41 ARRESTED AS DRUG CARTEL DECIMATED MEXICO'S LARGEST NARCOTICS GANG DISTRIBUTED IN VALLEY.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer Law enforcement officials said Thursday that they have dismantled four drug trafficking networks operating in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. area for Mexico's largest drug gang and arrested 41 people, culminating a two-year investigation. The Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel is believed to have been behind more than 300 slayings and to have shipped tons of cocaine and marijuana into California over the past two decades. ``It is no secret that Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, serves as a major hub for narcotics narcotics n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required. trafficking throughout the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. ,'' Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley Stephen Lawrence ("Steve") Cooley (born May 1, 1947 in Los Angeles, California) is a veteran prosecutor who was elected as Los Angeles County's 36th District Attorney on November 7, 2000. He was sworn in for his second term on December 6, 2004. said. ``Through excellent teamwork by federal, state and local agencies, we have seriously damaged a large, sophisticated and, I can assure you, a very violent, drug-trafficking organization. ``They have used Los Angeles streets and neighborhoods as a staging ground to ship drugs throughout the United States. Now, we will pursue them in our courts.'' While search warrants and arrest warrants were served simultaneously around the country Thursday as part of Operation Vice Grip, more than 400 federal, state and local law enforcement officers executed a series of search warrants at more than 30 locations around Southern California. Cooley's office issued 77 arrest warrants. ``The importance of (Thursday's actions) is the culmination of the final stage of Operation Vice Grip and the unsealing of California arrest warrants for high-level associates of the Arellano-Felix organization,'' said Michele Leonhart Michele Leonhart is the Deputy Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration by the U.S. Senate on March 8, 2004, following her nomination by President George W. Bush. Leonhart graduated from college in Minnesota with a B.S. in Criminal Justice in 1978. , special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was established in 1973 by President richard m. nixon as part of the Justice Department, thus uniting a number of federal drug agencies that had often worked at cross-purposes. . In Panorama City, officers arrested 25-year-old Javier Beltran, also known as Marcelino Jimenez, officials said. They alleged he is part of the Rosario Uriate cell. Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . Sgt. John Pasquariello said LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel.2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. officers arrested 33 people Thursday who are part of the Uriate cell. ``At about 7 a.m., we simultaneously served 24 locations with 62 arrest warrants and, of that, we netted 33 arrests, with three already in custody,'' Pasquariello said. ``Rosario Uriate is in custody. He's charged with felony drug trafficking.'' He said officers seized 3.25 kilograms of cocaine, 200 pounds of marijuana and a pound of tar heroin, with a total street value of $360,000. Officers also seized $68,000 in cash, nine handguns and eight assault rifles. More arrests are expected. LAPD Detective Gerard Kennelly said that before they were arrested, suspects took narcotics from the Los Angeles cells to the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. for distribution. Cooley's office filed criminal complaints Thursday against 64 members of the Rosario Uriate organization. To date, 76 suspects have been arrested and 230 kilograms of cocaine, 172 grams of heroin and 966 pounds of marijuana have been seized, along with $2.2 million in cash. In San Bernardino County, officers raided the family compound of Bernardo DelaCerra, at 10040 Jonquil jonquil: see amaryllis. jonquil Popular garden flower (Narcissus jonquilla), a Mediterranean perennial bulbous herb of the amaryllis family. Drive in Alta Loma. Authorities said the man, known as ``Don Ben,'' is a Tijuana-based kingpin of one of the four cells. Officials said DelaCerra was not arrested and is a DEA DEA - Data Encryption Algorithm fugitive in Mexico. His wife, Alma DelaCerra, was arrested at the Alta Loma home. Officials said warrants were served at the Rancho Cucamonga home of DelaCerra's son, Anthony DelaCerra, and that he was arrested. Warrants were also served at the son's Pasadena business, Fair Oaks Auto Body, at 1055 S. Fair Oaks Ave. The DelaCerra organization is responsible for the distribution of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, and the collection of millions of dollars in drug proceeds, Cooley said. Since August 2001, the investigation of DelaCerra and his associates in the Los Angeles area has resulted in the seizure of 682 pounds of cocaine and $882,961 in cash, the district attorney said. ``DelaCerra was involved in the trafficking from Tijuana for the last 10 years, importing multihundred kilograms of cocaine from Mexico via commercial airlines and vessels and orchestrating transportation of that cocaine to associates in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Boston,'' Leonhart said. ``Don Ben is a fugitive in Mexico, but other members of his organization have been arrested.'' When the LAPD initiated the investigation two years ago, Cooley said, his office obtained a judge's approval to conduct numerous wiretaps. In recent months, DEA and sheriff's investigators used the wiretaps to focus on Avelino Leon, a Los Angeles-based cell head for the Arellano-Felix cartel chief of operations, Ismael Higuera-Guerrero, in Tijuana. The Leon cell obtained large loads of cocaine from Higuera-Guerrero and Mario Alberto-Russel, who were smuggling smuggling, illegal transport across state or national boundaries of goods or persons liable to customs or to prohibition. Smuggling has been carried on in nearly all nations and has occasionally been adopted as an instrument of national policy, as by Great Britain in thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Columbian source of supply Oscar Gomez-Angarita, making millions of dollars in payments to Colombian sources of supply and laundering millions of dollars in U.S. currency from the United States back to Mexico, Cooley said. This cell was destroyed as Higuera-Guerrero and others were arrested in Mexico in May 2000. A fourth wiretap wiretap n. using an electronic device to listen in on telephone lines, which is illegal unless allowed by court order based upon a showing by law enforcement of "probable cause" to believe the communications are part of criminal activities. investigation by the DEA and Sheriff's Department targeted the Los Angeles-based drug trafficking cell linked to Colombian trafficker Carlos Pena. Pena and his associates were involved with arranging the transportation of hundreds of pounds of heroin shipments from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J. ``The Arellano-Felix cartel was gravely wounded when we took out the chief brothers, Benjamin and Ramon, but the rest of the organization is still trying to hold on to power,'' DEA Director Asa Hutchinson said. ``We are bringing to justice those responsible for flooding our streets with cocaine, heroin and violence.'' To date, the operation has resulted in 234 arrests and the seizure of $13.9 million in narcotics proceeds, 13.5 tons of cocaine, 46 pounds of methamphetamine and 4,768 pounds of marijuana. Dismantling the four cells will disrupt drug trafficking by the Arellano- Felix cartel, Leonhart said. ``Obviously, the nature of drug trafficking is there are other people standing there to take over, but we have struck this blow and disrupted their transportation to Los Angeles and other areas of the country severely,'' Leonhart said. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Some of the weapons confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. from drug suspects were on display at a news conference. Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer |
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