Interstate 35: The Narco-Corridor

by K.Mennem for Uncut-Reports.com February 22nd. 2013 
Editor: R. Hernandez 

Interstate 35, once it starts into the United States from Mexico, covers 1,568.38 miles (2,524.06km) of prime real estate across the country. The major interstate begins its portion in the U.S. at Laredo, Texas and ends at Duluth, Minnesota, about 150 miles from Canada. What happens on this highway inside Mexico and in the first thousand miles inside the U.S. is what makes this highway monumental to the drug trade.

If you follow I-35 into Mexico it becomes Federal Highway 85 at the border. The highway travels from Nuevo Laredo, through Monterrey, Ciudad Victoria, Pachuca, and on to the southern edge of Mexico City. From that point the highway changes names, but can be connected all the way through Central America, to its ending point in Panama. This route, in general, has seen more narcotics than any other land route in the world.

I-35 has maintained its status as a powerhouse playing card in the drug trade for generations. The Gulf Cartel held onto it for years until the current owner, Los Zetas, took over. The Zetas have since put everything at stake to guard the interstate, its border crossing of Nuevo Laredo, and the profits that come with it.

The I-35 origins began in Oklahoma during the 1950’s. Over the following 25 years advancements would be made both directions, until the highway spanned the distance of the country. Oklahoma had no idea what it was in for when starting this major highway.
Traveling from anywhere north or east of Texas, the most likely point to cross into Mexico is thru Nuevo Laredo at I-35. Ciudad Juarez is a stretch of a drive from any point in Texas. Reynosa and Matamoros is an extra two hour drive south to enter Mexico. Piedras Negras isn't out of the question, but when heading to any likely destination in Mexico it would put you unnecessarily north. If traveling from Mexico to most locations in the U.S. (north or east of Texas), the same rule applies, making Nuevo Laredo a favorite crossing point.

The distance from Culiacan, Sinaloa to Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas is 778 miles by major highway. The distance from Culiacan to Tijuana, Baja California is 964 miles. Many wonder why the Sinaloa Cartel cares about Nuevo Laredo and I-35 when they control most of the California and Arizona crossings.

Crossing through Laredo and onto Dallas or Oklahoma City gives a distributor much more options than moving narcotics into Southern California, as a distribution point. California needs its own share of narcotics, making Tijuana important, yet from a national distribution outlook, moving into the center of the country is ideal.

Dallas and the I-35 corridor is a huge distribution center, for the mere size of the DFW metro and the transit options that are available. Any drops needed through Texas, can be made as passes through San Antonio, Austin, and the option towards Houston are easy.
Passing through Texas is where the real money is made. Once you leave a border state with a pound of meth or cocaine, the price can often double. Once the product hits Oklahoma City, it has reached the promise land. Prices are up and the options are unlimited.

OKC provides I-40 East, which gives access to the Southeast. Little Rock, Memphis, and on to Washington D.C. I-35 provides outlets through Kansas City, St. Louis, and on to Chicago. If the western portion of the U.S. is dry on street drugs, heading west on I-40 provides access to Albuquerque, Denver, and even Las Vegas.

Oklahoma’s rural outside, yet urban state center, provides ideal drop and pickup points for those moving drugs through the U.S. Warehouse districts, farms, urban ghettos, and trailer parks all provide for the needs of movers. Oklahoma’s insatiable appetite for good meth doesn't dissuade the issue either.

In June of 2012, federal agents raided a horse ranch in Lexington, Oklahoma, about 30 minutes south of downtown Oklahoma City. No massive amounts of drug were found, only around 400 horses, owned by the Zetas cartel. The man who ran the ranch, Jose Trevino Morales, is the oldest brother of the current leader of the Los Zetas.

The ranch had developed for some time from drug money. The Zetas leaders funneled cash into the ranch, which was then laundered into high dollar horses. The federal case has yet to reach trial.
Heading back down I-35, a little less than 9 hours, the Zetas are busy defending their plaza. The Zetas are entangled in a daily struggle against their former employers, the Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo), as the Gulf has been receiving help from the powerful Sinaloa Cartel (Cartel del Sinaloa).

The Zetas have had a strong presence in Nuevo Laredo since the late 1990’s. For the majority of the time they were the enforcement wing, which worked for the Gulf Cartel. When the Zetas decided to split in recent years, taking Nuevo Laredo was easy. Defending the city and taking surrounding areas would pose a little harder threat.

Despite having to defend its home-base, the Zetas now have sole control of the prized I-35 corridor. Having access to the most coveted transit points meant making money, regardless of the wars the Zetas were entangled in.

Deals with smaller gangs and cartels would ultimately be made. Cuts from every gram of narcotics moved through the area would be taxed. Human smuggling would be taken over, increasing profits for the group. As the money and options increased, so did the recruits. Instead of being a solid force of ex-military men, the organization had become a multi-layered organization with large amounts of street thugs.

More street level thugs mean more expendable bodies. Gun battles with police and military yield no true loss, when multiple meaningless cartel foot soldiers are killed.

As the cartel grows and extend its territory, its profit and amount of narcotics moved do so as well. The larger amount of narcotics being shipped means lower prices for wholesale and street sales. For that to work, an anthill of smugglers must scatter across the border weekly with narcotics as there will be losses.
Smugglers use multiple routes getting into the U.S. from Mexico with narcotics. Some backpack the drugs across rural border areas to a specific drop point. Most of the volume is moved across legal crossing points, hidden in vehicles. Narcotics are hidden in gas tanks, radiators, tires, and commonly hidden in semi-truck loads. The smuggler, if knowingly carrying the drugs, must first get past the border crossing check. With the volume of cars traveling into Texas at Laredo, not every vehicle can be checked.

Those that are moving narcotics for the Zetas on I-35 into the U.S. will run into a secondary Border Patrol checkpoint 29 miles north of Laredo. If the smuggler is able to move past this checkpoint, as most do, they are technically home free, barring human error. Those attempting to hop off the interstate before the checkpoint will get stopped at smaller checks on Highway 83 and Highway 59. Drug dogs are aplenty on the interstate headed north, yet there is no reason to be stopped unless mistakes are made.

Arrangement to make it past the initial border security and the secondary checks are often made by the shipper. The packaging in a vehicle, either a passenger auto or a semi-truck, is usually unknown to the driver. The driver usually knows he is smuggling drugs, yet often does not know many details. These vehicles are moved north, where they are picked up by drug dealers and regional distributors.

In 2005, the U.S. Justice Department stated that the Zetas had moved throughout Texas and Oklahoma. The memo stated that the Zetas were deploying henchmen along I-35 cities to enforce their prized smuggling route. The memo also noted that the Zetas were charging a 10% fee on all human and drug shipments that were not theirs on I-35.

Drug shipments and cartel linked murders have been prevalent up I-35 and its surrounding cities for decades. The rise in both began in 2005, when the Zetas moved north hoping to seize the new methamphetamine market, which had opened due to new state laws banning pseudoephedrine products. Without local precursors readily available for local production, the Mexican cartels would seize the opportunity to bring purer and cheaper meth north into the free market. Most would be done by using I-35.
In early 2006, 5 pounds of Mexican meth was confiscated during an arrest as far north as Minnesota. A Mexican national admitted to hauling it from the border hidden in his vehicle. In the coming years, the shipments would just get larger and larger, as demand for high grade Mexican crystal grew.

In September of 2011, a Brownsville, Texas man was arrested while trafficking 42 pounds of crystal meth north on I-35. The man was stopped near Jarrell, TX. The smuggler was one of many busted along I-35 with large amounts of meth in 2011. This particular suspect was given a life sentence in prison, hoping to give a warning to smugglers.

In November of 2012, a Laredo man was busted with 90 pounds of crystal meth on his way north on I-35. The suspect was driving with his wife and young child when they were stopped between San Antonio and Dallas. According to local authorities, a 28 pound brick of marijuana was also found in the vehicle.

For every large meth bust made on I-35, another several dozen make it past seamlessly. These busts, which grab headlines, never put a dent in overall production or profit for criminal organizations in Mexico. A bust could put a local dealer out of business, but another will soon step in to replace him.

While local meth is still made in the U.S., it is estimated at only 20%. The other 80% is smuggled from Mexico, a large portion using I-35. The 80% figure was first used in 2006, only a year or two after the vast majority of meth in the U.S. was made locally.

During 2006 to 2012, cocaine seizures dropped more than 30%, according to The National Drug Intelligence Center’s 2011 National Drug Threat Assessment. Other narcotics, specifically meth, increased.
Meth seizures have specifically jumped in Laredo’s customs district, according to Customs and Border Patrol authorities. In the fiscal year alone, 2,200 pounds were apprehended in the Laredo district. The seizure numbers showed a 116% increase over 2011, 2011 had a 34% increase over 2010.

Milenio news agency has reported that at least 85% of Mexican drug labs are located in the states of Michoacán, Sinaloa, and Jalisco. All three are located in the southwest region of the country. Most of those drugs are smuggled into the U.S. east of Juarez, particularly the I-35 route. Only 87 pounds of meth were seized in the El Paso district (which borders Juarez) compared to the 2,200 pounds seized in Laredo’s (I-35) district during 2012.

Analysts and law enforcement agencies have stated for some time that the Zetas do not specialize in meth manufacturing. These statements are typically based on the fact that most meth labs that are busted in Mexico are in the homes of the Sinaloa Cartel and neighboring organizations. Struggling organizations like La Familia, paved the way for mass meth productions and smuggling.

The Zetas however, advanced on those operations by moving mass productions into lawless, rural Guatemala. From productions points, the narcotic shipments can then be moved in numerous ways. Shipments are hauled by semi-truck, personal vehicles, train, by water in the Gulf Coast, and by plane. By using these multiple forms of transit, the Zetas can quickly and efficiently get enough of their product to Tamaulipas (Nuevo Laredo’s border state). A few lost loads on the way do not affect the process, yet lost and seized loads before the Texas border are few and far between.
When analyzing the territory that the Zetas control, it mirrors transit routes from Guatemala and Highway 85 leading up to Nuevo Laredo. The Zetas fought viscously in recent years to control Monterrey and other neighboring plazas, most which are former strongholds of the Gulf Cartel.

All of these organizations have focused on selling their self-made methamphetamines, instead of imported  South American made cocaine. This switch reduces risk, costs, and cuts out unneeded South American counterparts.

While the grip on I-35 seems to be in the hands of one organization at the current time, things can change quickly. In the 1990’s few would have thought the Gulf Cartel would have yielded way to the Zetas. Few would have thought a new organization could make way into the top of the underworld.