Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jan 2017
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2017 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst
Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: John-Henry Perera

DEA MAPS SHOW WHERE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS HOLD SWAY IN TEXAS

An unclassified document from the Drug Enforcement  Agency shows the areas
of influence generated by  Mexico's major criminal organizations.

The "intelligence report," dated July 2015, includes three maps that
show the various DEA offices around the country and the cartel-related
cases they deal with; potential markets that drug cartels will exploit
due to population density; and heroin deaths by state.

In Texas, the many offices appear to have their time spent dealing
with cases involving the Sinaloa, Gulf, Juarez, the Knights Templar,
Beltran-Levya, Jalisco and the Zetas.

Looking at the areas of influence, the state is split into three
portions: the south and southeast belong to the Gulf Cartel, the north
and northeast belong to the Sinaloa, and a small slice of west Texas
is in Juarez hands.

Since July 2015, the Mexican Drug War wages on with new  atrocities being
reported almost every month, including  the discovery of hidden graves,
mutilated and  dismembered bodies and attacks on law enforcement officers.

The most notable incident happened on July 12 when Joaquin Guzman, leader
of the Sinaloa drug cartel, escaped a maximum security prison via a secret
tunnel in his cell. He was recaptured a year later following a joint
U.S.-Mexico operation.
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