Pubdate: Tue, 24 Mar 2009
Source: Ventura County Star (CA)
Copyright: 2009 The E.W. Scripps Co.
Contact:  http://www.venturacountystar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/479
Author: Adam Foxman

MEXICAN CARTELS SUPPLY MOST OF ILLEGAL STREET DRUGS IN VENTURA COUNTY

No Evidence Of Cartel Violence Spreading From Mexico To Ventura County

Mexican drug cartels are ultimately responsible for supplying most of 
the illegal street drugs in Ventura County, but the cartel violence 
raging along Mexico's northern border has not spread here, authorities said.

There's no intelligence to this point, no trends, no indicators that 
it's headed here," said Oxnard police Sgt. Bob Camarillo, a member of 
the Ventura County Combined Agency Team narcotics task force.

Nearly 6,300 people died in drug cartel violence last year in Mexico, 
and more than 1,000 have died so far this year, the Associated Press 
reported. Drug cartels also have been blamed for hundreds of recent 
kidnappings in Phoenix, and killings in Birmingham, Ala., Atlanta and 
Vancouver, according to the AP.

Law enforcement officials in Ventura County say they haven't seen an 
increase in violence or kidnappings related to the cartel warfare.

Drug violence is relatively common here, but it usually involves 
users who become violent while under the influence, or low-level 
dealers, Camarillo said.

We have not had any homicides I'm aware of that are attributed to a 
drug cartel," said Ryan Wright, lead prosecutor in the Ventura County 
District Attorney's Office's major narcotics division.

In Mexico, the violence stems from internal cartel conflicts, turf 
wars for smuggling routes and a crackdown against drug trafficking by 
the Mexican government, said Michael Sanders, a spokesman for the 
Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington. Sanders said he is not 
aware of any battles between cartel factions in the United States. 
The spike in drug violence in some U.S. cities is largely due to 
internal conflicts within factions, he said.

Still, traffickers linked to Mexican cartels dominate narcotics 
supply chains locally and nationwide.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations are the greatest organized 
crime threat in the United States, according to the Department of 
Justice's "National Drug Threat Assessment" report for 2009. Between 
January 2006 and April 2008, law enforcement agencies reported the 
presence of Mexican traffickers in 230 U.S. cities., including 
Oxnard, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center.

The drug trade in much of Southern California has been dominated by 
Mexican organizations for at least a decade, said Special Agent Sarah 
Pullen, a DEA spokeswoman in Los Angeles. Most of those organizations 
have ties to the cartels, Pullen said.

At least one Ventura County resident was among 781 people arrested 
across the United States during the DEA's "Operation Xcellerator," a 
21-month campaign targeting Mexico's Sinaloa cartel.

Fausto Elenes-Elenes, 31, of Oxnard was among 13 people named in a 
federal indictment describing an alleged conspiracy to smuggle 5 
kilograms of cocaine from Mexico to the United States in cars with 
secret compartments, according to authorities and court documents. He 
was scheduled to appear in federal court today to face felony charges 
of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or 
more of cocaine.

Ventura County Combined Agency Team investigators recently traced 
cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine found in Oxnard to Mexican 
suppliers, prosecutor Wright said. To illustrate, he displayed a 
large flow chart tracing links from local dealers to sources, some 
covered by Post-it notes due to the continuing investigation.

We are tracing the drugs directly from the Mexican border to Ventura 
County," Wright said.

Sgt. Dwayne Heath of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department's 
narcotics unit said almost all the marijuana-growing operations in 
the Los Padres National Forest are cartel-related.

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of methamphetamine in 
this area also comes from Mexico, Wright said.

Authorities suspect the violence south of the border is contributing 
to an increase in drug prices locally and across the nation.

 From January 2007 to the end of 2008, the price of cocaine increased 
89 percent nationwide, while methamphetamine prices went up 23 
percent, said Brittany Brown, another DEA spokeswoman. Meanwhile, the 
purity of both decreased, Brown said.

During the past two years, the local price of cocaine has gone from 
about $17,000 a kilogram to more than $20,000, Heath said. Meth has 
gone from about $12,000 a pound to more than $15,000, he said.

Wright believes the cartel violence also is making it more difficult 
for authorities to get information out of drug dealers arrested here. 
Many people involved in the drug trade here are Mexican nationals 
with families still in Mexico, and they might fear the cartels more 
than going to jail, he said.

Local police have had enough success targeting drug networks to 
create some temporary narcotics shortages, but they don't last 
because the demand remains high, authorities said. That same demand 
is fueling the violent competition for smuggling routes along the 
Mexican border, authorities say.

When you buy an 'eight-ball' on the street or a 'teener' or whatever 
. you are supporting the cartels," Wright said, using slang for 
one-eighth and one-16th ounce packages of narcotics. "That money is 
going directly to support that violence."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom