| | |  Americas & Beyond | November 2009 
15 Are Indicted in Chicago in Push on Mexican Cartel
 Randal C. Archibold - New York Times
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November 21, 2009
 |  | The indictments in Chicago represent a continuing resolve to crack down on the cartel north of the border. |  | | |
Federal authorities said Friday that they had struck a blow against a major Mexican drug trafficking group operating in the Chicago area, indicting 15 members responsible for one of the more significant cocaine distribution networks there.
The investigation, officials said, uncovered a “command and control” group distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine for La Familia Michoacana, a major cartel in Mexico known for its messianic leaders and propensity to behead enemies. Last month, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced federal charges against 300 people linked to the organization in 19 states.
The indictments in Chicago, officials said, represent a continuing resolve to crack down on the cartel north of the border.
In Chicago, prosecutors said, the cartel’s cell had taken orders from Mexico since at least 2007 to import and distribute cocaine, largely in suburbs including Berwyn, Hickory Hills, Joliet and Oak Lawn. A complaint filed in August, when most of the members were initially arrested, said the group collected some $20 million in proceeds.
All 15 were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, while some defendants also face other drug-related charges.
Investigators seized 550 pounds of cocaine and $8 million.
The indictment and the earlier complaint detail an elaborate organization that used a network of couriers and stash houses to ferry and store the drugs and to move packaged money around a number of cities, apparently in preparation to transport it to Mexico.
Investigators gathered evidence by tapping cellphones, conducting surveillance on several houses and pulling things like financial ledgers from trash cans.
The members spoke in slang and code words, according to the complaint, with one dealer, for instance, saying to another, “I called the man over there, I have the tickets,” meaning drug proceeds.
“Let’s see if you can do two hours” meant an order for the delivery of two kilograms of cocaine, the complaint said.
Two men, Jorge L. Torres-Galvan and Jose Gonzalez-Zavala, were identified by prosecutors as supervisors who oversaw the Chicago operation for the cartel and received orders from an unnamed individual in Mexico.
Their lawyers did not return telephone messages Friday.
La Familia, based in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacán, emerged in about 2006 as a major player among the cartels, with a leader who goes by the name the Craziest One. Mr. Holder has called it an excessively violent cartel, even by the bloody standards in Mexico, where several thousands of people, mostly drug traffickers and law enforcement officers, have been killed in recent years.
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