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U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
North Texas HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
June 2010
Mexican DTOs dominate drug trafficking throughout the North Texas HIDTA region. These criminal organizations have sophisticated command-and-control centers in Mexico and in the HIDTA region. Major Mexican DTOs associated with the Sinaloa Cartel, the Juárez Cartel, La Familia Michoacana (La Familia), and Los Zetas are active throughout the North Texas HIDTA region, and Mexican DTOs associated with the Gulf Cartel are active in the Texas counties of the HIDTA region. North Texas HIDTA initiatives in 2009 investigated 67 DTOs and 5 money laundering organizations (MLOs) that were operating within the HIDTA region. Members of the majority of the DTOs and MLOs were primarily of Hispanic ethnicity. Fifty of the DTOs were polydrug traffickers, most often distributing cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine in the HIDTA region. (See Table 3.)
Table 3. Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Organizations Operating in the North Texas HIDTA Region, 2009
| Scope of Organization | Number of Organizations | Ethnicity/Nationality of Organizations |
Size of Organizations | Drugs Trafficked | Counties Areas of Operation |
Drug Source Areas | Drug Destinations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drug | Money Laundering | Total | |||||||
| International | 27 | 3 | 30 | African American, Albanian, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, Mexican |
5 to 35 members | Cocaine, marijuana, MDMA, methamphetamine |
Oklahoma: Cleveland, Muskogee, Oklahoma, Tulsa Texas: Collin, Dallas, North Texas, Tarrant |
Canada (including British Columbia), Colombia, Mexico (including Michoacán de Ocampo), United States (Northern California, San Francisco), Vietnam, unknown source areas |
Texas (Dallas), unknown destinations |
| Multistate | 15 | 2 | 17 | African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Mexican American |
5 to 20 members | Cocaine, marijuana, MDMA, methamphetamine |
Oklahoma: Cleveland, Oklahoma, Tulsa Texas: Dallas, Denton, Gregg, Smith |
Mexico (including Chihuahua), United States (Arizona, California, Texas) |
Unknown destinations |
| Local | 25 | 0 | 25 | African American, Caucasian, Cuban, Hispanic, Mexican American |
5 to 30 members | Cocaine, heroin, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), marijuana, methamphetamine |
Oklahoma: Cleveland, Oklahoma Texas: Dallas, Denton, Gregg, Smith |
Mexico (including Hidalgo), United States (Oklahoma, Texas) |
Texas (Smith), unknown destinations |
Source: North Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
|
North Texas: A Major Focus in Project Coronado Operation In October 2009, a law enforcement effort led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) resulted in the arrests of more than 300 individuals in 19 states as part of Project Coronado, a multijurisdictional investigation that targeted methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking cells associated with La Familia Michoacana (La Familia). La Familia is a significant Mexican DTO operating in the North Texas HIDTA region, notably the Dallas/Fort Worth area. La Familia's organizational components in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth area are highly structured, well-organized, and primarily responsible for the majority of ice methamphetamine and significant amounts of marijuana trafficked in the North Texas area. Some cell members who work for the DTO use members of the Tango Blast1 prison clique and the Mexican Mafia prison gang for enforcement, protection, and the transportation of illicit drugs. Arrests in conjunction with Project Coronado in the North Texas HIDTA region occurred in the Dallas/Fort Worth (84) and Tulsa (8) areas. The Dallas/Fort Worth area served as a critical distribution hub for La Familia and a transshipment point for drug shipments to other U.S. cities in states such as Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, and Mississippi. Cell members received drug shipments, used stash houses to store the drugs and cash proceeds, and acted as intermediaries and brokers to negotiate the acquisition, price, delivery, and payment for the drugs. They used vehicles to transport the bulk currency to supply sources in Michoacán, Mexico, secreting the funds in false compartments, gas tanks, or other containers in vehicles. Project Coronado also resulted in the arrests of individuals engaged in firearms smuggling for La Familia. Source: U.S. Department of Justice. |
1. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice Correctional Institutions Division reports that Tango Blast is a prison clique--a group of offenders who have little or no structure, with vague or few, if any, rules--who are involved in illegal activity. Generally, these groups are formed along racial or geographic lines. Their underlying motive typically is to control their environment. In some instances, prison cliques evolve into street or prison gangs.
Gangs in the North Texas HIDTA region are involved at varying levels in drug trafficking and related criminal activities, such as assaults, home invasions, burglaries, and weapons trafficking. Many of the most active gangs in the HIDTA region are Hispanic street and prison gangs. (See Table 4.) Some of these gangs are transnational and have foreign-born members who engage in criminal activity on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Transnational gang members generally maintain criminal connections in their native countries and may have some of their criminal activities planned, directed, and controlled by gang leaders in those countries. (See text box.) Members of certain gangs, including outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs), engage in weapons smuggling. For example, law enforcement officers in the Dallas area report that members of Bandidos OMG move guns from Dallas into Mexico.
Table 4. Active Hispanic Gangs in the Major Drug Markets of the North Texas HIDTA Region, 2009
| City | Gang | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas | Eastside Homeboys | Street |
| Latin Kings | Street | |
| Mexicles | Prison | |
| Mexikanemi | Prison | |
| Tango Blast | Prison clique/Street | |
| Texas Syndicate | Prison | |
| Varrio North Side (VNS) | Street | |
| West Side Gator Boys | Street | |
| Fort Worth | 28th Street | Street |
| Fantasmas | Street | |
| Sur-13 | Street | |
| Oklahoma City | Eastside Vatos Sureños (EVS) | Street |
| Grande Barrio Centrale (GBC) | Street | |
| Juaritos (or Grande Barrio Loco (GBL)) | Street | |
| South Side Locos (SSL) | Street | |
| Tulsa | East Side Longos | Street |
| Latin Kings | Street | |
| Ñeta | Prison/Street | |
| Norteños | Street | |
| Sureños | Street |
Source: Law enforcement interviews and reporting.
|
Transnational Gang Members Arrested in Dallas/Fort Worth Area In June 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other law enforcement officers arrested 81 transnational gang members, their associates, and immigration status violators during a 6-day Operation Community Shield2 action in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The operation targeted foreign-born, violent gang members and associates in the North Texas cities of Arlington, Dallas, Carrollton, Fort Worth, Irving, Lewisville, and Plano. Gang members arrested were from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Laos and belonged to the following street gangs: 15th Street, 18th Street, 28th Street, 68th Street (Nuevo Laredo, Mexico), Aryan Brotherhood, Butter Bean Boys, Crips, East Side Homeboys, Easy Riders (Los Angeles), Five Deuce Crip, How High Crew, Mara Salvatrucha (MS 13), Northside Locos, Laotian Oriental Killer Boyz, Mexican Clan Locos, Norteños, Southside, Sureños, Tango Blast, True Bud Smokers, Trueman Street Blood, Varrio Diamond Hill, and Varrio Northside. Fifty-two of those arrested were active gang members and 14 were gang associates. Individuals associated with the Los Zetas criminal organization were also arrested during this operation. Many of those arrested had previous criminal convictions that included weapons charges, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer, engaging in organized criminal activity, burglary of a vehicle, and robbery. Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. |
2. Community Shield is a national law enforcement initiative that partners ICE with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to target violent transnational street gangs. The program was launched in February 2005, and its first operation in March 2005 targeted significant U.S. drug market areas, including Dallas, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington, D.C.
UNCLASSIFIED
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