National
Drug Intelligence Center Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis May 2007 Drug Threat OverviewMethamphetamine abuse and distribution are escalating in the Midwest HIDTA region, straining limited local law enforcement, public health, and social services resources in many areas, particularly in rural counties, according to state and local officials. State methamphetamine precursor control legislation, as well as law enforcement and public awareness programs, have reduced the number of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in the region. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups, however, have flooded the market with high-quality Mexican ice methamphetamine to meet the demand created by decreased local methamphetamine production. These trafficking organizations distribute multikilogram quantities of ice methamphetamine from distribution centers in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield, Missouri; Kansas City and Wichita, Kansas; Omaha and Grand Island, Nebraska; and Sioux City, Iowa, to the area's consumer markets. Crack cocaine distribution and abuse are pervasive in urban areas of the HIDTA region. Mexican DTOs supply local African American street gangs with powder cocaine that they convert to crack in the area; these gangs control retail distribution of the crack that they manufacture. Additionally, African American street gangs based in Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; and Minneapolis, Minnesota, transport large quantities of powder cocaine, crack cocaine, and other illicit drugs to Midwest HIDTA markets in Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Street gangs and other crack distributors commonly commit violent, drug-related crimes including assaults, drive-by shootings, and robberies to protect and expand their drug operations. Various other illicit drugs are available and abused in the Midwest HIDTA. Mexican commercial-grade marijuana is the most widely available and abused illicit drug throughout the HIDTA region. Locally produced marijuana is also available, as is high-quality hydroponic marijuana produced in Canada; however, most marijuana produced in Canada transits the region en route to other U.S. markets. Heroin availability and abuse are mostly limited to the St. Louis area, where distribution and abuse of white heroin is increasing. Diverted pharmaceuticals, MDMA, and other dangerous drugs (ODDs) pose a lesser threat and are available and abused to varying degrees.
Drug Trafficking OrganizationsMexican DTOs are the Midwest HIDTA's greatest organizational threat. They are expanding their influence and control over midwestern drug markets, particularly by coordinating most of the ice methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana shipments from the Southwest Border to the Midwest HIDTA region. Mexican DTOs are the primary wholesale distributors of illicit drugs in the HIDTA's major drug markets in Kansas City and Omaha and have increased their presence and influence in eastern Missouri, including the St. Louis metropolitan area.3 Mexican DTOs have taken advantage of decreased domestic methamphetamine production caused by state pseudoephedrine control legislation to increase distribution of ice methamphetamine in the HIDTA region. As much as 70 percent of the available methamphetamine in some areas is now high-quality Mexican ice methamphetamine. Mexican DTOs are attempting to shield themselves from law enforcement detection within the growing Hispanic communities in the area. Mexican and Central American immigrants are relocating to midwestern cities seeking employment in manpower-intensive industries, particularly poultry processing and meatpacking facilities in rural communities in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. These Mexican traffickers are operating their trafficking networks by blending in with local residents and avoiding law enforcement scrutiny. They often use meatpacking towns such as Dodge City, Great Bend, Garden City, and Liberal, Kansas; Joplin and Monett, Missouri; and Fremont, Grand Island, Lexington, and Norfolk, Nebraska, as transshipment hubs and secondary markets for drug distribution. Compounding this problem, local law enforcement officials often lack the ability to communicate fluently in Spanish and the resources necessary to penetrate these trafficking organizations. African American and Hispanic street gangs control much of the retail and midlevel distribution of illicit drugs throughout the HIDTA region. African American gangs, which often emulate Bloods and Crips sets, dominate crack cocaine distribution and distribute multipound quantities of marijuana in urban markets such as Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, Springfield, and Wichita. Hispanic gangs, predominantly Sureņos4 factions such as Florencia 13 (F 13), distribute marijuana and methamphetamine in markets such as Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, Wichita, and Cedar Rapids. Hispanic gangs also distribute wholesale quantities of marijuana. Many African American street gangs operating within the HIDTA are local and have limited connections to national-level gangs or DTOs. It is often difficult to classify gang members or affiliate them with one specific gang, and turf boundaries are not clearly defined. Despite the local nature of the street gangs operating in the HIDTA region, Chicago-based African American street gangs such as Gangster Disciples, Black Peace Stone Nation, and Vice Lords are present in the region and distribute crack and other illicit drugs in several market areas, including Cedar Rapids, Fargo, Omaha, Sioux City, and Sioux Falls. However, members of these gangs typically travel to the area from Chicago, Minneapolis, and other markets in order to distribute crack cocaine and then return home. Various outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs), including El Forastero, Galloping Goose, and Sons of Silence, distribute limited quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana throughout the HIDTA. End Notes3. African American
criminal groups historically controlled most of the wholesale and retail
drug distribution in St. Louis; however, Mexican drug trafficking organizations
(DTOs) are increasingly distributing drugs at the wholesale level in
the city. |
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