Juarez and Sinaloa in Colorado

[lindy]

http://www.krdo.com/news/29639105/detail.html

DENVER, Colo. -- The U.S. Department of Justice says two Mexican cartels are active in five Colorado cities.

A report by the agency's National Drug Intelligence Center says the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels are operating in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, and Longmont.

According to KUSA-TV, police are worried that violence between gangs in Mexico will spread to Colorado.

[tonyz]

I just read the article below last night and it might add to your discussion.

How Corruption Affects National Security of the United States
by Eduardo Salcedo-Albaran and Luis Jorge Garay

Small Wars Journal
Journal Article | October 6, 2011 - 3:35pm

http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art...-united-states

Excerpt:

In fact, intelligence reports provided by the U.S. Department of Justice point out that Mexican TCNs such as Los Zetas, El Cartel de Sinaloa, El Cartel de Juarez and La Familia Michoacana operate in over 1200 cities of the U.S.[xi] Also, on the Arizona/Mexico border and the Texas/Mexico border there has been intense heroin-trafficking activity. Specifically, the amount of heroin seized in the Southwest border has increased between 2007 and 2010 as follows: 358 Kilos, 496 Kilos, 737 Kilos and 935 Kilos.[xii] Therefore, as result of the increase in heroin production by Mexican TCNs, combined with an increase in the transportation of South American heroin by Mexican TCNs, availability has increased in the States of Illinois, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. All this is the result of Mexican TCNs today producing and/or transporting the second largest amount of heroin in the world, behind Afghanistan.[xiii]

[Intel Cop]

We have to deal with the Zetas in my precinct.

Currently, they operate in small groups (usually 3), and the guys on the street are extremely low-level "expendables".

Colorado has the I-25 corridor with is a perfect drug highway. I feel for the cops out there and the citizens who have to deal with drug gang violence.

Be safe to all who live there!

[tonyz]

Mexico summary on pages 7-8.

The entire document might be worth at least a quick skim.

NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
National
Drug Threat
Assessment
2011

http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs44/44849/44849p.pdf

[BigJimCalhoun]

Originally Posted by Intel Cop

Colorado has the I-25 corridor with is a perfect drug highway.
Be safe to all who live there!

I can see that highway from my front door......

I am not sure how many gangs are in my town but the last I checked, Colorado had 14,000 known gang members

Some more info here.
http://gangsorus.com/united_states_gangs.html

[TOMAHAWK9521]

I recall hearing something similar a couple years ago. The bastards seem like they are just about everywhere.

Greeley is another hotbed of gang activity. However, the Mexican gang-bangers are not the only problem in that town. Mexican gangs are feeling pressure from the growing Somali gangs. To paraphrase my friends in LEO, it is like introducing a foreign species into a new environment. With no natural predators/enemies to keep it in check it will thrive. Compared to what a Somali would face back home for committing crimes, it's pretty much open season over here.

Too bad we can't have the ROE like they had in "Tombstone". "I see a cowboy with a red bandana, I kill the man wearing it." I know this is screwed up but If we could just go "Old West" and start smoking the gang bangers displaying their gang tats/markings, no matter what affiliation,and it might cause them a little discontent.

[GratefulCitizen]

There was an execution-style shooting in the Taco Bell in Grand Junction last summer which may have been gang related.

Moved away from there 11 years ago.
Back then, there wasn't any notable Mexican gang activity.

I-70 serves as a major drug corridor, and there was certainly a meth problem.
A caucasian biker gang known as the "High Plains Drifters" supposedly controlled much of the trafficking.

All the other "gangstas" appeared just to be wannabes, but they still caused some problems.

Had one such group come in during an "underage night" at the club where I worked.
They behaved while inside, but subsequently shot a kid I bounced earlier in the night when words were exchanged across the street.

The kid hopped in his car and his girlfriend drove him to the hospital a few blocks away, but he bled out from a neck wound on the way.
The shooter and his crew gave chase and shot at them while pursuing.

The driver beat a charge of accessory to murder.

Plenty of other drug-related violence was commonplace in the area, but it never appeared to be gang-related.
Haven't heard of any gang issues from friends and family who still live there.

[mojaveman]

Originally Posted by TOMAHAWK9521

Too bad we can't have the ROE like they had in "Tombstone". "I see a cowboy with a red bandana, I kill the man wearing it." I know this is screwed up but If we could just go "Old West" and start smoking the gang bangers displaying their gang tats/markings, no matter what affiliation,and it might cause them a little discontent.

Better yet - Operation Phoenix.

[Intel Cop]

Originally Posted by GratefulCitizen

Plenty of other drug-related violence was commonplace in the area, but it never appeared to be gang-related.

Most drug activity comes back to gangs in some way if you dig deep enough.

[BigJimCalhoun]

Originally Posted by Intel Cop

Most drug activity comes back to gangs in some way if you dig deep enough.

The gangsOrUs site I referenced above stated that, "if you have drugs in your community, you have gangs"