For several years, a cell of the Mexican Cartel Jalisco New Generation operated out of Houston, using the city as a hub in their distribution of synthetic drugs and cocaine.
This week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced a 50-count indictment against 41 individuals who were allegedly working for CGNJ to move fentanyl pills and crystal meth, among other drugs. Out of those 41 individuals, authorities arrested 23 recently and continue searching for several others. The cell ringleader, 52-year-old Roque Zamudio Mendoza, from Michoacan, Mexico, is believed to be hiding in Mexico.
Court documents do not specify details about the crossing areas used by the cartel or their methods of distributing the drugs, but authorities revealed that from Houston, CJNG members would move their shipments to New Orleans, Louisiana; Pensacola, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; and Chicago, Illinois. The indictment claims that the smugglers moved drugs for CJNG from 2018 to 2020. It remains unclear if members of the group continued their operation since then.
Cartel Jalisco New Generation is one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels and has been linked to several terror-stye attacks where they have used explosives. This criminal organization has been at the forefront of implementing the use of IEDs and weaponized drones as they wage fierce turf wars against Sinaloa Cartel factions and other cartels.
The indictment and the operation against a Houston-based CJNG cell come as the Texas city has been dealing with a public relations nightmare. As Breitbart Texas reported, a series of audits revealed that in an eight-year span, the Houston Police Department did not investigate and filed away more than 260,000 criminal cases, including more than 4,000 sexual assault cases.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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