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Drug Trafficking

Drug trafficking is the illegal production, distribution and sale of controlled substances. Drug trafficking organizations carry out these illegal activities and are a persistent and evolving criminal threat and of significant concern to federal, state and local authorities in the United States.

According to the National Drug Threat Assessment 2009, from the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), and, to a lesser extent, Asian DTOs, are the leading DTOs operating in the United States.

Extent of the Threat - Summary of Findings

Mexican DTOs are the greatest drug trafficking threat to the U.S. since they control most of the U.S. drug market, have established drug trafficking transportation routes, advanced communications capabilities, and strong ties with gangs in the United States.

• Mexican DTOs generate billions of dollars in illicit drug proceeds annually.

• Law enforcement reporting indicates that Mexican DTOs maintain drug distribution networks or supply drugs to distributors in more than 230 U.S. cities.

• Multi-ton quantities of drugs are funneled into this country each year using maritime, air, and overland conveyances.

• Several Mexican DTOs use U.S.-based gangs to smuggle and distribute drugs, collect drug proceeds, and act as enforcers.

• Mexican cartels, including Sinaloa, Gulf, Juarez, and Tijuana, maintain working relationships with many street gangs. This helps insulate the cartels from the reach of law enforcement officials.

Asian DTOs control a major portion of the wholesale- and retail-level distribution of high-potency marijuana and MDMA (ecstasy) in many U.S. drug markets.

Among the DTOs and criminal organizations involved in national level wholesale drug trafficking are the Italian criminal organizations, and the Columbian, Cuban, and Dominican DTOs. According to the NDIC, these groups pose a considerable domestic threat, although not to the extent of the Mexican and Asian DTOs.

• Columbian DTOs distributed illicit drugs – primarily cocaine and heroin – in at least 40 U.S. cities. According to law enforcement officials, Columbian DTOs were once heavily involved in the wholesale transportation and distribution of cocaine. However, they have relinquished that role to the Mexican and Dominican DTOs, while still retaining their role in trafficking. Thus, they minimize exposure to law enforcement while maximizing drug profits.

• Cuban DTOs are expanding their cultivation of indoor and outdoor cannabis. Foreign-based and U.S.-based Cuban DTOs have been identified as distributors of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine by law enforcement officials in at least 25 cities in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Some U.S.-based Cuban DTOs maintain close affiliation to drug traffickers in Cuba, Peru, Venezuela and Columbia.

• Dominican DTOs distribute large quantities of cocaine and heroin in many U.S. drug markets, particularly New York/New Jersey, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic Regions. Law enforcement reporting shows U.S-based and foreign-based Dominican DTOs identified in at least 54 cities in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

• Italian criminal organizations traditionally involved in drug trafficking include La Cosa Nostra (primarily involved in New York/New Jersey and New England, although members are active in at least 19 cities in 13 states), and other Italian organized crime (IOC) groups such as the Sicilian Mafia, ‘Ndrangheta, Camorra, and Sacra Corona Unita (United Sacred Crown), which operate in at least 19 states.

--Suzannekane 20:55, 31 March 2010 (UTC)