Gun News Daily

La Familia drug cartel importing full auto weapons into the U.S. from Mexico?

San Diego - I wrote a couple of articles over the last few months on guns in Mexico. My five years in border towns led me down a path of seeing, handling and hearing firearms fired in the city, of which a significant number were full auto military weapons. It seems that middle and upper class law-abiding Mexicans own all sorts of firearms, some of which we only wish we could own here. Unfortunately, every single weapon I saw was owned illegally.

More importantly, a number of firearms I saw first-hand cannot be sold in the U.S., so therefore they did not come from gun smugglers buying guns illegally at U.S. gun stores and transporting them into Mexico. I also acknowledged that indeed, a number of firearms do come from the U.S., mostly handguns, since buying firearms for self-protection is, for all practical purposes, limited to the rich and famous in and around Mexico City. Mexico apparently only has one gun store owned and operated by the Mexican government in Mexico City. Border residents of Mexico are not inclined to travel 1500 miles only to be denied a gun purchase, let alone figure out how to transport it back without getting arrested.

But let's get to the point of this story. The DEA issued a statement on a recent drug bust of La Familia cartel members here in the U.S. In the press release, seen below, they state the arrests included money, drugs and "military grade" firearms.

To you and me that means full-auto rifles. Look at the DEA released picture at the top. What do you see? One could make an argument that the three shorter rifles are illegal in the U.S. simply because of the barrel lengths are less than 16". Since they are, there is a good chance these are select fire military grade weapons. The three AKs are a more difficult to discern. But, all three are identical to one another with what appears to be an after-market side-folder stock. The wood appears to by typical Chinese vintage. If indeed these are "military grade" weapons as defined by the Justice Department and DEA, these are select fire military weapons. Again, these weapons cannot be purchased from U.S. gun stores.

But the press release is very strange indeed. The government claims these firearms were "acquired" in the U.S. to be smuggled into Mexico. Now, some of us were born at night, but it wasn't last night. Who are these people trying to kid?

This is the La Familia drug cartel, one the three biggies in Mexico. They make a living bringing in drugs from around the world in bulk, transporting them to the border, Illegally smuggling tons daily into the U.S. and distributing it in the U.S. with their own employees, which in turn sells them to local street sellers. More recently they've moved into the manufacture and growing of drugs. They are highly vertically integrated and control the movement from overseas to almost the final street sale in the U.S. Why would they "acquire" guns that cannot be legally sold in the U.S.? They didn't.

These are NOT weapons that were "acquired" in the U.S. for smuggling into Mexico. These were smuggled into Mexico by La Familia and transported to the U.S. for use by their U.S. employees. This is a bunch of government nonsense, once again.

In my article several months ago I pointed out then, and I will say it again, the issue is not guns going to Mexico, but full-auto weapons, grenades and high explosives coming from Mexico to the U.S. The drug cartels deal in black market military weapons. Thousands of weapons and military explosives have been seized from cartels over the past several years that are not semi-auto civilian rifles sold in the U.S. The reason is simple.

As a wealthy drug cartel, you can use your transportation network to smuggle full-auto rifles into Mexico from the world-wide black market sources, much in the same way drugs are brought into Mexico, at about $250 a copy in bulk. Or, if you prefer, you can go to the U.S. and pay an arm and a leg, probably many thousands of dollars for an illegal full-auto rifle and risk getting busted in your search. Your third option is to buy a semi-auto rifle from a U.S. gun store for about twice the price of a full-auto smuggled into the U.S. from Mexican cartel purchased weapons. You don't have to be a Bernie Madoff to figure out which is the better deal. As a cartel, you are going to move the full-auto weapons across the border into the U.S. just like they move tons of drugs daily. It's a no-brainer. As a La Familia distributor in the U.S. and you choose option 2, which is to purchase the illegal full-auto weapon in the U.S. market, there's a better than even chance it was smuggled into the U.S by one of the cartels anyway. How stupid would that be?

As for the DEA/Dept of Justice statement, it's just plain false. One of two things are going on here. One is to continue with the myth that guns are purchased in the U.S. and smuggled into Mexico to fuel the drug war. The second is to let people know that the illegal "military grade" weapons are here only because they were preparing them to be sent to Mexico. The last thing the government wants is for U.S. citizens to get pumped up about fully automatic military weapons and explosives coming into the country illegally as well as Mexican citizens. That's bad politically.

So, the ruse goes on. This is just another example.

Read the DEA press release:

OCT 22 - WASHINGTON – DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart joined Attorney General Eric Holder and other federal officials today to announce the results of "Project Coronado", a 44-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation which targeted the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and ATF Acting Director Kenneth E. Melson also participated in the announcement.

Yesterday and today, 303 individuals in 19 states were arrested in a series of takedowns through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement. More than 3,000 agents and officers operated across the United States to make the arrests during the two-day takedown. 62 kilograms of cocaine, 729 pounds of methamphetamine, 967 pounds of marijuana, 144 weapons, 109 vehicles, 2 clandestine drug labs were also seized in the past two days.

“Project Coronado, our massive assault on the La Familia Cartel, is part of our continued fight against all of the powerful Mexico-based drug cartels,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “This organization, the newest of Mexican cartels, is directly responsible for a vast majority of the methamphetamine pouring into our country across our Southwest Border, and has had a hand in fueling the cycle of violence that is wracking Mexico today. DEA, along with our U.S. and Mexican partners, are committed to strategically attacking the international and domestic drug trade with every tool at our disposal, and defeating those that thrive on the suffering of others.”

The La Familia cartel is a violent drug trafficking cartel based in the state of Michoacan, in southwestern Mexico. According to court documents, La Familia controls drug manufacturing and distribution in and around Michoacan, including the importation of vast quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States. La Familia is philosophically opposed to the sale of methamphetamine to Mexicans, and instead supports its export to the United States for consumption by Americans. La Familia is a heavily armed cartel that has utilized violence to support its narcotics trafficking business including murders, kidnappings and assaults. According to one indictment unsealed in New York, associates of La Familia based in the United States have allegedly acquired military-grade weapons, including assault weapons and ammunition, and have arranged for them to be smuggled back into Mexico for use by La Familia. Individuals indicted in the cases are charged with a variety of crimes, including: conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana; distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana; conspiracy to import narcotics into the United States; money laundering; and other violations of federal law. Numerous defendants face forfeiture allegations as well.

"This unprecedented, coordinated U.S. law enforcement action - the largest ever undertaken against a Mexican drug cartel - has dealt a significant blow to La Familia’s supply chain of illegal drugs, weapons, and cash flowing between Mexico and the United States,” said Attorney General Holder. “We will not allow these cartels to operate unfettered in our country, and with the increases in cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities in recent years, we are taking the fight to our adversaries. We will continue to stand strong with our partners in Mexico as we work to disrupt and dismantle cartel operations on both sides of the border.”

To date, Project Coronado has led to the arrest of 1,186 individuals and the seizure of approximately $33 million in U.S. currency, 1,999 kilograms of cocaine, 2,730 pounds of methamphetamine, 29 pounds of heroin, 16,390 pounds of marijuana, 389 weapons, 269 vehicles, and two clandestine drug labs.

“Intelligence-driven investigations such as Project Coronado are the key to disrupting the operations of complex criminal organizations like La Familia. Together – with the strong collaboration of our international, federal, state, and local partners – we have dealt a substantial blow to a group that has polluted our neighborhoods with illicit drugs and has terrorized Mexico with unimaginable violence,” said FBI Director Mueller.

“ATF’s arrest of defendants in Project Coronado highlight the almost inseparable link between illegal trafficking of firearms and narcotics between the U.S. and Mexico,” said ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson. “ATF is on the frontline against violent crime and focuses its investigative tools on criminal groups such as La Familia, which use firearms to further their illegal trade and ruin and endanger countless lives. It is alleged that La Familia used proceeds from the sale of drugs to purchase or obtain hundreds of firearms that were then moved illicitly to Mexico.”

Arrests were made or charges were unsealed related to Project Coronado in the following districts: Central District of California, Southern District of California, District of Colorado, Northern District of Georgia, District of Massachusetts, District of Minnesota, Southern District of Mississippi, Eastern District of Missouri, Northern District of Oklahoma, Southern District of New York, Northern District of New York, Middle District of North Carolina, District of South Carolina, Middle District of Tennessee, Eastern District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, and the Western District of Washington. There were also arrests by state authorities in California, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia. Assistance for Project Coronado was provided by the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section and Office of International Affairs. Additionally, local prosecutions will occur throughout the United States.

The investigative efforts in Project Coronado were coordinated by the multi-agency Special Operations Division, comprised of agents and analysts from the DEA, FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service and ATF, as well as attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section. More than 300 federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies contributed investigative and prosecutorial resources to Project Coronado through OCDETF.

An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.