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Howard Abadinsky
ORGANIZED
CRIME
Eighth Edition
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CHAPTER
SIX
LATINO ORGANIZED CRIME
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• Colombian organizations control most of the
  worlds cocaine industry.
• Colombia is only South American country with both
  Pacific and Caribbean coastlines.
• Colombian traffickers exemplify citizens lack of
  belief in legitimacy of countrys institutions.
• Murder is frequent occurrence in Columbia
  methods are often sadistic
• Corte de corbatta Colombian necktie
• No dejar la semilla Dont leave the seed

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Until early 1970s, Colombians supplied cocaine
and marijuana to Cubans for import into the U.S.
In late 1960s, Colombian immigrants (many
illegal) flooded U.S., established communities in
major American cities. By 1976, highly organized
Colombian traffickers began executing Cubans in
Miami/New York. Then cocaine wars between
Colombian gangs began, bringing terror to South
Florida.
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Colombians propensity for violence let them
dominate rivals in cocaine business and face down
other OC groups (the Sicilian Mafia). Persuading
farmers to plant subsistence crops failed poor
roads prevented access to markets until the
1980swhen cartels enticed farmers to grow coca.
Weak federal presence in many regions is ideal
for coca cultivation/cocaine production only
local officials have to be bribed.
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THE POLITICS of DOPE In remote jungle areas,
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
guerillas protect crops and levy taxes on drug
business. In FARC controlled areas, economy is
built on coca coca paste serves as local
currency. Traffickers buy paste, make cocaine,
ship to the U.S. by the ton. FARC taxes the
trade. Paramilitary forces opposing FARC arent
trying to stop drug businessjust take over.
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Compartmentalization promotes efficiency and
security for major trafficking cartels. Distributi
on networks are fluid may set up for a single
shipment, or may function for 6 months to a
year. The sheer volume of transactions makes
cartels vulnerable to sophisticated law
enforcement efforts but infiltrating a
Colombian drug group is almost impossible.
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• The most notorious Colombian cartels were in
• Medellín
• Culture of violence makes its murder rate
• nine times that of New York City
• Founders included Pablo Escobar, the
• Ochoa clan, and Carlos Lehder-Rivas
• Cali
• A loose alliance of five trafficking groups
• headed up by Orejuela brothers and José
• Santacruz Londono
• U.S. headquarters in Elmhurst-Jackson
• Heights area of Queens, New York

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• Government success against Medellin and Cali
  cartels fragmented Colombian cocaine trade.
• This reduced traffickers efficiency, but makes
  it
• harder for law enforcement to combat them.
• DEA says Colombian traffickers will dominate
  international cocaine trade well into the
  twenty-first century because they
• control cocaine supply at its source
• control Caribbean smuggling routes
• dominate wholesale markets in eastern
• U.S. and Europe and
• are also aggressively increasing their share
• of the U.S. heroin market.

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• Mexican OC
• Flourishes in atmosphere of endemic corruption.
• In early 1990s, made deal with Colombians. As a
  result, Mexican OC now
• Controls most wholesale cocaine distribution
• throughout Western and Midwestern U.S.
• Launders money for Colombian clients.
• Delivers directly to wholesale-level clients
• on behalf of Colombian cocaine groups.
• Mexican OC has diversified into heroin, marijuana
  
• and, most recently, methamphetamine markets.

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Major Mexican trafficking groups include
The Amezcuas (Colima) Cartel
The Herrera Family The Sinaloa
Cartel The Gulf Cartel
The Tijuana Cartel The
Juarez Cartel The Sonora Cartel
Mexican OC also extensively involved in alien
smuggling, particularly young girls and women to
work in brothels.
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• DOMINICANS
• Dominican Republic is major transit point for
• U.S.-bound cocaine.
• Now seeing increased traffic in designer drugs,
• especially ecstasy.
• Center of Dominican wholesale crack cocaine
• trade is uptown Manhattans Washington
  Heights.
• Have developed reputation as reliable dealers .
  
• Avoid violence, compete on efficiency and
  price.
• Have come to dominate middle echelon between
• Colombians and the street dealers.

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THE MEXICAN MAFIA Prison gang found in at least
nine state systems. Reputedly, most powerful of
all prison-based organized crime groups. Attempts
to diminish gang power by transferring members to
other prisons helped spread influence. Have
attempted to organize Hispanic gangs on the
outside to confront black Los Angeles gangs for
control of drug trade. In 1998, twelve members
were convicted of RICO violations for directing
terror campaign from their prison cells to
control street gang drug trafficking.
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MARA SALVATRUCHA (MS-13 or Los Mara) Roots in El
Salvador. Strong, extremely violent presence in
Hispanic neighborhoods in D.C., New York,
L.A. Now following migrant Latino food processing
workers into more rural areas of U.S. Traffic in
methamphetamine and participate in large-scale
theft, chop shops, extortion.
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