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2023-12-16 -Lurid Crime Tales-
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How a single sniper rifle uncovered America's gun pipeline to the cartels: Weapon seized deep in Mexican gangland led US investigators to Wisconsin town where $600,000-a-year arms smuggling business was booming
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| Much more, plus the usual photos and maps, at the link. |
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] - 'Gun 31' - a .50 caliber sniper seized in a police raid in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in 2018 - was 'the key' to the cartel's US pipeline
- The gun led investigators to a gun store in the small Wisconsin city, Racine, where a local family - working with a cousin in Mexico - were supplying the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel
- The Racine case unlocked 'the most prolific Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) firearms trafficking network ever discovered' - with cells across the US
in 2018, Racine's suburban sprawl on the edge of Lake Michigan became a source of high caliber weapons for one of Mexico's top fentanyl trafficking gangs, the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).
The cartel exploited permissive federal and state-level gun control rules to buy some of the most powerful weapons available to American civilians, according to two former agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and two other sources, all with knowledge of the investigation.
Members of a local family, working with a cousin in Mexico, enlisted friends and relatives who bought guns on their behalf in Racine and transported them to California and south across the border, according to an indictment from Wisconsin's Eastern District Court unsealed in February.
Their clients included a hit squad reporting to CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera, better known as 'El Mencho,' according to Chris Demlein, one of the former ATF agents.
The Racine case unlocked 'the most prolific CJNG firearms trafficking network ever discovered,' said Demlein, who until 2021 served as a senior special agent with ATF and oversaw a multi-agency arms trafficking project that coordinated dozens of investigations.
The traffickers in Racine and connected cells in two other locations bought more than $600,000 of high-end military-style firearms in under a year, internal ATF documents allege. It seemed like an unprecedented shopping spree, said Tim Sloan, the other former ATF investigator. Sloan was the first to trace a CJNG gun to Racine.
Racine was just the tip of the iceberg. The city was a key part of a CJNG firearms network that bought hundreds of guns from more than a dozen U.S. states, specializing in semi-automatic .50 caliber rifles and FN SCAR assault rifles designed for U.S. special forces, internal ATF reports obtained by Reuters allege.
ATF dubbed the Wisconsin case 'Grin and Barrett,' after Barrett, a Tennessee-based weapons maker whose powerful .50 caliber firearms were among those trafficked by the network. Now a unit of Australia's NIOA Group, Barrett did not respond to detailed requests for comment for this report.
ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua declined to comment on what she described as an open case. Mastropasqua said preventing cross-border firearms trafficking was an ATF priority and new powers had led to 250 people being charged since last year.
Overseeing much of the network was Mexican citizen Jesus Cisneros, according to ATF internal presentations that cited his intercepted communications with other suspects about moving .50 calibers and other firearms to Mexico. The Wisconsin indictment charged Cisneros and a local accomplice named Victor Cobian on multiple counts related to gun trafficking.
One internal ATF presentation cited more than 28 pending indictments related to the wider network.
Cisneros is believed to reside in Mexico, one of the sources with knowledge of the investigation said. The source requested anonymity to speak freely.
Cobian told Reuters in an interview that Cisneros was his cousin and lived in Jalisco. Cobian, who pleaded not guilty to gun-trafficking charges, denied involvement in or knowledge of the alleged trafficking scheme.
Overseeing much of the network was Mexican citizen Jesus Cisneros, according to ATF internal presentations that cited his intercepted communications with other suspects about moving .50 calibers and other firearms to Mexico. The Wisconsin indictment charged Cisneros and a local accomplice named Victor Cobian on multiple counts related to gun trafficking.
One internal ATF presentation cited more than 28 pending indictments related to the wider network.
A spokesperson for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Attorney's Office said they could only comment on public court records, adding those records suggested Cisneros was 'the lead player' in the Wisconsin conspiracy.
Cisneros is believed to reside in Mexico, one of the sources with knowledge of the investigation said. The source requested anonymity to speak freely.
Cobian told Reuters in an interview that Cisneros was his cousin and lived in Jalisco. Cobian, who pleaded not guilty to gun-trafficking charges, denied involvement in or knowledge of the alleged trafficking scheme.
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Posted by Skidmark 2023-12-16 00:00||
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Posted by Procopius2k 2023-12-16 15:31||
2023-12-16 15:31||
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