
Several years after being arrested in Mexico, a top drug cartel operative has agreed to change his plea to guilty in response to U.S. drug trafficking charges. His potential prison sentence is yet to be determined.
by Sylvia Longmire7 Jan 2016, 12:41 PM PST0

A federal judge recently sentenced the last two of 34 Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) gang members to prison for their roles in a methamphetamine drug distribution network. The FBI claimed it marked the end of the gang’s foothold in Central Texas.
by Sylvia Longmire4 Jan 2016, 6:22 AM PST0

A former Houston police officer is facing up to 10 years in prison on conspiracy charges related to alleged ties to a Mexican cartel. The officer is now feeling pressure due to information being provided by convicted cocaine traffickers.
by Sylvia Longmire4 Jan 2016, 5:55 AM PST0

In an act that has become all too common, individuals allegedly affiliated with organized crime have murdered the mayor of a small town in Mexico less than a day since she took office.
by Sylvia Longmire3 Jan 2016, 8:20 AM PST0

As marijuana legalization in states like Colorado and Washington continues, marijuana farmers in Mexico are starting to see a steep decline in the profits their crops once fetched. Some growers report they’re seeing a decline in income as high as 70 percent, and they blame the popularity of higher quality legal marijuana in the U.S.
by Sylvia Longmire3 Jan 2016, 8:06 AM PST0

Mexican officials notified US Customs and Border Protection on December 30 that a four-foot section of a cross-border drug tunnel collapsed near the Nogales, Arizona port of entry. The tunnel was discovered in mid-November and efforts had not yet begun to fill the tunnel with concrete.
by Sylvia Longmire3 Jan 2016, 7:36 AM PST0

As brutal drug violence in the Mexican states of Michoacán and Guerrero continues, a Mexican prosecutor is claiming that vigilante groups supposedly battling drug cartels alongside the government have been extensively infiltrated by criminals.
by Sylvia Longmire2 Jan 2016, 10:35 AM PST0

As allegations of human rights abuses reportedly committed by police and military forces have persisted in Mexico, the U.S. has started to withhold aid payments. For many years, the U.S. has been providing security aid to Mexico, much of it through the Mérida Initiative as a way to counter the efforts of violent drug cartels.
by Sylvia Longmire31 Dec 2015, 8:19 AM PST0

Recent drug seizures and indictments indicate that Miami is back on the map as a trafficking hub for cocaine passing through Caribbean waters. After the fall of the Cali and Medellín drug cartels in Colombia, both the Florida Straits and the streets of south Florida quieted down dramatically.
by Sylvia Longmire30 Dec 2015, 7:10 AM PST0

A major gunfight occurred on December 26 between elements of the Mexican navy and drug traffickers in Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s hometown of Badiraguato, Sinaloa state. Some reports indicate military aircraft sustained minor damage, but two cartel attackers were killed and firearms, ammunition, and four and a half tons of marijuana were seized.
by Sylvia Longmire29 Dec 2015, 11:12 AM PST0

It’s no secret that Mexico’s largest drug cartel has a strong partnership with Colombia’s largest narcoterrorist group. However, recent statements made by a former Colombian president are shedding light on the multibillion dollar value of that relationship.
by Sylvia Longmire28 Dec 2015, 7:46 AM PST0

In an attempt to prevent the chaos of the immigrant border surge that occurred in the summer of 2014, Department of Homeland Security officials are securing various locations to temporarily house Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and family units from Central America. As a result of that effort, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has directed Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico to house up to 400 children starting in January.
by Sylvia Longmire28 Dec 2015, 7:03 AM PST0

The loss of six American airmen, including four federal agents, in Afghanistan provides proof that combat is not over as far as the Taliban are concerned.
by Sylvia Longmire23 Dec 2015, 10:08 AM PST0

A citizen of Somalia has been arrested for helping smuggle human beings across the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. The Somali was operating from the U.S. side of the border. According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Omar Haji Mohamed, a Somali national, was stopped at a border checkpoint in Why, Arizona, near the Tohono O’odham Nation. He had two passengers in his vehicle, Gilberto Alcantar and Alma Delia Reyes-Castillo—both illegal immigrants from Mexico.
by Sylvia Longmire22 Dec 2015, 7:52 AM PST0

In a bold move sure to further destabilize very unsteady ties between the U.S. and Venezuela, U.S. prosecutors are preparing to disclose drug trafficking charges to be made against the head of Venezuela’s National Guard.
by Sylvia Longmire16 Dec 2015, 6:56 AM PST0

The drug trafficking ties between Colombia and Mexico go back decades, to when Colombian cartels started supplying Mexican drug runners with cocaine in the late 1970s. Those ties have since strengthened, and the recent discovery of a money laundering network between the two countries’ more powerful cartels is evidence of this.
by Sylvia Longmire14 Dec 2015, 7:10 AM PST0

Two alleged gun-runners were arrested in Spain on charges of buying military-grade weapons for drug cartels in Mexico. The controversy over how high-powered weapons get into the hands of Mexican drug cartels has been raging for years. US suppliers are often in the cross-hairs, so the recent arrest of individuals buying military-grade weapons for the cartels in Spain put a twist on perceptions of weapons trafficking to Mexico.
by Sylvia Longmire14 Dec 2015, 7:10 AM PST0

The Mexican government claims it has registered significant declines in kidnapping rates for 2015. Many drug war observers and Mexican citizens are very skeptical about the truth behind these government figures.
by Sylvia Longmire11 Dec 2015, 7:45 AM PST0

A blog about Mexican drug cartels reported on December 7 about a leaked encrypted email supposedly sent by notorious Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán to prominent Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. In the email, Guzmán allegedly threatens to retaliate against ISIS for destroying drug shipments and interfering in cartel business. Despite numerous mainstream media outlets reporting this “story” on December 10, the sole unverified source for this information is an unidentified Mexican blogger.
by Sylvia Longmire10 Dec 2015, 12:15 PM PST0

Many Americans are familiar with the term “blood diamond” or “conflict diamond,” which defines a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army’s war efforts, or a warlord’s activity—most commonly in Africa. Less commonly known; however, is “conflict gold.” Violent Mexican drug cartels are now fighting over revenues being paid to poor communities by corporations mining gold in areas of Mexico they have turned into war zones.
by Sylvia Longmire10 Dec 2015, 8:10 AM PST0

The surge of illegal aliens arriving in south Texas during the summer of 2014 stunned law enforcement agencies and social service providers across the Rio Grande Valley. The numbers haven’t been as high in 2015, but some organizations are noticing a spike in the numbers of illegal aliens from El Salvador walking through their doors in recent months.
by Sylvia Longmire7 Dec 2015, 9:28 AM PST0

Mexican authorities announced on December 4 they have detained the brother of the Cartel de Jalisco’s notorious leader. Formally known as the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), the drug cartel is one of the fastest growing—and most violent—criminal organizations in Mexico.
by Sylvia Longmire7 Dec 2015, 8:03 AM PST0

Georgia authorities busted a drug ring and tied the group to Mexican drug cartels.
by Sylvia Longmire6 Dec 2015, 9:25 AM PST0

Investigators in Costa Rica are working feverishly to find out why the children of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán were in their country as recently as last year.
by Sylvia Longmire6 Dec 2015, 6:44 AM PST0

One of the biggest blows to the Los Zetas drug cartel was dealt when a money laundering empire involving horse racing in Texas was dismantled in 2012. A drug smuggler now testifying in that case in San Antonio told the jury that horse racing was part of the trafficking culture, and Los Zetas leaders had been heavily involved in the sport well before the laundering scheme’s ringleaders were arrested.
by Sylvia Longmire3 Dec 2015, 10:42 AM PST0