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OPERATIONS RECIPROCITY & LIMELIGHT Operations Reciprocity and Limelight were separate, but related investigations; they targeted two trafficking cells that were controlled by the Amado Carillo-Fuentes Organization (ACFO), a high-level trafficking syndicate headquartered in Mexico. They were significant cases because they illustrated how drug traffickers from Mexico were assuming a dominant role in cocaine distribution within the United States. The ACFO was delivering drugs directly to the East Coast, particularly New York City, which had previously been dominated by traffickers from Colombia and Nigeria. The investigations revealed that the ACFO was also linked with surrogate organizations stretching from Mexico to Chicago; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; and other areas of the United States.
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Like
the majority of high-level investigations that ultimately lead to the
arrest of international traffickers, these cases began in response to
seemingly routine drug arrests. In late 1996, two troopers from the Texas
Department of Public Safety stopped a van with New York plates on Interstate
30. When searching the vehicle's walls, the troopers found over $2 million
in U.S. currency. This money was directly connected to other investigations
occurring simultaneously in different areas of the country.
On
December 3, 1996, the Tucson Police Department and drug task force officers
raided a warehouse containing 5.3 tons of cocaine, which was ultimately
connected to the vehicle stopped by the two Texas state troopers. Ten
days later, the same troopers stopped a northbound tractor trailer and
seized 2,700 pounds of marijuana. A follow-up investigation linked this
interdiction to their previous seizure of currency, to the cocaine warehouse
in Tucson, and to ongoing investigations in Texas, Arizona, Illinois,
Michigan, and New York. By putting together numerous cases, a pattern
developed showing that the powerful ACFO was using U.S. trucks and employees
to transport huge amounts of cocaine to various destinations within the
United States. In February 1997, the DEA brought together all 20 organizations
working on the case for a mutual exchange of information and to sign a
reciprocal agreement to cooperate, which is how Operation Reciprocity
was given its name. Both operations closed successfully in August 1997.