WASHINGTON — Law enforcement officials announced criminal drug trafficking charges Thursday against 43 people in the United States and Mexico, including suspected leaders of prominent drug cartels in a country that has been plagued with gun violence.
Federal agencies including the Justice Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the cases, filed in New York and Chicago.
Eight defendants were arrested in the past week, and several current and former suspected kingpins in the crime syndicate known as the Sinaloa cartel remained at large, authorities said.
The action marks the latest attempt by U.S. and Mexican authorities to stem the flow of drugs, weapons and cash across the Southwestern U.S. border.
The indictments “demonstrate our unwavering commitment to root out the leaders of these criminal enterprises wherever they may be found,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.
Between 1990 and 2008, the indictments say, the suspected drug lords and their allies imported and distributed on U.S. soil nearly 200 tons of cocaine and vast stores of heroin that fetched more than $5.8 billion.
Chicago U.S. Attorney Pat rick Fitzgerald said the suspects used “practically every means of transportation imaginable” to import cocaine and heroin into U.S. neighborhoods, including cargo planes, submarines, container ships, fishing vessels, buses, trains and tractor-trailers.
Among those indicted and still at large is Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera, one of the world’s most wanted criminal suspects. Forbes magazine estimates his fortune at $1 billion.
