Smyrna men named in connection with drug trafficking ring
Several of the men named in the prosecutors' complaint lived in Walton Grove Apartments on Cumberland Boulevard.
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Several of the men federal authorities say were involved in a Mexico-based drug trafficking and money-laundering organization with ties to Atlanta and Houston lived in an apartment in Smyrna.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Wednesday that prosecutors in Atlanta charged six people in a federal complaint filed Monday, Feb. 16. Prosecutors say Nemias Cintora-Gonzalez was a local cocaine and methamphetamine supplier for the organization. Cintora-Gonzalez is accused of working with Jorge Armando-Reyes, Israel Edgardo Rivera-Pacheco, Victor Hugo Morales-Avila, Edgar Cintora-Gonzalez and Brenda Perez.
Authorities seized more than a dozen guns, ammunition, a bulletproof vest, counterfeit money and drugs from the Smyrna apartment where several of the men lived.
Mike Smith, Smyrna police public information officer, identified the apartment complex as Walton Grove, 2550 Cumberland Boulevard Southeast. He said Smyrna police were not involved in the investigation.
Becky Minter
11:27 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Did anyone reading this article notice the names associated with these arrests? Thanks to our UN-LAW ABIDING Government we have to contend with the epedemic influx of drugs and arsenals...don't you think our young people could do without this additional influence and easy access.
R. Anderson
8:06 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
The article said it was a Mexican-based drug trafficking and money-laundering organization. So you're right about the last names.
The title of this article is "Mexican drug cartels thrive in suburban Atlanta". Note the world suburban.
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-03-19/justice/atlanta.drug.cartels_1_mexican-drug-cartels-drug-dealers?_s=PM:CRIME
Pam J
12:23 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Kudos to the police for catching these guys. It will be interesting to see if these guys are here legally.
Neal Dow
6:23 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
The police didn't catch those guys. The DEA did.
Inside-Out
9:59 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
It was a joint investigation involving many agenencies, that was a long time in the making. I don't think a persons name, color, creed or background establishes any probable cause to investigate or arrest. The laws of our country forbid that from taking place. Of course some people should be thankful that our country doesn't allow the profiling of stupid people.
ron delnero
11:52 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
A clue could have been their mexican connections. So yes, you're right about not profiling "stupid people"...You're home free! Profiling is done hourly and quite often succesfully. Some people are also thankful the naive aren't profiled as well.
Christina Hayes
7:37 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
A-men to Mike.
R. Anderson
7:54 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
Amen to federal agents. 50,000 thousand people have been brutally murdered in Mexico's drug war in the past six years. And many of the cartel members are living here.
Mexico government sought to withhold drug war death statistics - Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-mexico-dead-numbers-20120112,0,721894.story#.Tz3L-etw2XM.email
Michelle
8:18 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
Well said Mike H. :) and thank you to all involved in getting more criminals out of our community.
R. Anderson
8:40 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
You say he said it well. I'm still trying to figure out what he said. Your thank you is nice but I don't think federal agents read the S-V Patch. And all Mike Smith did was admit that the SPD wasn't involved in the investigation. I can see the slant you're trying to put on this and it isn't going to work. The only thing Smyrna had to do with this is that it provided them with a base of operations (in our Mayor Pro Temp's ward).
Freya Stark
11:58 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
Mexican drug cartels set up shop in Atlanta
Atlanta Journal-Constitution | BILL TORPY
When U.S. law enforcement officials last month busted a Mexican drug cartel moving tons of dope and millions of dollars, they announced it in Atlanta.
The distribution ring stretched from Colombia to New York to Italy, but the operation’s key hub was Atlanta. Long a commerce and transportation center for giants like UPS and Delta Air Lines, Atlanta tags itself as an “international city.” This time, it embodied that definition in an illicit way.
Federal drug agent Jack Killorin calls Atlanta “the new Southwest border.”
Mexican distribution rings supply about 90 percent of the cocaine, 80 percent of the methamphetamine and half of the marijuana used in the United States, estimates Rodney G. Benson, the agent in charge of the DEA Administration office in Atlanta. A huge proportion of the payload headed for the Atlantic seaboard, the Southeast and the Midwest flows through Atlanta’s interstates, a federal report said this year.
The transformation of narcotics trafficking to the Mexican networks started shifting in the 1990s. Experts say it’s a combination of population shifts, supply chain improvements, product development, criminal outsourcing, even the NAFTA.
“If you put a starting date [on the Mexican involvement], it’s the explosion in the Latin community since the [1996 Atlanta] Olympics,” he said.
GaPatriot
2:40 pm on Friday, February 17, 2012
Criminal invaders should not have any more "rights" than illegal aliens have in Mexico. I suggest you go and try to get a job in Mexico and get a good glimpse of why we have this problem.
The stupid people you speak of Mike H are the ones who do not understand how dangerous these "hard working" Mexicans are. I am thinking you have never been hit by one of these invaders - no licence, no insurance - your problem.
Pineapple Muerte
2:50 pm on Friday, February 17, 2012
Now that GaPatriot was well said. It speaks volumes to the credibility of the SPD that all these other agencies conducted this investigation and subsequent arrests without the assistance or even knowledge of the SPD. And while I'm a staunch supporter of the Constitution, to claim that local law enforcement has no power or even business to check the immigration status of someone, particularly those involved in criminl activity is what's truly ridiculous. Furthermore, I personally do believe our elected officials can and should be held accountable. Turning a blind eye & shirking responsibility is what contributed to the terrible state S. Cobb Dr. is in. (Speaking of criminal activity!)