Caribbean Gang Franchises linked operationally to Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations.
I indicated since 2003 that the Mara Salvatuchra or MS 13 , and the Trinitarios (the Dominicano gang active throughout the US , St Thomas, St Croix, Belize and peripherally through proxies in some Antillean islands), are the proxies of some powerful Mexican “narco-cartels” . Increasingly Caribbean gangs are as I have stated previously, displaying certain characteristics most often associated with terrorist organizations i.e. kidnappings used as a political bargaining chip whilst simultaneously using kidnapping as a revenue stream, their use of highly sophisticated military grade weapons, tactics of dismemberment of rivals and even civilians as a means of sowing terror and fear in their opposition, local populations and the elite within the state apparatus.
Drug trafficking is viewed as a primary threat to citizen security and U.S. interests in Latin America and the Caribbean despite decades of anti-drug efforts by the United States and partner governments. The production and trafficking of popular illicit drugs—cocaine, marijuana, opiates, and methamphetamine—generate a multi-billion dollar black market in which Latin American criminal and terrorist organizations thrive. These groups challenge state authority in source and transit countries where governments are often fragile and easily corrupted. Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) largely control the U.S. illicit drug market and have been identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as the “greatest organized crime threat to the United States.” Drug trafficking-related crime and violence in the region has escalated in recent years, raising the drug issue to the forefront of U.S. foreign policy concerns.
October 2015
DEA-DCT-DIR-008-16
This product was prepared by the DEA Strategic Intelligence Section.
Comments and questions may be addressed to the DEA Office of
Public Affairs at (202) 307-7977.
Trafficking Activities Dominican trafficking organizations are primarily
active in the transportation and distribution of cocaine and heroin in cities along the East Coast. Dominican traffickers typically serve as cocaine and heroin distributors for Mexican and Colombian trafficking organizations. Boston, Massachusetts: Dominican traffickers continue to dominate heroin distribution in the region. Local Dominican traffickers acquire heroin from Mexican sources on the Southwest Border, Dominican sources in New York, and South American sources via mail. New Jersey: Dominican traffickers handle retail-level distribution of cocaine for Colombian TCOs and also supply local street gangs, who handle street-level distribution. Dominican organizations smuggle heroin into the United States by couriers who conceal heroin bundles on their persons, in their apparel, or in their luggage and then board commercial flights into Newark Liberty International Airport.
New York: Dominican traffickers are the dominant retail distributors of cocaine in the New York metropolitan area. Reporting also indicates Colombian and Mexican TCOs rely on Dominican traffickers to assist in the transportation of heroin throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Dominican trafficking organizations use couriers to smuggle heroin directly into John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York City from the Dominican Republic.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Local Dominican organizations dominate the midlevel distribution of cocaine and often bridge the gap between Philadelphia-based criminal organizations and Dominican sources of
supply in New York. The Dominicans in the eastern states in the US like New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia et.al have a well-established heroin distribution and supply network. The foot-soldiers on the street level is the Dominican Gang, Los Trinitarios. A huge gang whose MO is brutal graphic violence, with a machete. The Trinitarios like to get up close and personal, anyone who have witnessed that type of brutality knows that it leaves victims if they do survive, without a limb or two and deeply, severely scarred for life. The machete attack is a Caribbean-wide method of mutilation and murder, by choosing the machete as their preferred weapon of choice on the street level, the Trinitarios are clearly separating themselves from other gangs in America, signaling their penchant for close quarter fighting, with a brutally graphic deadly outcome.
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Trinitarios logo.
Dominican trafficking organizations are involved in the diversion of CPDs. Reports from Atlanta, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia indicate Dominican traffickers engage in the diversion of CPDs.
They typically traffic oxycodone, in response to the demand for opiates.
Boston, Massachusetts: Investigations indicate Dominican criminal organizations distribute hundreds of thousands of CPDs annually in the New England area. Some Dominican traffickers receive oxycodone shipments from Dominican counterparts based in New York City.
Organizational Structure Dominican trafficking organizations typically
operate under an organized hierarchical structure. The leader of a Dominican trafficking organization controls multiple cells, each comprised of approximately five individuals.
These subordinates are typically friends and family members who are also ethnic Dominicans. This reliance on family reinforces the tightly organized structure of Dominican trafficking organizations, which produces efficient command and control capabilities.
This DEA map shows drug trafficking routes and the countries that are major players in the demand and supply game.
Gangs and Social Media
Gangs continue to adapt to changing social and economic conditions, using new technologies to advance their criminal activities and evade law enforcement. Gang members routinely use social networking sites to further their illicit operations— such as drug trafficking, extortion, identity theft, money laundering, and prostitution—threaten rivals, showcase their gang activities, recruit new members, expose informants, and monitor law enforcement.
Prince George’s County, Maryland: In September 2013, the Prince George’s County, Maryland PD reported local Mara Salvatrucha (MS)-13 members were conducting surveillance, using digital cameras in mobile phones, of law enforcement officers to determine how close a gang member could get to an officer before the officer noticed or confronted him.
There are an estimated 900 total gang members in Belize, and murders related to gang reprisals have been on the rise (Crooks, 2008). Although Belizean gangs remain relatively local by Central American standards, they do have links to U.S. gangs, especially in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York (Shifter, 2012) through the deportation of Belizean youth with criminal charges from the United States. The emergence of the Bloods and Crips can be traced back to the 1980s and 90s, when Belizean nationals who were members in the US were deported back to Belize, along with their acquired gang culture and affiliations. For years, they were primarily concentrated in Belize City on the mainland, but sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s both Bloods and Crips began appearing in San Pedro.
Walking around San Pedro, the different cliques are easily spotted by their colors. If a guy is wearing solid red or blue, it's highly likely he's affiliated to a gang. Locals know it would be dangerous to wear those colors otherwise. In alleys around the city, the words Bloods and Crips can be seen spray-painted on walls.
While the main gangs in Belize City tend to be loosely linked to U.S.-based non-Latino gangs (e.g., Crips and Bloods), there are increasing signs of an active presence of Central American transnational gangs, such as the MS-13 and the18th Street Gang (López, 2013), in San Pedro an island in the Belizean chain with a significant Spanish speaking, Spanish heritage population . Belizean society is not homogenous like many Caribbean and Latin American countries there are Afro-Caribbean, Taino, indigenous Caribe groups, Mestizo’s and European heritage people’s in the local populations. The MS-13 presence then in Belize is no surprise and is an outgrowth of the dynamics within the local population. Just as gang violence has negatively impacted the tourism sector in Belize, the same scenario will repeat itself here on Sint Maarten in the face of the gang violence introduced to the island, by groups like the No Limit Soldiers (NLS) of Curacao and, Buena Vista City (BVC) also a Curacao based gang with member’s operative on Sint Maarten. NLS is a crime syndicate that is plugged in to a Transnational Trafficking Organization (TTO), either comprised of Mexican or Colombian nationals. NLS is being transformed from a former street gang into a formidable regional and international illicit narcotics trafficking entity, with regional linkages i.e. Jamaica, Haiti (Zoe Pound) and internationally Dutch Penose indigenous Caucasian groups. NLS has lately taken to trafficking cocaine to Germany, using swallowers. The frequent use of and access to AK-47’s by members of NLS points to a well-established, arms trafficking pipeline supplying them.
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