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U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
New York/New Jersey HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
June 2010

Communications

(U) Drug traffickers and distributors in the region use mobile phones almost exclusively (either to converse or to send text messages) to communicate with both their sources of supply and their customers. Most traffickers use prepaid cell phones, throwing them away after a limited amount of time, to reduce the possibility of having calls monitored by competitors or by the police.

(U) Street gang members increasingly use Internet social networking sites, personal web pages, online communities and forums, and message boards to facilitate drug trafficking operations, to recruit new members, and to boast about gang membership or related activities. In New Jersey, gang members run the web site www.thehoodup.com, where they post locations to purchase drugs.99

(U) E-mail is another common method drug traffickers use to communicate. Some traffickers open e-mail accounts to which numerous members of the DTO have the password. Draft e-mail messages can be read by anyone with access to the account and then deleted without being transmitted, leaving no trail of the communication. Other DTOs use coded e-mail communications to circumvent law enforcement interceptions.

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Vulnerabilities

(U) Seizures of illicit drugs and currency from stash houses in the HIDTA region would result in much greater losses to DTOs than seizures that take place before drug proceeds are consolidated or after drug shipments have been broken down for distribution in retail drug markets. Enhanced coordination between law enforcement agencies in the NY/NJ HIDTA region and those along the Southwest Border, U.S.-Canada Border, and in major domestic distribution centers to identify load vehicles, conduct controlled deliveries, or track vehicles to stash sites might be an effective method to detect such sites and increase drug and currency seizures.

(U) Drug and currency shipments are vulnerable to detection by Customs officials at the Southwest Border and Northern Border and by highway interdiction while in transit to the NY/NJ HIDTA region. Additionally, smuggling routes are often relatively consistent, allowing law enforcement to establish patterns of operation and coordinate enforcement. Maritime and air drug shipments are vulnerable to detection by customs officials at the destination POE. Enhanced interdiction efforts, including the use of existing and emerging technologies and rigorous outbound inspections of vehicles crossing the U.S.-Canada border, would very likely result in increased bulk cash seizures.

(U) Mexican DTO operations may be vulnerable to detection as they expand drug distribution into new markets in central and southern New Jersey and other areas of the HIDTA region. When DTOs expand into new drug markets, they often lack a reliable network of distributors and security personnel in those areas. As a result, they are more likely to deal with new, unproven local dealers, rendering the organization vulnerable to undercover law enforcement operations.

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