U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
Midwest HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
May 2010

Drug Trafficking Organizations

Mexican DTOs are the primary organizational threat to the Midwest HIDTA region. These DTOs manage sophisticated smuggling, transportation, and distribution networks for methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. Mexican DTOs compartmentalize duties, employ advanced security and communications 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 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 illegal and legal Mexican and Central American population in suburban and rural towns has fueled the expansion and dominance of Mexican polydrug trafficking groups. Mexican DTOs exploit the infrastructure of these growing communities to mask their activities from law enforcement officials and to expand their distribution networks. 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 are the principal retail-level drug distributors in metropolitan areas of the HIDTA region. 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, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Springfield, and Wichita. Sureņose factions (including Florencia 13, also known as F-13) are the predominant Hispanic street gangs operating in the Midwest HIDTA. Hispanic street gangs operate in markets such as Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, Wichita, and Cedar Rapids. Members of street gangs operating within the HIDTA region are often difficult to classify or affiliate with a specific gang, and turf boundaries are not clearly defined.

Some 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. 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 also report increased street gang activity in some HIDTA cities such as Garden City, Kansas; Kansas City; and St. Louis. Officials in Pennington County, South Dakota, and in Kansas City, Missouri, report that gang members sometimes advertise drugs for sale on social networking Internet sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, and also post pictures of themselves posing with drugs and/or weapons.

Footnote

e. 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 HIDTA typically claim Sureņos affiliation but often are not connected to gangs in southern California.

UNCLASSIFIED

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