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December
2000
OPERATION IMPUNITY II
On December 14, 2000,
the DEA, FBI, and the U.S. Customs Service announced arrests in 10 cities,
marking the conclusion of Operation Impunity II, a nationwide investigation
begun in October 1999. Operation Impunity II targeted a Mexico-based organization
responsible for trafficking cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to the United
States. Federal agents, supported by local and state police agencies,
carried out the arrests in Brownsville, McAllen, and Houston, Texas; Columbus,
Ohio; Louisville, Mississippi; Memphis; Chicago; and New York. These arrests,
together with prior Operation Impunity II enforcement activities, resulted
in a total of 155 arrests, and the seizure of 5,490 kilograms of cocaine;
9,526 pounds of marijuana; and $11 million in U.S. currency. The individuals
arrested faced a variety of federal charges for their involvement in smuggling
thousands of pounds of cocaine and marijuana from Mexico, across the southwest
border into Texas, for distribution throughout the United States.
Furthermore, on December
14, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Brownsville, Texas, unsealed an
indictment charging Mexico-based drug trafficker Osiel Cardenas-Guillen
and seven other members of his organization. They were charged with conspiracy
to distribute drugs and assault on federal agents working on Operation
Cazadores, an OCDETF investigation. The assault occurred in November 1999
when Cardenas-Guillen and his associates attempted the assault and kidnapping
of DEA Special Agent Joseph Dubois and FBI Special Agent Daniel Fuentes.
Given this serious threat of violence of federal agents, the U.S. State
Department announced a reward of up to $2 million for the arrest or conviction
of Cardenas-Guillen or his two lieutenants, Juan Manuel Garza Rendon and
Adan Medrano.
Impunity II was
the third phase of an investigation that began in August 1996 with Operation
Limelight and continued in January 1998 with Operation Impunity I. All
three investigations targeted the same trafficking organization. Some
of the defendants arrested during Operation Impunity II were organization
leaders who replaced those who had been arrested in the previous investigations.
The three-phases of these investigations, clearly demonstrate the tenacity
of some trafficking organizations and the need for law enforcement to
continuously investigate groups that are large and well-established.
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Osiel
Cardenas-Guillen (top) and two of is lieutenants - Juan Manuel Garza
Rendon (center) and Adan Medrano (bottom) - were charged with assault
on an FBI agent and a DEA agent in Matamoros, Mexico, on November
9, 1999. |
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