allowing them to dabble in the drug trade and reap the financial benefits.

Chavez has also been accusing officials in the United States and the United Nations for his alleged involvement in the trade. In fact, the UN released a report in late June that showed more than 40 percent of all shipments of cocaine to Europe were passing through Venezuela.

In a separate report produced by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an increasing flow of illicit narcotics were said to be flowing through Venezuela, which is posing significant challenges to the United States counternarcotics interdiction efforts. The report went on to claim that the country’s top military and government officials are involved in the trade.

The assumptions were intensified when Venezuela expelled American drug agents from the country in 2005. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials were kicked out when they were accused of spying, drug trafficking and conspiring to bring down the Chavez regime.
 

Americans are also big fans of buying things on the cheap, a practice that encourages global exploitation of low-wage workers and exportation of American jobs overseas (outsourcing). The American meth trade is a perfect example of a combination of these two elements, addiction and outsourcing. Over the past few decades, illicit meth use has been on the rise. Meth is an attractive drug of choice due to its affordability, especially in economically depressed areas in the South and Midwest of the United States.

Methamphetamine (“meth”) is a stimulant drug that increases alertness, concentration, and energy levels. Meth can even lead to feelings of euphoria, over-inflated self-esteem, and an increased sex drive. Because it acts on the reward systems in the brain by increasing dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels, meth is highly addictive. Although meth is approved by the FDA to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obesity under the brand names Adderall and Desoxyn, all other sources of meth come through illegal drug manufacturing.

Back in the day, before the Feds got smart, meth could be made by anyone with access to a drug store and a stove because common over-the-counter cold remedies provided an infinite source of the raw materials ephedra and pseudoephedra. In fact, meth can still be made at home, but on a much smaller scale than before. Due to the government’s recent strict regulation of medications that contain the building blocks for meth, US meth users have had to look to non-domestic sources of the drug.

Mexico picks up the slack in the US meth trade

Once the US federal government cracked down on meth manufacturing here, Mexico stepped in to fill the hole on the production end. With demand at similar or increased levels and a relative lack of competition, the US meth trade became a sure thing for Mexico’s drug lords. For the Mexican underworld, the US meth endeavor has been wildly successful. It is estimated that the drug trade in Mexico, for all substances, approaches $40 billion per year. While access to pseudoephedrine dried up in the US in the past five years, makers in Mexico have been able to smuggle the ingredient into Mexico from Asia.

One of the leading drug cartels in Mexico, La Familia, specializes in the manufacturing of meth, as well as the trafficking of the finished product from Mexico to the US. While drug cartels on the whole are not known to be peaceful organizations, La Familia is particularly violent. In the city of Zitzcuaro in western Michoacan, this fundamentalist Christian “family” of 1500 is lead by Nazario Moreno (“El Mas Loco”), who has written his own bible and schedules prayer meetings prior to work. The Craziest One is also a fan of beheadings; there have been twenty so far this year, including one federal police officer.

There is currently a $2.5 million price on Moreno’s head in Mexico. US President Barack Obama has specifically identified Moreno as a significant drug trafficker and threat to US interests. More alarmingly, this particular cartel has many Mexican officials and law enforcement officers on the payroll. While many drug lords use pay offs simply to ensure that officials will overlook illicit criminal activity, many officials owned by Moreno actually carry out assigned tasks. To the people living in the areas controlled by Moreno, he is seen as the Mexican version of Robin Hood, providing these poor communities with food and money generated from his meth business. La Familia owns as much as thirty percent of Mexico’s commercial businesses.

While the knowledge that “Loco” and his family are living just over the border in Mexico should be troubling enough, the fact that this cartel both manufactures and traffics the meth means that members of the family routinely end up in the US. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrested three hundred members in October 2009 alone. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) estimates that Mexico imports approximately $20 billion worth of meth into the US each year, with “La Familia” providing about half of that.

It is estimated that La Familia has over one thousand meth labs in Mexico and is known to produce extremely clean product, free from many of the impurities that make home grown meth in the US dangerous during both manufacturing and consumption. The high quality of the operation is, perhaps, explained by the fact that none of Moreno’s workers are permitted to use drugs; they are also prohibited from selling meth to other members of the community. Violating Loco’s rules can be dangerous – on the third strike, the offender is executed. Experts claim that the high quality of Loco’s meth is actually to blame for a recent increase in demand for meth in the US.

Combating such a powerful drug lord has been a serious problem for Mexico’s president. Calderon recently requested $1.5 billion in antidrug aid from the US government and has been encouraged to offer attractive alternatives to those who would otherwise join the gang. Those in the know, however, fear that it may be too late for the Mexican government to get in front of La Familia. As long as the demand for meth in the US exists, El Mas Loco and his family will be there to supply clean, quality product.

Source: Time Magazine – Mexico’s Meth Warriors
 

The family patriarch, Waldemar Lorenzana Lima, and his three sons, Eliu Lorenzana Cordon, Haroldo Lorenzana Cordon and Waldemar Lorenzana Cordon, have all been blacklisted by the Treasury as specially designated narcotics traffickers. As a result of this ban, no U.S. citizen or resident can legally conduct any transaction with them.

In a statement, the Treasury said that the Lorenzanas play a significant role in the facilitation of cocaine shipments between Colombia and Mexico. Reportedly, this family works with Mexico’s northwest Sinaloa cartel to traffic cocaine from Guatemala into the United States. By contrast, the family continues to maintain that its wealth is earned through legitimate businesses, such as agriculture and construction, not drugs.

"Treasury will continue to target Mexican drug cartels wherever they are operating," Adam Szubin, the head of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in the statement. "Today’s designation of Guatemalan drug traffickers from the Lorenzana family allied with the Sinaloa cartel allows us to open another battlefront against Mexican transnational drug trafficking organizations."

Outstanding arrest warrants exist for the four Lorenzanas and the Drug Enforcement Administration is offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Waldemar Lorenzana and as much as $200,000 for each of the three family sons.

Barrio Azteca gang members are heavily tattooed and have long operated across the border in El Paso. Much of their activity surrounds dealing drugs and stealing cars. Across the Rio Grande, however, the organization now specializes in contract killing for the Juarez drug cartel.

Law enforcement officers estimate members of Barrio Azteca may be involved in as many as half of the 2,660 killings in Juarez in the past year. In many cases, gang members locate targets, stalk them and finally strike in brazen ambushes that often involve multiple chase cars, coded radio communications, coordinated blocking maneuvers and disciplined firepower.

"Within their business of killing, they have surveillance people, intel people and shooters. They have a degree of specialization," said David Cuthbertson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s El Paso division, in the Washington Post. "They work day in and day out, with a list of people to kill, and they get proficient at it."

According to Juarez mayor, José Reyes Ferriz, the city is densely dotted with safe houses, armories and garages with stolen cars for the assassins’ use. Ferriz recently received a death threat in a note left beside a pig’s head in the city. Complicating the issue is that the gang works for the Juarez cartel, which includes an enforcement element composed of a number of former Juarez police officers.

"There has to be some form of training going on," said an anti-gang detective with the El Paso sheriff’s department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the nature of his work. "I don’t know who, and I don’t know where. But how else would you explain how they operate?"