Six were arrested on suspicion of trafficking mass quantities of cocaine, allegedly on behalf of the violent La Familia cartel. The U.S. Attorney’s Office identified them as: Martin Pimintel, 45; Rosalie Aide Quijada, 27; Tiburcio Delgadillo-Martinez, 33; Salvador Delgadillo-Alvarez, 29; Justin Skipski, 28, and Jorge Rosales-Acevedo, 28.
Five more — Salvador Vera-Gigueroa, 37; Emanuel Pimintel, 19; Arceli Topete, age unknown; Lucio Topete-Hernandez, 49 and Daniel Velasquez-Guerro, 36 — are considered fugitives, the USAO said.
  
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Additionally, three Montrose men were arrested and held in Mesa County on Tuesday, Jim Schrant, resident agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Grand Junction office said.
Without identifying the men, U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Jeff Dorschner said they could face state drug charges as well as federal charges. Their role in the federal drug sweep, if any, was not made clear.
Project Coronado netted close to 1,200 arrests nationwide, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a news release. That investigation was launched 44 months ago; the West Slope component began last August.
So far in the West Slope investigation, more than $300,000 have been seized, along with 8 kilos of cocaine and 3 pounds of methamphetamine.
The tally for Project Coronado overall is $32.8 million, 2,710 pounds of meth, 1,999 kilos of cocaine, 29 pounds of heroin, 16,390 pounds of marijuana, 389 weapons and 269 vehicles, with many of the seizures taking place over the past few days.
Schrant said the massive drug sweep is the result of “unprecedented” cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities — and that cartels have a direct impact on Montrose and other small communities.
“It really represents a design by these cartels to utilize small towns as centers of operation,” Schrant said. “The intelligence we’ve done shows they are intentionally trying to go where they believe are points of vulnerability, where they can operate undetected.”
Communities where cartels operate are at risk of the spin-off crimes that go along with drug trafficking.
“This group in Western Colorado is tied to the highest levels of cartel leadership,” Schrant said.
La Familia is capable of pumping hundreds of kilos per week into the U.S. and generating proceeds that come back to Mexico, he said. The $300,000 seized in the West Slope investigation was allegedly a share of that profit.
La Familia controls the drug trade in and around Michoacán, Mexico, Holder said. Though the cartel deals in mass quantities of meth, its leadership is opposed to selling the drug to its own citizens and instead, ships it to America to turn a profit on U.S. addiction.
“They’re one of the most violent cartels in the world,” Schrant said, characterizing the cartel as “ruthless,” for its campaign of assassination against Mexican law enforcement that has included murder by decapitation.
“They try to operate on a level of terror and intimidation.”
The violence has begun creeping across the border, the agent added. “That’s another reason why we’re so aggressively targeting these cartels. We want to get them before they start perpetrating the type of violence in the U.S. that we’ve seen them commit in Mexico.”
Schrant also credited local cooperation with bringing down the cartel. Montrose-based Seventh Judicial District Meth/Drug Task Force was one of several agencies involved in the investigation.
“It represents what can be accomplished when we pull together at all levels. We can have some very significant impacts.”
La Familia is not the first cartel with alleged ties to the Montrose region.
Last December, several county residents were arrested or sought on drug charges relating to the Sinaloa cartel.
Those arrested were Luis Carlos-Marin, 47, of Delta; Abraham Cuevas-Pena, 52, of Delta; Gabino Flores-Hernandez, 61, of Olathe; Juan Carlos Denicolas, 33, of Montrose; Oscar Ceja-Meraz, 31, of Silt and Omar Garcia-Lopez, 32, of El Paso, Texas.
They were initially arrested on local allegations, but indicted federally.
At last report, three others were at large: Cornelio Cuevas-Pena, 42, of Mexico; Martin Andrade-Zuniga, 41, of Mexico and Adrian David Guerra, 36, of Olathe.
Dorschner said that case is related to Thursday’s announcement concerning Project Coronado and is still pending.
Schrant said one of the links between the cartels is the buyers.
“You’ve got these competing cartels that have their own infrastructure as to how they will bring it into the U.S. When you get to people who are purchasing kilo quantities, you are talking about purchasing at a local level, from a variety of different cartels,” he said.
The Sinaloa cartel was alleged to be one drug source for the Montrose area, and La Familia is thought to be another, with buyers going to both cartels, Schrant said.
“That’s why it’s so important that we focus in on the cartel levels, and try to take out the command and control. We think it’s most effective to focus on leadership and the highest levels,” he said.
“We try to hit top to bottom to completely dismantle the organization.”
TOM JONES wrote on Oct 30, 2009 4:10 PM:
It's easy to point fingers at the Mexicans who are usually caught dealing this crap, but it's a big majority of the White community who is buying all of this crap! It's more than a Mexican\Hispanic problem. "
Newschick wrote on Oct 30, 2009 8:26 AM:
Ricardo wrote on Oct 23, 2009 2:28 PM:
Crash wrote on Oct 23, 2009 10:50 AM: