Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) Copyright: 2013 The Oregonian Contact: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324 Author: Les Zaitz Series: Under the curse of cartels - An Oregonian Special Report Northwest Traffickers HOW THEY OPERATE Shipments: Big operators buy directly from cartels, others through wholesalers in border states such as Arizona and California. Drugs are smuggled into the U.S. in cars, trucks, planes and on individuals. Drugs are then taken to "stash houses" and divided into smaller loads. Sophisticated traffickers rarely keep drugs in their homes. Instead, they distribute from other houses and businesses to insulate themselves from prosecution. Drugs are driven north hidden in cars, freight trucks and in luggage on Mexican bus lines. Mexicans in the country illegally and desperate for cash often work as drivers. Avoiding detection: Traffickers hide drugs in custom-made compartments in vehicles, such as inside bumpers or airbag cavities. They try to foil drug-sniffing dogs by wrapping drugs in layers of plastic interspersed with diesel or other smelly compounds. They also try to overpower the distinctive smell with air fresheners or by stuffing vents with scented dryer sheets. Paying cartels: Cash is sent back to Mexico using the same compartments and routes as for drugs. Traffickers also use wire transfers, bank accounts and gift cards to move money. No one can estimate how much, but Oregon law enforcement officials reported seizing $4million from drug traffickers in 2011. Making deals: Traffickers orchestrate orders and deliveries with cellphones they frequently replace. They use crude code words such as "windows" for methamphetamine, "two girls" for 2ounces, "the girl with green eyes" for marijuana and "cows with horns" for patrol cars. Cash and credit: In a practice known as "fronting," a dealer can get drugs to sell, then pay a week or two later. Those who fail to pay face harsh retribution. Police suspect unpaid drug debts are behind unsolved homicides across Oregon. Those who skip out on a debt can put families back in Mexico in mortal danger. Gun running: Traffickers smuggle guns to Mexico for the cartels. In the past seven years, Mexican authorities have seized 800 guns traced back to Oregon. WHO THEY ARE Law enforcement officials are aware of 69 drug trafficking organizations, or DTOs, operating in Oregon. Here's a look at some previous operations they've taken down. Salem: Elias Espinoza Lopez flooded Oregon and Washington with cartel cocaine -- 200 kilos a month -- for nearly a decade before he was caught in 2003 and sent to prison for more than 12 years. Portland: Before her arrest and conviction in 2009 for selling cocaine and heroin, Mariana Franco-Maldonado wired $2,000 a week in 2008 to cover construction of what her mother called the "big, beautiful house" for extended family in Mexico, according to a federal prosecutor's sentencing memo. Beaverton: Isidro Garcia Juarez, known on the streets as Chilo, sold cocaine ordered from the Sinaloa cartel through La Pinata grocery in Beaverton. He was arrested in 2009 and later convicted. For a cut of the proceeds, he let others conduct deals at the store. Groceries became dusty as the store sold little food, instead becoming one of the most active drug marketplaces in Washington County, according to investigators. Gresham: Maria Delrosario Guzman took phone orders at her apartment and made deliveries in parking lots as undercover police watched in 2010. She was sentenced in 2011 to 7 1/2 years in prison. One of her customers, Victor Manuel Castillo, told in a recent prison interview how he started selling to friends and their acquaintances to support his own habit. He kept selling to one man even as it dawned on him that the man was an undercover cop. "I knew, I just knew, but the money was so good," Castillo said. Bend: Antonio Rico-Sanchez ran a meth ring out of Rico's Groceries, directing midlevel distributors to leave money in a food cooler at the back of the store. They would return later in the day to find the money replaced with their drug supply. Police took down the operation in 2011. Rico-Sanchez was sent to prison for 13 months. Eugene: Jorge Orozco, working with traffickers in California, operated a meth network with dealers in Bend, Madras, Redmond and Warm Springs. Police dismantled the operation and arrested him in December 2011. He pleaded guilty in April 2010 and awaits sentencing. Klamath County: Forty-seven people were indicted last month after 300 officers from local, state and federal agencies swept through homes and businesses to dismantle a drug and gun trafficking operation. The investigation began with the discovery of two suspected drug dealers found shot to death and buried outside tiny Bonanza. Portland: Three associates of the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's biggest, face sentencing in Portland after police busted their cocaine smuggling operation. HOW THEY AVOID POLICE Jamie Osegera-Gonzalez lived in Beaverton and sold meth and heroin supplied by the Los Zetas cartel, according to a federal affidavit. He returned to Mexico in 2010 as authorities closed in, and remains a fugitive wanted on federal charges. Back in 2007, he tried to recruit a Portland man -- an FBI informant -- and shared the tactics he developed after "many encounters with local law enforcement both in the United States and Mexico," according to the affidavit. * Deal only with those of Mexican descent. "Families in Mexico can be used as leverage to ensure payment or prevent customers from working as informants," Osegera-Gonzalez said, according to the affidavit. * Conduct deals after 5 p.m. and on weekends, when fewer police are on duty. * Use evasive driving -- abrupt U-turns, driving down dead-end streets, stopping in the middle of the road. * Loop through the neighborhood before going home to look for anything out of place. * Don't put your cellphone in your name, and change phones frequently. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom