Pubdate: Thu, 02 Oct 2003
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2003 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: Rick Jervis, Tribune staff reporter.

CARTELS LINKED TO GANGS IN SUBURBS

Cops Discover Big Stashes Of Cocaine

A recent spate of drug seizures in the Chicago area are only a sliver of a 
multimillion-dollar trade that has been expanding, especially throughout 
the western and southwestern suburbs, and fueling street gang violence in 
many communities, according to local federal agents and investigators.

Agents have long monitored Chicago as a trading post for Mexican drug 
cartels. But, over the last five years, investigators have increasingly 
turned their attention to suburbs such as Aurora, Addison, Elgin and 
Glendale Heights.

In Aurora recently, police officers were running down a routine, random tip 
when they stopped Luis and Aaron Ramirez in the brothers' mini-van. A 
search of the van and the brothers' Aurora homes led to the discovery of 
550 kilograms of cocaine, wrapped in duct tape and stashed in an attic and 
under floorboards, with an estimated street value of $61 million, 
authorities said.

It was the biggest drug bust in Aurora history, but it was just one in a 
two-week string of suburban seizures that included 312 kilograms of cocaine 
discovered in guacamole barrels in an Addison warehouse and 118 kilograms 
seized from the trunk of a car in Joliet. In all, 980 kilograms of cocaine 
were rounded up in 18 days in those suburbs.

"We're seeing more street gangs in the suburbs having direct contacts with 
these international drug cartels," said Pat O'Dea, a supervisor with the 
Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago. "That's what we're going after."

DEA, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents have teamed 
with local investigators in Aurora and elsewhere to set up stings and 
arrest drug traffickers with hopes that busts could lead them to Mexican 
cartel bosses. In the last three years, the stings have led to the arrests 
of more than 100 gang members and associates on federal charges of drug 
trafficking, weapons possession and other crimes.

In a yearlong sting in Aurora that ended in July, federal agents 
eavesdropped on the mobile phone conversations of members of a street gang 
as they made deals in code and paid off an alleged member of a Reynosa, 
Mexico, drug cartel living in Aurora. A federal indictment said the cartel 
representative "gathers as much as $2 million in cash, loads it into one or 
two vehicles and drives the money to Mexico."

To demonstrate the financial muscle of cartel-connected street gangs, 
agents asked a judge to set bond for one of the suspects at $500,000. The 
next day, a woman arrived at the jail carrying a backpack filled with 
$500,000 in cash, agents said. The cash was confiscated and the suspect 
stayed in jail.

"They're well-entrenched, they're loyal and they have a lot of cash," said 
Stephen Gomez, a supervisory special agent for the FBI in the western 
suburbs. "That amount of activity, occurring at that level, it's a little 
surprising for the suburbs."

Investigators said they have not connected the Ramirez brothers to local 
gangs or Mexican cartels.

The owner of a home on Columbia Street in Aurora who rented to Luis Ramirez 
said the brothers were from Durango, Mexico.

Federal investigators will be asking more questions soon. Less than a week 
after the arrests, DEA agents stepped in and opened an investigation into 
the Ramirez brothers, who remain in jail on $50 million bail each.

"If they're sitting on 500 kilograms of coke, they're likely going to be 
members of an organization," said Gilbert Gonzalez, a coordinator for the 
El Paso Intelligence Center, or EPIC, a DEA information clear-inghouse. 
"They may be lower members, like house sitters. If so, they're not going to 
be able to tell you much if they're arrested. But they are members trusted 
enough to be sitting on that amount of merchandise."

Aurora has been of particular interest to federal agents because of its 
size and increasing number of Latino residents and entrenched gangs, which 
have been active since the 1970s. The more Spanish-speaking residents in 
town, the likelier a Mexican cartel would be to send a representative, 
Gomez said.

Competition among gangs for drugs has spurred violence. Last year, Aurora 
had 25 homicides, pushing the murder rate--killings per 100,000--to more 
than four times the national average. So far this year, Aurora has had 13 
killings.

"What's really frightening is that the bullets don't seem to be within the 
same boundaries," said Al Signorelli, whose son, Jeff, 18, was shot and 
killed at a garage party with friends last year. "They're shooting everywhere."

Police said the shooting was likely gang-related, though Jeff Signorelli 
was not believed to be involved in gangs.

The bulk of the drugs reaching the Chicago area originates in Colombia and 
is transported to cities in Mexico, agents said. From there, the drugs are 
driven across Texas' western border, particularly the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso 
crossing, hidden in tractor trailers, SUVs or pickup trucks, and hauled to 
the Chicago area.

Federal agents said they hope markings on seized packages or information 
gleaned from those arrested in the suburbs could lead them back down 
Interstate Highway 55 to the Mexican cartels orchestrating the 
distribution. But the task is never simple, said David Cuthbertson, FBI 
assistant special agent in charge in Chicago.

"The challenge is the cartel leaders are Mexican citizens within the 
borders of Mexico," Cuthbertson said. "Mexico won't extradite its citizens. 
The major cartel leaders are under indictment in the U.S. But that's where 
it kind of stops." 
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MAP posted-by: Perry Stripling