What role is the Mexican Mafia playing in the increased crime in the Midwest?

1. EMERGING CRIMETRENDS
IN THE MIDWEST

2. NEWS
Chicago Gang Sets Up Shop In Missouri Town
Disciples Franchise Their Drugs, Violence
December 17, 1995
By Maurice Possley, Tribune Staff Writer.

3. SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — “When police here
arrested 18-year-old Marvin Herron on Aug.
25, 1993, and confiscated a .380-caliber
handgun, they were taken aback by the
cocksure arrogance of the Harvey, Ill.,
teenager.”

4. "Marvin told me that he was from a suburb
of Chicago and he had come to Springfield
and had been selling crack cocaine,“
"He admitted that he was a member of the
Gangster Disciples street gang, that the gun
he was carrying was to protect his money and
his investment."

5. "They see there's nothing happening, see
dollar signs, set up a prototype, and they're
up and running," Knox said. "It's sort of like a
McDonald's operation, a franchise.“
Professor George Knox, director of the
National Gang Research Center at Chicago
State University

6. Drug Markets
Overview
“The Midwest HIDTA region
contains several primary drug
market areas, including the
Kansas City, Omaha, and St.
Louis…”

7. Drug Markets
Overview
“…secondary markets, including
Cedar Rapids, Des Moines,
Fargo/Grand Forks, Sioux
City/Sioux Falls, Springfield, and
Wichita.”

8. Drug Retail Distributor Market
Meth
Hispanic street gangs, Caucasian
local independent dealers
All markets
Crack
cocaine
African American street gangs,
independent dealers
All markets
Marijuana
Hispanic street gangs, African
American street gangs, Caucasian
local independent dealers
All markets
Heroin
African American street gangs,
local independent dealers,
Caucasian local independent
dealers
Kansas City, St. Louis,
Springfield
Table 1. Drugs in the Midwest
HIDTA, by Retail Distributor and
Market, 2009
Source: Drug Enforcement Administration; Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task
Force

9. Springfield, MO
“Springfield, with a population
of more than 150,000, is the
county seat of Greene County
and is situated along I-44, which
connects Springfield to St. Louis
and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.”

10. Figure 2
Midwest HIDTA
Region
Transportation
Infrastructure

11. Springfield, MO
“Mexican DTOs and criminal
groups are the principal
transporters and wholesale
distributors of most illicit drugs
in Springfield.”

12. Springfield, MO
“Mexican traffickers transport
wholesale quantities of ice
methamphetamine, cocaine,
and marijuana from Phoenix;
Bakersfield, California; and Texas
to Springfield for distribution.”

13. Springfield, MO
“Since 2005…Gangster Disciples
members operating in this
market has increased, and law
enforcement officials report that
these criminals now distribute
Mexican black tar heroin in
addition to crack cocaine.”

14. Sureño Gangs
“…most active criminally…most prolific in
gang killings... The African-American gangs are
normally the victims of Sureño in hate-
crime…Sureños…invading Northern California
cities by the hundreds, not vice versa.”
Mexican Mafia: The Most Dangerous Gang
Surenos you encounter are taking their orders from
a higher authority.
April 12, 2010 by Richard Valdemar

15. “No matter which big bad bloody band of
barrio bad boys you might be dealing with (in
southern California),…all pay taxes to and
obey the codes of conduct dictated by the
Mexican Mafia.”
Mexican Mafia: The Most Dangerous Gang
Surenos you encounter are taking their orders from a higher
authority.
April 12, 2010 by Richard Valdemar

16. NGIC “…is an agency of the U.S. Government
Justice Department… NGIC is a multi-agency
effort that integrates the gang intelligence
assets of federal, state, and”
Info. Source: Wikipedia
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

17. ”…local law enforcement entities to serve as
a centralized intelligence resource for gang
information and analytical support.”
Info. Source: Wikipedia
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

18. NATIONAL GANG INTELLIGENCE CENTER
2011
NATIONAL GANG THREAT ASSESSMENT
EMERGING TRENDS
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

19. Page 7:
“Gangs are responsible for an average of 48%
of violent crime in most jurisdictions…up to
90% in several others…”
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

20. Page 7:
“Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations
(MDTO)…resulted in gang expansion and
violence in a number of jurisdictions.”
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

21. Page 8:
“Gangs are acquiring high-powered, military-
style weapons and equipment which poses a
significant threat…”
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

26. Page 9:
“…data indicates…since 2009, gang
membership increased most significantly…
Arizona, California, and Illinois-boast the
highest number of gang members.”
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

27. Page 30:
“Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations
(MDTO) are among the most
prominent…because… of the production of
most drugs consumed in the U.S.”
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

28. Page 30:
“…street gangs are expanding their influence
over drug distribution in rural and suburban
areas and acquire drugs directly from MDTOs
in Mexico or along the Southwest border”
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

29. Page48:
“THE SOUTHWEST BORDER… US-based gangs,
MDTOs and other criminal enterprises in…U.S.
and Mexico…incur enormous profit…”
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

30. Page48:
“in…smuggling drugs, arms, and illegal
immigrants; and serving as enforcers for
MDTO interest on the U.S. side… ”
National Gang
Intelligence
Center

31. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
THE MIDWESTERNER
BLOGGING THE GLOBAL MIDWEST
Wednesday, September 18, 2013

32. The Mexican Connection: Drugs in the
Midwest
“One of the best descriptions of this recently
is an article in the October issue of
Bloomberg Markets Magazine that focuses on
the billionaire Mexican drug lord Joaquin
Guzman, and his success in taking over the
Chicago market for heroin, cocaine,
marijuana and meth.”

33. “The article tells how Guzman, from his
hideout in the Sierra Madre of northern
Mexico, directs the Sinaloa cartel, a multi-
billion-dollar drug empire target that supplies
80 percent of the heroin, cocaine, marijuana
and meth sold in the Chicago region – a $3
billion per year business. The result is a
monopoly that has eliminated price
competition between gangs and replaced it
with a bloody competition for turf.”

34. “If this Mexican immigration – nearly 1.5
million people in the city and suburbs – is a
huge contribution to the city’s current
prosperity, this criminal underground feeds
the violence that scars its poorer
neighborhoods.”

35. “It’s not that most of the victims are gang
members, although many undoubtedly are:
many of the victims, including children, are
innocent targets caught in the gunfire. But
most of the violence that kills them originates
in turf battles between the drug gangs.”

40. “It’s also the destruction of the housing
projects, which were high-rise poverty
warehouses controlled by gangs: many police
refused to go into them. They’re mostly
gone now, but their gangbangers have
scattered to previously peaceful black
neighborhoods: an elderly woman I know in
the middle class Chatham neighborhood says
she now feels like a prisoner in her own
home.”

41. “At the same time, police have broken up
many of the huge gangs that used to
dominate Chicago’s drug trade. There’s not
much good to say about these gangs, but they
did discipline their troops and focus the
violence. In their place now are hundreds of
mini-gangs, each heavily armed and fighting
to establish control over their own street
corner.”

43. “This crackdown has worked, in a fashion. It
pretty well put local meth labs out of
business. But it opened a market for Mexican
meth, one of Guzman’s products. It also
created demand for other drugs, including
cocaine and heroin, which by all accounts are
flooding into rural Midwestern counties.”

44. ‘We Have Never
Experienced This’: Chilling
Drug Cartel-Style Threats
Hit Texas Billboards
May. 24, 2014
Jason Howerton

45. El Paso police were investigating two
mysterious messages painted onto billboards
in the border city that included mannequins
dressed in suits hanging from nooses.

47. “One message read “silver or lead” in Spanish,
a threat heard in Mexico signifying pay up or
get shot.”
“This (message) has historically been used by
Mexican drug cartels to threaten or intimidate
Mexican citizens, business owners and
government officials.”

48. “The message on the other billboard read,
“dying for drugs.”
“Whoever did this went through a lot of work
to get this accomplished,” said Phil Jordan, a
former Drug Enforcement Administration
agent…”.

49. “This is possibly a message to someone who
hasn’t cooperated with the cartels…this is
going to make the El Paso population uneasy,
given that the city is not far from the killing
fields of Mexico.”

50. Border agent laments gang members entering
U.S.: ‘Why are we letting him in here?’
Saturday, June 14, 2014

51. “Border Patrol officials are swamped
by…crossing illegally into the United States
and…they can’t turn away known Mexican
gang members.
Chris Cabrera, vice president of the National
Border Patrol Council Local 3307…, said…
confirmed gang members in Mexico
including…Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) are
coming…to be reunited with their families,
National Review reported Friday.