CARTELS LINKED TO GANGS IN SUBURBS

Cops Discover Big Stashes Of Cocaine

A recent spate of drug seizures in the Chicago area are only a sliver of a
multimillion-dollar trade that has been expanding, especially throughout
the western and southwestern suburbs, and fueling street gang violence in
many communities, according to local federal agents and investigators.

Agents have long monitored Chicago as a trading post for Mexican drug
cartels. But, over the last five years, investigators have increasingly
turned their attention to suburbs such as Aurora, Addison, Elgin and
Glendale Heights.

In Aurora recently, police officers were running down a routine, random tip
when they stopped Luis and Aaron Ramirez in the brothers' mini-van. A
search of the van and the brothers' Aurora homes led to the discovery of
550 kilograms of cocaine, wrapped in duct tape and stashed in an attic and
under floorboards, with an estimated street value of $61 million,
authorities said.

It was the biggest drug bust in Aurora history, but it was just one in a
two-week string of suburban seizures that included 312 kilograms of cocaine
discovered in guacamole barrels in an Addison warehouse and 118 kilograms
seized from the trunk of a car in Joliet. In all, 980 kilograms of cocaine
were rounded up in 18 days in those suburbs.

"We're seeing more street gangs in the suburbs having direct contacts with
these international drug cartels," said Pat O'Dea, a supervisor with the
Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago. "That's what we're going after."

DEA, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents have teamed
with local investigators in Aurora and elsewhere to set up stings and
arrest drug traffickers with hopes that busts could lead them to Mexican
cartel bosses. In the last three years, the stings have led to the arrests
of more than 100 gang members and associates on federal charges of drug
trafficking, weapons possession and other crimes.

In a yearlong sting in Aurora that ended in July, federal agents
eavesdropped on the mobile phone conversations of members of a street gang
as they made deals in code and paid off an alleged member of a Reynosa,
Mexico, drug cartel living in Aurora. A federal indictment said the cartel
representative "gathers as much as $2 million in cash, loads it into one or
two vehicles and drives the money to Mexico."

To demonstrate the financial muscle of cartel-connected street gangs,
agents asked a judge to set bond for one of the suspects at $500,000. The
next day, a woman arrived at the jail carrying a backpack filled with
$500,000 in cash, agents said. The cash was confiscated and the suspect
stayed in jail.

"They're well-entrenched, they're loyal and they have a lot of cash," said
Stephen Gomez, a supervisory special agent for the FBI in the western
suburbs. "That amount of activity, occurring at that level, it's a little
surprising for the suburbs."

Investigators said they have not connected the Ramirez brothers to local
gangs or Mexican cartels.

The owner of a home on Columbia Street in Aurora who rented to Luis Ramirez
said the brothers were from Durango, Mexico.

Federal investigators will be asking more questions soon. Less than a week
after the arrests, DEA agents stepped in and opened an investigation into
the Ramirez brothers, who remain in jail on $50 million bail each.

"If they're sitting on 500 kilograms of coke, they're likely going to be
members of an organization," said Gilbert Gonzalez, a coordinator for the
El Paso Intelligence Center, or EPIC, a DEA information clear-inghouse.
"They may be lower members, like house sitters. If so, they're not going to
be able to tell you much if they're arrested. But they are members trusted
enough to be sitting on that amount of merchandise."

Aurora has been of particular interest to federal agents because of its
size and increasing number of Latino residents and entrenched gangs, which
have been active since the 1970s. The more Spanish-speaking residents in
town, the likelier a Mexican cartel would be to send a representative,
Gomez said.

Competition among gangs for drugs has spurred violence. Last year, Aurora
had 25 homicides, pushing the murder rate--killings per 100,000--to more
than four times the national average. So far this year, Aurora has had 13
killings.

"What's really frightening is that the bullets don't seem to be within the
same boundaries," said Al Signorelli, whose son, Jeff, 18, was shot and
killed at a garage party with friends last year. "They're shooting everywhere."

Police said the shooting was likely gang-related, though Jeff Signorelli
was not believed to be involved in gangs.

The bulk of the drugs reaching the Chicago area originates in Colombia and
is transported to cities in Mexico, agents said. From there, the drugs are
driven across Texas' western border, particularly the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso
crossing, hidden in tractor trailers, SUVs or pickup trucks, and hauled to
the Chicago area.

Federal agents said they hope markings on seized packages or information
gleaned from those arrested in the suburbs could lead them back down
Interstate Highway 55 to the Mexican cartels orchestrating the
distribution. But the task is never simple, said David Cuthbertson, FBI
assistant special agent in charge in Chicago.

"The challenge is the cartel leaders are Mexican citizens within the
borders of Mexico," Cuthbertson said. "Mexico won't extradite its citizens.
The major cartel leaders are under indictment in the U.S. But that's where
it kind of stops."