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National Drug Intelligence Center |
Widespread methamphetamine distribution and abuse are the greatest threats to the Midwest HIDTA region and are straining local law enforcement, public health, and social services resources in many areas, particularly in rural locales with limited resources. Although local methamphetamine production has declined significantly in most areas of the region, well-established Mexican traffickers are supplying sufficient quantities of ice methamphetamine to meet demand for the drug in most HIDTA cities.
Crack cocaine distribution and abuse are pervasive in urban areas of the HIDTA region, and the drug and its associated crime are serious concerns that have a direct and profound impact on law enforcement and public health resources. 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 powder cocaine, crack cocaine, and other illicit drugs to Midwest HIDTA markets in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Street gangs and other crack distributors commonly commit violent crimes including assaults, drive-by shootings, and robberies to protect and expand their drug operations. In addition, local law enforcement agencies in Salina, Kansas, and many agencies in North Dakota and South Dakota report a significant increase in powder cocaine availability during 2008.
Various other illicit drugs are available and abused in the Midwest HIDTA region. Mexican commercial-grade marijuana is the most widely available and abused illicit drug throughout the HIDTA region. Locally produced marijuana also is available, as is high-potency 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 white powder and Mexican black tar are the predominant forms of the drug available. CPDs, MDMA, and other dangerous drugs (ODDs), such as PCP (phencyclidine), pose a lesser threat and are available and abused to varying degrees. However, law enforcement officials in several HIDTA markets, particularly the Kansas City, Kansas, metropolitan area, reported the increasing availability and abuse of Mexican black tar heroin and CPDs in the second and third quarters of 2008. In addition, law enforcement officials in several cities in North Dakota (including Bismarck and Fargo) and South Dakota (Brookings, Madison, Sioux Falls, Watertown, and Yankton) reported an increase in MDMA availability and abuse during the fourth quarter of 2008; in some cases, laboratory testing indicated that the MDMA had been laced with methamphetamine or heroin.
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Drug Trafficking Organizations, Criminal Groups, and Gangs Drug trafficking organizations are complex organizations with highly defined command-and-control structures that produce, transport, and/or distribute large quantities of one or more illicit drugs. Criminal groups operating in the United States are numerous and range from small to moderately sized, loosely knit groups that distribute one or more drugs at the retail level and midlevel. Gangs are defined by the National Alliance of Gang Investigators' Associations as groups or associations of three or more persons with a common identifying sign, symbol, or name, the members of which individually or collectively engage in criminal activity that creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. |
Mexican DTOs are the primary organizational threat to the Midwest HIDTA region. They exercise great influence over drug markets in the HIDTA region as the predominant transporters and wholesale distributors of ice methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana. These DTOs, often based in Mexico or on the U.S. side of the Southwest Border, manage sophisticated smuggling, transportation, and distribution networks that compartmentalize duties, employ advanced security and communication techniques, gather intelligence, and use violence and intimidation to control organization members and secure smuggling territories. Over the past few years, the structure of these Mexican DTOs has changed from traditional hierarchical organizations to organizations composed of decentralized networks of interdependent, task-oriented cells. For example, one cell may be responsible for transporting drug shipments, another for distributing drugs within the markets, and yet another for laundering drug proceeds. While the compartmentalized cell structure insulates DTO leaders from law enforcement, the leaders maintain control over market supply (availability and distribution).
An increasing Hispanic population in the Midwest HIDTA region has facilitated the expansion of Mexican drug trafficking territory. Many Mexican and Central American illegal immigrants have relocated to midwestern towns seeking employment, particularly at meatpacking and poultry processing plants in rural communities in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and North Dakota. Mexican traffickers easily blend with growing Mexican and Central American communities to facilitate their drug trafficking operations and often use these meatpacking towns as hubs and secondary markets for drug distribution. Small, rural law enforcement agencies, constrained by a lack of resources and cultural and language differences, are often unable to infiltrate these DTOs.
African American and Hispanic street gangs distribute illicit drugs in the HIDTA's metropolitan and outlying areas. African American street gangs (often Bloods and Crips gang factions) dominate distribution of crack cocaine and also distribute retail quantities of marijuana in markets such as Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, Springfield, and Wichita. Sureņos4 factions (including Florencia 13, also known as F-13) are the predominant Hispanic street gangs operating in the Midwest HIDTA. Hispanic street gangs distribute retail to wholesale quantities of marijuana and retail quantities of methamphetamine in markets such as Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, Wichita, and Cedar Rapids. While some of these street gang members have relocated from California or the Southwest Border and maintain ties with national gangs, many street gangs operating within the HIDTA region are homegrown and have limited connections to nationally affiliated organizations. Members are often difficult to classify or affiliate with one specific gang, and turf boundaries are not clearly defined. In addition, Chicago-based African American street gangs such as Gangster Disciples, Black Peace Stone Nation, and Vice Lords operate in several HIDTA cities, including Cedar Rapids; Columbia, Missouri; Davenport, Iowa; Fargo; Omaha; Sioux City; Sioux Falls; and Springfield, Missouri; however, these gang members typically travel from Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, and other markets in order to distribute crack cocaine and then return home. Law enforcement officials in Pennington County, South Dakota, and in Kansas City, Missouri, report that gang members sometimes advertise their drugs on social networking Internet sites such as MySpace and Facebook and also post pictures of themselves posing with drugs and/or weapons. In addition, the Garden City, Kansas, Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) St. Louis Field Division report that gang members use these web sites to network with other members. Law enforcement officials also report increased street gang activity in some HIDTA markets such as Jefferson City, Missouri; Kansas City; St. Louis; and Wichita. Various outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs), including El Forastero, Galloping Goose, Invaders, and Sons of Silence, distribute limited quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana throughout the HIDTA.
4. Sureņos and Norteņos are affiliations of Hispanic street gangs that initially were formed in the California Department of Corrections by members who wanted to join together to protect themselves from incarcerated street gang members from other areas. Hispanic street gangs in southern California (Bakersfield and points south) were known as Sureņos street gangs, while those from central and northern California (north of Bakersfield) were known as Norteņos street gangs. Hispanic street gangs operating in the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) typically claim Sureņos affiliation but often are not connected to gangs in southern California.
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