43 PEOPLE IN U.S., MEXICO FACE DRUG CHARGES

Federal Agencies Say Suspected Cartel Leaders, Many at Large, Are
Among Indicted

Law enforcement officials announced criminal drug-trafficking charges
Thursday against 43 people in the United States and Mexico, including
suspected leaders of prominent cartels in a country that has been
plagued with gun violence.

Federal agencies including the Justice Department, the Drug
Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement announced the cases, filed in New York and Chicago. Eight
defendants were arrested in the past week, and several current and
former suspected kingpins in the organized-crime syndicate known as
the Sinaloa cartel remained at large, authorities said.

The action marks the latest attempt by U.S. and Mexican law
enforcement authorities to stem the flow of drugs, weapons and cash
across the southwestern U.S. border.

The indictments "demonstrate our unwavering commitment to root out the
leaders of these criminal enterprises wherever they may be found,"
said U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

Between 1990 and 2008, the indictments say, the suspected drug lords
and their allies imported and distributed on American soil nearly 200
tons of cocaine and vast stores of heroin that fetched more than $5.8
billion.

Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who appeared in
Washington alongside Benton J. Campbell, his counterpart from
Brooklyn, said the court filings "are among the most significant drug
conspiracy charges ever returned" in his city.

Fitzgerald said that the suspects had used "practically every means of
transportation imaginable" to import cocaine and heroin into American
neighborhoods, including Boeing 747 cargo planes, submarines,
container ships, fishing vessels, buses, trains and
tractor-trailers.

U.S. agencies are "working closer than ever before" to develop a
united strategy to break down criminal drug operations, said John
Morton, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for
ICE.

Among those charged in indictments unsealed Thursday are Joaquin "El
Chapo" Guzman-Loera, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada-Garcia and Arturo
Beltran-Leyva, who is suspected of helping to run the Sinaloa cartel
in Mexico. El Chapo long has been one of the world's most wanted
suspects. He appeared this year on the Forbes magazine list of the
world's richest people, ranking 701, with an estimated $1 billion fortune.

El Chapo has been indicted in the United States before but has
repeatedly eluded capture.

Also among the 43 defendants are seven other cartel leaders who face
criminal charges, which could send them to prison for life. Most have
ties to Sinaloa, also known as "the Federation," but a minority are
connected to the Juarez cartel and other groups, the Justice
Department said Thursday.