Distribution

Mexican DTOs and criminal groups dominate the wholesale distribution of ice methamphetamine, cocaine, Mexican black tar and brown powder heroin, and commercial-grade marijuana in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. They use rural properties near Denver and Colorado Springs as staging areas for storage of wholesale quantities of illicit drugs that they supply to local criminal groups, street gangs, and independent dealers for midlevel and retail-level distribution. Mexican DTOs also supply illicit drugs to distributors in smaller cities in the region, such as Billings and Cheyenne, and to major domestic drug markets, including Chicago; Kansas City; Minneapolis; New York City; Omaha, Nebraska; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Mexican DTOs have greatly increased the availability of ice methamphetamine in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region over the past 3 years, supplanting supplies of powder methamphetamine lost to sharp declines in local production. Local powder methamphetamine production has declined to such a degree that it now accounts for less than 10 percent of the methamphetamine available in many areas of the HIDTA region, such as Denver. Mexican DTOs have essentially become the sole suppliers of ice methamphetamine in Denver. They supply Hispanic criminal groups and street gangs, the principal midlevel and retail methamphetamine distributors in the region. Mexican DTOs also supply ice methamphetamine to other distributors, such as Caucasian criminal groups and African American street gangs; however, they typically charge a 15 to 20 percent premium over the price paid by Hispanic criminal groups and street gangs.

While Hispanic criminal groups and street gangs are the primary retail-level distributors of methamphetamine, other distributors may be challenging their dominance. For instance, the North Metro Drug Task Force reports that Sureņos 13, a Hispanic street gang, has greatly reduced or stopped its distribution of methamphetamine, while 211 Crew, a group of white supremacists, has begun to distribute methamphetamine in the Denver area. Moreover, Colorado Springs law enforcement officials report that heavily armed African American independent dealers, who formerly confined their distribution activities to crack cocaine, are now selling ice methamphetamine.

Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are increasingly exploiting tribal lands in and adjacent to the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region to distribute illicit drugs, principally methamphetamine. Some Mexican traffickers form business and personal relationships with Native American residents in order to justify their presence on tribal lands, thereby facilitating their drug trafficking operations. For example, a Mexican DTO used the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming as a distribution center to distribute methamphetamine there and on reservations in Nebraska and South Dakota; members of the group were convicted in 2005 for distributing nearly 100 pounds of ice methamphetamine. Members of the DTO relocated to communities near the reservation, developed personal relationships with some residents, and provided them with free methamphetamine samples. Many of the residents who received free methamphetamine became addicted and resorted to distributing the drug on reservation lands to support their addictions; they also generated a customer base on reservation lands by offering free samples. Members of another Mexican DTO befriended residents of the Wind River Indian Reservation to gain access to reservation lands. These DTO members were later able to establish distribution operations on reservation lands; they supplied methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and diverted pharmaceuticals to approximately 20 to 50 residents daily. Mexican traffickers have also established distribution operations on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana; these traffickers supply methamphetamine that they transport from California, Oregon, and Washington to residents of the reservation.

Asian DTOs and criminal groups are the primary wholesale suppliers of high-potency Canadian marijuana and MDMA in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. These traffickers supply the drugs principally to Asian retail distributors, mostly Asian street gangs, in metropolitan areas of the HIDTA region, particularly in Denver and Salt Lake City. They also supply, to a lesser extent, high-potency marijuana and MDMA to Caucasian retail-level distributors.

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Hispanic, African American, and Asian street gangs are the most common retail-level drug distributors, particularly in metropolitan areas of the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. Hispanic gangs such as Sureņos 13 distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana that they receive from Mexican traffickers; however, the North Metro Drug Task Force reports that the Sureņos 13 street gang has greatly reduced or stopped its distribution of methamphetamine in the Denver area. Hispanic street gangs are aggressively expanding their retail-level crack cocaine distribution operations in some metropolitan areas of the region. For example, some Hispanic street gangs in Denver and Aurora, Colorado, are occupying areas vacated by African American dealers who have relocated to the western suburbs to avoid law enforcement scrutiny as well as violent confrontations with the Hispanic street gangs. Despite Hispanic street gang encroachment, African American street gangs such as Rolling 30's Crips remain the primary converters and distributors of crack cocaine in metropolitan areas of the region. African American street gangs in Denver also distribute PCP that they acquire from gang associates who produce the drug in Los Angeles.

Caucasian and Mexican independent dealers and OMGs also distribute methamphetamine, marijuana, and Mexican black tar and brown powder heroin in smaller cities and rural areas of the HIDTA region. These independent dealers routinely travel from markets such as Billings, Montana, and Cheyenne, Green River, and Rock Springs, Wyoming, to obtain illicit drugs from Mexican DTOs and street gangs in Denver and Salt Lake City for distribution in their communities. Some African American local independent dealers in Denver obtain MDMA from Canada for local distribution, either by traveling to Canada or by purchasing it from suppliers in Denver.

Abusers and independent distributors of diverted pharmaceuticals such as OxyContin (oxycodone), and Percocet (oxycodone), and Vicodin (hydrocodone) obtain these drugs through doctor-shopping, theft from family and friends, and robberies of retail pharmacies and hospitals. Pharmacy robberies and burglaries in the Denver metropolitan area increased 50 percent in each of the last 2 years, and Salt Lake City officials report that pharmacy robberies, committed primarily by 18- to 40-year-old Caucasian criminals, increased statewide in 2006. Pharmaceutical diversion on tribal lands also is a significant problem. For example, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, "prescription buying," a scheme in which abusers offer to purchase pharmaceuticals from individuals who have received prescriptions for legitimate medical conditions, is increasing. Throughout the HIDTA region, the number of medical professionals who steal pharmaceuticals such as Percocet and Vicodin from their employers to satisfy their own addictions is increasing and is endangering the care of patients.

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