Cracking the "Mexican Gulf " cartel: more than 43 arrested in Atlanta

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced Wednesday that authorities have arrested members of a violent Mexican drug cartel that used the metro area as an important base of operations.

Since Tuesday, authorities say they have apprehended 43 alleged members of the “Gulf Cartel” at drug stash houses across the metro area and seized more than $400,000 and large quantities of narcotics.

“We believe these arrests are a substantial blow to the Gulf Cartel,” Mukasey said at a press conference at the federal courthouse in Atlanta.

The Gulf Cartel is known, even to its rivals, for extreme violence, said Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The cartel’s members have kidnapped, tortured and murdered innocent citizens, law enforcement officers, informants and members of rival drug gangs, Leonhart said. Some murders were by beheading, she said.

“We have hit them hard,” Leonhart said, adding that the arrests and seizures have driven up the cost of cocaine and methamphetamine.

Earlier today and yesterday, indictments were unsealed here in Atlanta and elsewhere as part of a massive international operation against a Mexican-based drug trafficking organization known as the Gulf Cartel. Among those indicted are three leaders of the cartel, each of whom had been on the Justice Department’s Consolidated Priority Organization Target list of the world’s most significant drug traffickers. As of now, operations yesterday and today have resulted in the arrest of 175 people, including 43 in the Atlanta area.
These indictments and arrests are the culmination of a 15-month investigation led by the DEA called Project Reckoning. Between today’s operations and earlier ones, Project Reckoning has resulted in more than 500 arrests, and seizure of drugs and drug money in staggering amounts: more than 16 tons of cocaine, more than 1000 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 25 tons of marijuana, and over $60 million in U.S. currency.

Las autoridades calificaron la operación como un "duro golpe" a uno de los mayores cárteles de la droga mexicanos, que permitió además decomisar 60 millones de dólares y unas 40 toneladas de droga.