#criminal-gangs

#criminal-gangs

"Deputies searched the box trucks and discovered a large amount of Lego products. A thorough investigation revealed the trailers were stolen while in transit from Fort Worth, Texas, to Moreno Valley, California."

Andrew Pritchard initially smuggled cocaine for the UK club scene using hard-sided suitcases packed with concealed drugs and decoy luggage to evade airport security.

Jason Thompson, a guard at HMP Isis, was suspended as the Metropolitan Police investigated his involvement in smuggling drugs and contraband into the prison. He was sentenced to four years and six months for conspiracy and misconduct.

By our own rules and ordinances, we're not supposed to keep track of gang members. Now, we're not allowed to track anyone by their gang association. CalGang contained the personal information of roughly 80,000 suspected gang members - all of which has now been lost to police.

More than 100 law enforcement agents conducted high-risk search warrants across three locations. The first was an active methamphetamine lab in the 8000 block of Center Drive in Valley Springs. A second site was located in the 2000 block of Golf Road in Turlock, which contained all the equipment necessary to operate as a lab but was shut down before production began. The third site, located in the 900 block of Reno Avenue in Modesto, was used by the drug trafficking organization to store and distribute illicit narcotics.

What comes next will not resemble a clean succession. It will be a struggle over who holds the center of gravity inside the organization, and that result is not preordained. Many Mexicans fear a troubling third scenario: a bloody power struggle that fragments the cartel, opening new fronts of conflict in an already volatile criminal landscape.

Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, consolidated one of Mexico's most powerful criminal organisations in part due to a unique franchise-based structure. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the CJNG maintains a presence in every state of Mexico, with varying levels of influence, and operates in more than 40 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, and throughout the US.

Juan Carlos Valencia González has emerged as a key contender to take over the $20 billion criminal empire after "El Mencho" died in a Mexican special forces raid on Sunday. The 41-year-old is the slain chief's stepson. According to law enforcement, his mother Rosalinda "La Jefa" González Valencia was married to the drug kingpin and was a major player on the financial side of the cartel.

These semi-submersible boats have been used for years by drug gangs to smuggle cocaine from South and Central America. In more recent months as the price of cocaine has plummeted, gangs have changed tactics: instead of letting the boats sink on delivery, they have started to reuse the vessels, setting up a refuelling platform at sea and sending the boats back so they can make as many journeys as possible.

Mexico has sent another 37 alleged members of Mexican criminal organisations to the United States, the country's security minister said, amid US President Donald Trump's threat of ground attacks against drug cartels in the region. The handover of alleged drug cartel members on Tuesday is the third major transfer to the US in the past year and brings the total number of suspects transferred to 92.

Cops in Los Angeles on Wednesday arrested five people in Corona on shocking charges of operating a multi-million dollar cargo theft ring. The LAPD said the suspects were collared in a long-running investigation that focused on a series of thefts targeting cargo and container chassis, which carry shipping containers for big-rig trucks. Cops, along with three other agencies executed search warrants on the suspects Wednesday and discovered an eye-popping amount of allegedly stolen loot.

Whole areas of western Mexico have been all but shut down after a surge in cartel violence sparked by a military raid that killed one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers, known as El Mencho. Schools were closed in several Mexican states, and foreign governments warned their citizens to stay inside after the drug lord, whose real name is Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, was declared dead on Sunday.

Their attackers had tried to burn them to cover their tracks, but the double femicide left no doubt: it bore the mark of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization. In the wake of the crime, investigations and news reports about the Venezuelan gang followed. And arrests began. Although the Mexico City Security Secretariat tried to downplay its role, police operations proved that this criminal network, after spreading across the continent, was already operating in Mexico.

In separate operations across three statesSinaloa, Sonora, and Guerreroauthorities reported the seizure of more than 41,000 liters and 12 tons of chemicals to be used in drug production. The announcement includes the dismantling of a clandestine laboratory in Guerrero and 11 other methamphetamine production sites in Sonora. In Sonora, between the towns of Culiacan and Mexicali, a vehicle containing 212 kilograms of methamphetamine was seized by the Army and the National Guard.

The helicopters over the Michoacan town of Cenobio Moreno, in the Apatzingan Valley, on Wednesday foreshadowed significant arrests by the Mexican government. Authorities were searching for Cesar Sepulveda, alias El Botox, one of the most notorious figures in organized crime in the state, accused of more than a dozen extortions and murders, including that of Bernardo Bravo, leader of the local citrus growers' association, at the end of last year. He was finally captured that night in the neighboring town of Santa Ana Amatlan.