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National Drug Intelligence Center |
The Midwest HIDTA region contains several primary drug market areas, including the Kansas City, Omaha, and St. Louis metropolitan areas, and a number of secondary markets, including Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Fargo/Grand Forks, Sioux City/Sioux Falls, Springfield, and Wichita. (See Figure 4 in Transportation section.) Individual market discussions are intended to augment the overall discussion of drug trafficking and abuse in the Midwest HIDTA region, highlighting localized trends and deviations. The general drug situation in the Midwest HIDTA region applies to an individual market unless otherwise stated.
The Kansas City metropolitan area includes Cass, Clay, Jackson, and Platte Counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas, and has a combined population of almost 1.6 million residents. Kansas City is located near the geographic center of the United States at the intersection of several of the nation's busiest highways (I-29, I-35, and I-70), making it a major transshipment point for illicit drugs and drug proceeds to, from, and between significant market areas in the West (Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas), the Midwest (Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska), and the East (Illinois, Michigan, New York).
The Kansas City metropolitan area is also a significant consumer market. Combating crack cocaine distribution and abuse consumes public resources in the inner city of Kansas City, while methamphetamine distribution and abuse are the major drug problems in outlying areas. African American crack distributors frequently obtain powder cocaine for conversion from Mexican and Hispanic midlevel dealers located in the northeast section of Kansas City, Missouri, and from Mexican wholesale and midlevel dealers in Kansas City, Kansas. Mexican wholesale and midlevel dealers typically are supplied by sources in the El Paso and Phoenix areas. Mexican wholesale and midlevel dealers typically distribute methamphetamine in outlying and suburban areas of the metropolitan area; most of the methamphetamine is Mexican ice methamphetamine.
Drug-related violent crime poses a problem in the Kansas City metropolitan area. African American and Hispanic street gangs are the primary perpetrators, and both rely on illicit drug distribution for revenue. African American gangs are dominant; while many of these gangs claim Bloods or Crips affiliation, they are local and tend to be loosely organized and based on neighborhood affiliations. Hispanic street gangs are increasing in number and are more organized and tied to nationally affiliated gangs such as Sureños and F-13. African American and Hispanic street gangs periodically clash with each other; most violence between them stems from personal animosities, not disputes over drug territories. Additionally, Hispanic gangs are increasing in number and size, and an ongoing rivalry between Sureños and other Hispanic gangs has resulted in frequent assaults and shootings of rival gang members.
The Omaha metropolitan area, which includes the city of Omaha, Douglas and Sarpy Counties in Nebraska, and Pottawattamie County in Iowa, is located on the eastern Nebraska border along the Missouri River and has a combined population of over 670,000 residents. Interstates 29 and 80 intersect in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is adjacent to Omaha, providing drug traffickers with easy access to the Kansas City metropolitan area and national drug markets in California and southwestern states. Omaha is a regional distribution center for illicit drugs--cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana are distributed from Omaha to neighboring states, including Iowa and South Dakota.
Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the principal transporters and wholesale distributors of most illicit drugs to the Omaha metropolitan area. These traffickers transport wholesale quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana to and through Omaha from distribution hubs in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, and numerous Southwest Region cities, including Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Mexican DTOs have supplanted dwindling supplies of locally produced methamphetamine with high-purity Mexican ice methamphetamine in Omaha and surrounding counties. In addition, Mexican DTOs maintain connections throughout many smaller Nebraska towns near Omaha, such as Fremont, Grand Island, Lexington, and Norfolk, where large numbers of Mexican nationals have sought employment in meatpacking and poultry processing plants. Mexican DTOs use their connections in these cities to smuggle illicit drugs into the Omaha metropolitan area.
African American and Hispanic street gangs control retail distribution in Omaha. Crack cocaine distribution has increased in Omaha since 2006. This increase is the combined result of local Bloods and Crips sets--some with drug connections in Los Angeles--recently increasing their distribution of crack cocaine, as well as an influx of African American street gang members from Chicago (notably Black Gangster Disciples), who distributed the drug on a large scale in 2006 and 2007. In addition, the Omaha Metro Drug Task Force reports that there was a notable increase in powder cocaine availability in the fourth quarter of 2007. Mara Salvatrucha (MS 13) is the fastest-growing Hispanic street gang in Omaha.
The St. Louis metropolitan area, which includes the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County, is located in east central Missouri along the Mississippi River and has a combined population of more than 1.3 million residents. St. Louis is a significant consumer market and also serves as a transshipment and distribution hub for Mexican traffickers who supply cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine throughout Missouri and to markets in other states, including Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. The convergence of Interstates 44, 55, 64, and 70 in St. Louis provides easy access for distributors to transport illicit drugs from the Southwest Border to St. Louis and markets outside the HIDTA region.
Mexican DTOs have increased their presence in St. Louis and are now the principal transporters and wholesale distributors of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana to the area. Mexican DTOs operating in St. Louis have not yet established the intricate drug distribution networks that other Mexican traffickers have created in market areas such as Kansas City and sometimes must cooperate with local drug traffickers to distribute their drugs, making them vulnerable to law enforcement exposure. Mexican DTOs in St. Louis have primary sources of supply in Phoenix and Tucson; they also acquire illicit drugs from sources in Chicago, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, and Los Angeles. Local law enforcement investigations also have discovered that Mexican traffickers operating in St. Louis frequently have connections in Chicago, Atlanta, Memphis, and New York City. African American street gangs (mostly Crips and Bloods sets) control nearly all retail drug distribution in the city of St. Louis, and African American independent dealers dominate retail distribution in St. Louis County (see Table 1 in Drug Trafficking Organizations section). Federal law enforcement officials report that the number of African American street gangs in St. Louis is growing and that this increase may be attributed to a recruiting drive among younger school students.
Heroin and crack distribution and abuse are major drug problems in St. Louis. In 2006 local law enforcement reported that white powder heroin had overtaken Mexican black tar heroin as the dominant type of heroin available in the market, but black tar heroin availability rose again in 2007. Investigations in St. Louis have revealed that Chicago is the source of supply for the majority of white powder and black tar heroin available and that Oakland and Sacramento, California, also serve as sources of supply for black tar heroin. Traditionally, St. Louis heroin distributors have been older (30s to 40s) local independent dealers; however, in 2007 the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department noted an increase of distributors in their teens. African American street gangs dominate crack distribution, converting most powder cocaine available in the city into crack. However, law enforcement reporting indicates that some dealers are believed to purchase limited quantities of powder cocaine (½ to 1 ounce) at a time, in an effort to avoid enhanced penalties for crack distribution.
Methamphetamine is rarely encountered in the city of St. Louis, but it is the primary drug problem in surrounding counties, including St. Louis County. Despite statewide pseudoephedrine control legislation, methamphetamine production remains relatively high in eastern Missouri and in the areas adjacent to St. Louis. (See Figure 3 in Production section.) According to law enforcement officials, laboratory operators in these locations travel to neighboring counties and states to purchase large amounts of precursor chemicals and return to the area to manufacture methamphetamine.
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