Beyond The Horizon
Luis Eduardo González García And The Elaborate Network Used To Move Product In The U.S. (6/22/24)
Luis Eduardo González García was a significant figure in international drug trafficking, particularly connected to the operations in the Chicago area. He orchestrated a sophisticated smuggling and money laundering network from 2012 to 2017, during which he partnered with Mexican drug cartels to transport thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States. González García set up numerous front companies in Chicago and its suburbs, as well as in Texas and Georgia, to disguise his illegal activities. These companies, purportedly selling furniture, snack foods, and laundry detergents, concealed cocaine shipments and laundered millions of dollars in proceeds.
His operation involved hiding drugs and cash in box pallets of legitimate goods, which were transported from Mexico using semi-trailer trucks with unsuspecting drivers. Over this period, González García managed to distribute thousands of kilograms of cocaine and launder over $50 million back to cartel accounts in Mexico.
In 2022, after pleading guilty to federal drug conspiracy and money laundering charges, González García was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and fined $1.5 million. His arrest in 2018 by DEA agents in Guatemala marked the culmination of his criminal activities, which had significantly enriched both himself and his cartel partners, such as the Sinaloa cartel and the New Generation cartel.
When you are dealing with cartels such as the Sinaloa cartel, you know that they are going to have many different front operations to move their product and many different ways to wash the money as it comes back to them. In this episode, we take a look at one of these elaborate operations that utilized trucks to bring tons of cocaine into the United States and the eventual arrest of the man behind it.
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to contact me:
bobbycapucci@protonmail.com
source:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgp4pb/how-a-drug-smuggler-moved-cocaine-around-the-us-and-sent-dollar56-million-to-mexican-cartels
- Duration:
- 13m
- Broadcast on:
- 22 Jun 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
With the Lucky Land Sluts, you can get Lucky just about anywhere. Daily Beloved, we're gathered here today. Has anyone seen the bride and groom? Sorry, sorry, we're here. We were getting Lucky in the limo when we lost track of time. No, Lucky Land Casino, with cash prizes that add up quicker than a guest registry. In that case, I pronounce you Lucky. Play for free at LuckyLand Sluts.com. No purchase necessary. BGWH prohibited by law, 18+ terms and conditions apply. What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. In this episode, we're going to talk about an elaborate smuggling ring that was used to help move cocaine around the United States and to enrich the cartels to the tune of $56 million. So, let's get into this article from BICE NEWS, and let's see what's up. Headline, how a drug smuggler moved cocaine around the U.S. and sent $56 million to Mexican cartels. This article was authored by Nathaniel Janowitz. Luis Eduardo Gonzalez-Garcia was sentenced to 30 years for running a sophisticated network of warehouses to move cocaine around the U.S. So, when people think of these drug narcotic groups, they think of a bunch of stupid drug dealers that are just sitting around doing drugs and selling some drugs. That's not the case. When we're talking about these cartels, the people who are running these cartels are basically Fortune 500 CEOs. They're just doing it in an illegal manner. A drug trafficker is going to prison after sending an estimated $56 million back to the Mexican cartels. The profits from cocaine that he helped smuggle through a sophisticated network of warehouses and front companies around the United States. There are so many of these front operations in business. Every time I drive by one of these car washes, or I drive by a smoke shop, I say to my girlfriend, I'm like, "You think these guys are a front for the cartels?" And my mind is so pinned on this stuff now, considering I've been working on this for a while, and I'm talking to a couple of sources who actually live the life. So I just have these visions now with everything being a front company, all these cash businesses. And obviously they're not. But when you're deep and you're investigating something, you start to see some ghosts. And here in Las Vegas, I really wonder about these car washes. Now, obviously it's hyperbole, I'm saying every time I see one, but there are some that pop up. And I say to myself, "Man, oh man, this would be the perfect front operation for somebody who's trying to hide their wages." Somebody who has to have some tax returns, but also needs to use a shop to wash their money through. And I see this car wash that's literally a block away from my house. And we always make that joke, that it's some kind of cartel washing operation, all kinds of pun intended by the way. Luis Eduardo Gonzalez-Garcia is 61, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in a federal prison after being busted running the scheme for years, hiding the cocaine in trucks that he used to import legitimate products like laundry detergent, furniture, and Mexican snack foods to the U.S., according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. And this is another key that people need to realize. I know people want to talk about having border walls and border security, and I agree we have to have a secure border. That's just common sense. But what I don't agree with is trying to act like the people coming across that border are the ones bringing all these drugs into America. That's just not the truth. These drugs are being brought in via legal means such as this. They come in because of NAFTA and the insane amount of trucks that are moving through these ports of entry, they can only check a very small number. So, do you think it's difficult for the cartels to load tons and tons of cocaine on a bunch of different trucks, knowing that some of them, most of them, are going to get through? So it doesn't have anything to do with people coming across the border and bringing drugs. I mean, how much drugs are you possibly going to bring in a backpack? He made millions through a smuggling network, working with various Mexican drug cartels, and used it to fund a lucrative life of yachts, horses, and luxury cars. Well, what else are you going to do if you're in bed with a cartel? You're obviously somebody who's greedy and somebody who wants that dough, so you might as well spend it. Gonzalez Garcia posed as a regular business owner, registering his companies with the U.S. government, and even gave each of their own websites, uniforms, and logos, according to court documents seen by Vice World News. Using his vast shipping networks, drug cartels, hid cocaine on so-called dirty pallets inside trucks containing other products imported from Mexico, to his various warehouses located in states like Illinois, Texas, and Georgia. And this is just common knowledge to people who follow this. My source was telling me that they don't care about losing the loads that get interdicted. It's the cost of doing business. It's the same as Walmart or Target or any of these gigantic big box stores writing off their losses each year. It's the same thing for these cartels. So, okay, great. You nailed a ton of cocaine. We got through 500 tons. And that's what he was telling me. And the way he was elaborating on how it all goes down, it is just insane. And I can't wait to have that whole project finished up so I can share it with you folks. But all of the different things that go into it, it's just insane how much it resembles a Fortune 500 company. The U.S. government estimated that through the businesses that they targeted, Gonzales Garcia laundered and sent back over 50 million to Mexican cartels between 2012 and 2017. But U.S. law enforcement considers that just a fraction of the proceeds funneled through the defendant's DTO, drug trafficking organization warehouses, as this figure does not include any of the earnings from multiple other known DTO warehouses. So, look, every time you nail one, another one's going to pop up. It's next man up for these cartels. And it's never going to change. And that's why the war on drugs is a failure, and that's why prohibition in general is a failure. Prior to sentencing, Gonzales Garcia's lawyers attempted to betray him in court as a remorseful family man, who was recruited to join the drug trafficking business because of knowledge about moving goods across the border. He developed over decades of legitimate business enterprises. Clouded in bad judgment, Mr. Gonzales Garcia started to supplement his income with the quick cash of trafficking cocaine, a decision he will forever regret. If it was me, I would say that they extorted me. Cartel said they were going to kill my family if I didn't do this. Probably your best bet at the very least to get a lighter sentence. His lawyer submitted letters asking for leniency to the judge from family members, the Mexican town mayor of Sarolvo, where he grew up and lived, and a young priest who he'd supported through his priesthood and study in the seminary. They argue that Gonzales Garcia's involvement in drug trafficking was just a small chapter in his life. And that during that period, he never resorted to violence. Well, it's not his violence, unfortunately. It's the violence that just comes with cocaine. And there's no doubt that there's nothing more violent than the cocaine trade. It brings violence wherever it comes. And if you're moving cocaine, you're involved in cocaine at any point, even if you're selling little bags, grand bags, well, you're involved in the problem, unfortunately. Now, what I will say is the real problem is the government, you know, with prohibition. But everybody who gets involved with cocaine, you're going to have a little bit of blood on your hands, unfortunately, folks. But U.S. authorities painted a different picture of Gonzales Garcia, saying that although the government does not have evidence that the defendant ever used violence and furtherance of drug trafficking, he was certainly willing to. Authorities submitted a series of text messages to the court from Gonzales Garcia, where he discussed having one of his underlings murdered, then he was worried that he was going to snitch to the cops. I'll get rid of him, Gonzales Garcia wrote, because the company doesn't tolerate bullshit cooperating with law enforcement. When he says company, he meant the cartel, and they certainly don't. And if you're somebody who's brought somebody in and you're caught as the person who's vouching for this person and they become a snitch or a rat, you're going to be in big trouble too. Gonzales Garcia worked with the notorious Mexican gangster Martin Vallegas, Navarette, known as El Elagante, or the elegant one in English, according to court documents. Navarette was a high-ranking member of the ruthless Mexican drug cartel called the Beltran Leyva Organization, the BLO. And the Beltran Leyva organization certainly is a group of maniacs. Dudes that have no problem chopping you into little pieces and sending those little pieces to your family. Gonzales Garcia's lawyers attempted to shift blame towards Navarette calling him the ringleader of the conspiracy. Unlike Mr. Gonzales Garcia, Mr. Vallegas Navarette has made a life of trafficking drugs, terrorizing communities, and committing crime. His terror is legendary throughout Mexico, they wrote. And while all of that is true, if I was a juror, I'd be saying to myself, well, how didn't you know getting in bed with this guy was a bad idea. Vallegas Navarette was arrested in Mexico in 2015 and extradited to the U.S. in 2018 on drug trafficking charges, dating back to a 2011 indictment. It's then that Gonzales Garcia's involvement in smuggling cocaine became known to authorities, when Vallegas Navarette gave a detailed interview that implicated him, which was included in the court documents. So just another snitch, right? Another one of these street people, another one of these cartel members, who can't really do the time. I'm sure he was balling out of control when he was chopping people up and throwing them in vats of acid. But the second he gets nailed, it's time to turn snitch, huh? Vallegas Navarette claimed that he met Gonzales Garcia in Chicago around 1997, and that his involvement in the drug trade began much earlier than 2012. The convicted trafficker alleged that by 2008 or 2009, Gonzales Garcia was already involved in transporting drugs for the Zeta's cartel. Specifically mentioning he worked with notorious bosses, Eriberto Lascono and Miguel Angel Trevino Morales. So for those of you who aren't hip, the Las Zeta's were the most brutal of the most brutal when the cartels first cracked off. And they were being used as a paramilitary hit squad, because that's what they were. They were all ex-special forces, ex-military members, and they were put together as this brutal group of killers, and then that morphed into their own cartel. Vallegas Navarette also alleged that Gonzales Garcia worked with several Colombian cocaine producers, and that his role was as a businessman for the cartels, who would put sources of supply and contact with wholesale distributors and acting as a transportation cell to deliver the drugs and/or money on whatever agreement was reached. Not all of Vallegas Navarette's claims were mentioned in court or are proven. Gonzales Garcia's lawyers alleged that Vallegas Navarette offered up their client and others in order to receive a lighter sentence. Vallegas Navarette received nearly a 14-year sentence, less than half than Gonzales Garcia. Wow, so another story of the connections, and another story of how all of this works. You see, without the money laundering, and honestly, folks, without the financial sector, the banks, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, all of the rest of them, these guys couldn't operate the way they do, because without the laundering operation, they'd never be able to ship this money back to Mexico. Remember, that's what it's all about, getting the money back, and that's the hardest part. So guys like this, like Mr. Gonzales Garcia, they're crucial to an operation and the way that operation runs, but when one of them gets nailed, you certainly run the risk of them becoming an informant for the state. However, you're also running that risk with people who are in the organization, as we see here, with Mr. Vallegas Navarette. Alright, folks, that's going to do it for this one. If you'd like to contact me, you can do that at bobbykapucci@protonmel.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I at protonmel.com. You can also find me on Twitter at B-O-B-B-Y_C-A-P-U-C-C-I. 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