December 2000

OPERATION IMPUNITY II

On December 14, 2000, the DEA, FBI, and the U.S. Customs Service announced arrests in 10 cities, marking the conclusion of Operation Impunity II, a nationwide investigation begun in October 1999. Operation Impunity II targeted a Mexico-based organization responsible for trafficking cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to the United States. Federal agents, supported by local and state police agencies, carried out the arrests in Brownsville, McAllen, and Houston, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Mississippi; Memphis; Chicago; and New York. These arrests, together with prior Operation Impunity II enforcement activities, resulted in a total of 155 arrests, and the seizure of 5,490 kilograms of cocaine; 9,526 pounds of marijuana; and $11 million in U.S. currency. The individuals arrested faced a variety of federal charges for their involvement in smuggling thousands of pounds of cocaine and marijuana from Mexico, across the southwest border into Texas, for distribution throughout the United States.

Furthermore, on December 14, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brownsville, Texas, unsealed an indictment charging Mexico-based drug trafficker Osiel Cardenas-Guillen and seven other members of his organization. They were charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs and assault on federal agents working on Operation Cazadores, an OCDETF investigation. The assault occurred in November 1999 when Cardenas-Guillen and his associates attempted the assault and kidnapping of DEA Special Agent Joseph Dubois and FBI Special Agent Daniel Fuentes. Given this serious threat of violence of federal agents, the U.S. State Department announced a reward of up to $2 million for the arrest or conviction of Cardenas-Guillen or his two lieutenants, Juan Manuel Garza Rendon and Adan Medrano.

Impunity II was the third phase of an investigation that began in August 1996 with Operation Limelight and continued in January 1998 with Operation Impunity I. All three investigations targeted the same trafficking organization. Some of the defendants arrested during Operation Impunity II were organization leaders who replaced those who had been arrested in the previous investigations. The three-phases of these investigations, clearly demonstrate the tenacity of some trafficking organizations and the need for law enforcement to continuously investigate groups that are large and well-established.

Osiel Cardenas-Guillen (top) and two of is lieutenants - Juan Manuel Garza Rendon (center) and Adan Medrano (bottom) - were charged with assault on an FBI agent and a DEA agent in Matamoros, Mexico, on November 9, 1999.