August 1997

OPERATIONS RECIPROCITY & LIMELIGHT

Operations Reciprocity and Limelight were separate, but related investigations; they targeted two trafficking cells that were controlled by the Amado Carillo-Fuentes Organization (ACFO), a high-level trafficking syndicate headquartered in Mexico. They were significant cases because they illustrated how drug traffickers from Mexico were assuming a dominant role in cocaine distribution within the United States. The ACFO was delivering drugs directly to the East Coast, particularly New York City, which had previously been dominated by traffickers from Colombia and Nigeria. The investigations revealed that the ACFO was also linked with surrogate organizations stretching from Mexico to Chicago; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; and other areas of the United States.

Like the majority of high-level investigations that ultimately lead to the arrest of international traffickers, these cases began in response to seemingly routine drug arrests. In late 1996, two troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety stopped a van with New York plates on Interstate 30. When searching the vehicle's walls, the troopers found over $2 million in U.S. currency. This money was directly connected to other investigations occurring simultaneously in different areas of the country.

On December 3, 1996, the Tucson Police Department and drug task force officers raided a warehouse containing 5.3 tons of cocaine, which was ultimately connected to the vehicle stopped by the two Texas state troopers. Ten days later, the same troopers stopped a northbound tractor trailer and seized 2,700 pounds of marijuana. A follow-up investigation linked this interdiction to their previous seizure of currency, to the cocaine warehouse in Tucson, and to ongoing investigations in Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, and New York. By putting together numerous cases, a pattern developed showing that the powerful ACFO was using U.S. trucks and employees to transport huge amounts of cocaine to various destinations within the United States. In February 1997, the DEA brought together all 20 organizations working on the case for a mutual exchange of information and to sign a reciprocal agreement to cooperate, which is how Operation Reciprocity was given its name. Both operations closed successfully in August 1997.