US DRUG WAR: 10 Mexican cartel leaders indicted

DRUG WAR, CLEARING SMOKE

Ten suspected Mexican drug cartel leaders and 33 alleged drug traffickers have been indicted in New York and Chicago, accused in illicit drug sales of more than $6 billion, federal authorities said Thursday.

Mexican drug cartels have spread to “our own backyards,” Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday as he announced a dozen new indictments aimed at capturing suspected kingpins so they can stand trial in U.S. courts. The indictments of 10 alleged bosses of the cartels and 33 other suspects expand previous U.S. efforts to decapitate the cartels’ senior leadership.

First, though, they must be caught. The accused cartel leaders indicted Thursday are wanted in Mexico, and some have been sought by Mexican and U.S. law enforcement for many years. Prosecutors say that the rings generated nearly $6 billion in drug profits.

Along with the indictments, the U.S. government is seeking the forfeiture of more than $5.8 billion that federal authorities said has been shipped to Mexico from drug cocaine sales in the United States and Canada.

More than $22 million in cash bound for the cartel, known as “The Federation,” was seized during the investigation, federal authorities said.

Officials said three of the suspected leaders of the Sinaloa cartel and The Federation are among those indicted. They are identified as Joaquin “el Chapo” Guzman-Loera, Ismael “el Mayo” Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva.

Authorities charge the cartels moved cocaine and heroin to Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Washington, Vancouver, British Columbia, and beyond. The indictments grew out of a street gang investigation in Chicago and drug-related killings in New York.