Pubdate: Tue, 26 May 2009
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/letters/sendletter.html
Website: http://www.ajc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Andria Simmons, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

QUIET ATLANTA SUBURBS DRAW DRUG CARTELS

The man who lived on a quiet cul-de-sac in Forsyth County appeared to 
be an ordinary guy.

He ran a small fencing company. His grade-school-aged children played 
with others in the subdivision. His lifestyle was simple and unassuming.

Neighbors in the Whisper Walk subdivision in Cumming had no idea that 
Paul Longoria was using his business as a front for cocaine 
trafficking until authorities arrested him in 2007. He was sentenced 
to 12 years in prison on felony drug charges a year later in federal court.

"We were shocked," said Kevin Hopkins, who lives two doors down from 
Longoria's former home. "He was a real quiet guy."

Suburban Atlanta may not be so quiet anymore. Federal authorities say 
the footprint of operations for Mexican cartels is expanding beyond 
the city and its immediate suburbs into outlying rural counties and 
even areas of North Carolina.

Last year, the Office of National Drug Control Policy labeled Barrow, 
Bartow, Cherokee, Clayton, Douglas, Fayette and Forsyth counties as 
high-intensity drug trafficking areas. That designation allows the 
counties to receive federal grant money and training to combat the problem.

Capt. Paul Taylor, commander of criminal investigations for the 
Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, said the discovery of Paul 
Longoria's drug smuggling operation in Cumming was an eye-opener.

"When we saw that -- in that quantity, involving that much money -- 
it kind of opened a new door there," Taylor said. "It was something 
we had not seen before."

Sheriff Roger Garrison of Cherokee County said he is seeing the same 
trends in his area, particularly along the southwest border of 
Cherokee, where there has been a rise in drug-related home invasions.

"One of the most alarming trends of the last 12 to 18 months is the 
amount of violence involved with these primarily Hispanic gangs that 
are moving some pretty major amounts of drugs," Garrison said.

The Mexican cartels responsible for transporting 99 percent of 
illicit drugs into the United States are "studiously low-key," said 
Jack Killorin, director of the Atlanta High Intensity Drug 
Trafficking Area task force.

"They are trying not to interact in the communities in a way which 
draws attention," Killorin said.

Those methods are in stark contrast to the high-profile "Miami Vice" 
days. Mexican drug traders do not live in fancy houses or terrorize 
the community at large. Most are recruited from Mexico and still live 
in Mexico. Very little of their profits are even spent in the United 
States, Killorin said.

Killorin said Mexican drug trafficking organizations are running an 
estimated $28.5 billion-a-year business, and yet the U.S. government 
only intercepts about $1 billion of it.

Last year, the Atlanta division of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration intercepted about $70 million of the drug lords' cash, 
more than any other region in the country.

Chuvalo Truesdell, a spokesman for the DEA, said Atlanta is primarily 
a "cocaine town," but Mexican cartels also deal in marijuana, 
methamphetamine and black tar heroin here. They often rent houses in 
middle-class neighborhoods to conduct their illegal activities, and 
owners and neighbors are clueless, Truesdell said.

Drug trafficking organizations, especially the Sinaloa and Gulf 
cartels, use Atlanta as a distribution hub because it sits astride 
major interstates, Killorin said.

An international airport, extensive rail system and proximity to the 
port in Savannah are key to moving shipments throughout the eastern 
United States.

Metro Atlanta's core counties of Gwinnett, DeKalb, Cobb and Fulton 
were labeled high-intensity drug-trafficking areas several years ago.

Experts say Gwinnett is an epicenter of trafficking. Gwinnett police 
seized record amounts of drugs in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Cartel operatives find it easier to "hide in plain sight" among the 
county's large Hispanic immigrant population, Killorin said.

About 17 percent of the county's 776,000 people are Hispanic, 
according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Last month, local police and federal agents raided 10 locations the 
Gulf cartel allegedly used to warehouse drugs and money in Gwinnett. 
Seventeen suspected members of the Gulf cartel were arrested as a 
result of the investigation, dubbed Operation Grand Finale.

Average citizens in the United States have been largely untouched by 
cartel violence and thefts, although there have been instances of 
kidnappings and killings within the drug smugglers' ranks, said 
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter.

"At this point we're not seeing the type of street warfare they are 
seeing in Mexico, where citizens are endangered," said Porter.

What has members of the federal narcotics task force worried is that 
instability within cartels could result in more violence.

In March 2008, federal authorities say cartel operatives were behind 
a home invasion robbery at an apartment complex off Beaver Ruin Road 
near Norcross.

Two men suspected of drug involvement were shot and wounded in that incident.

Twenty high-powered assault rifles were seized from suspected Gulf 
cartel members during Operation Grand Finale last month.

"If they wanted to have impact on the community, they would have a 
dreadful impact in the community," Killorin said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake