Chapter 6 SummaryCJUS 3310 Organized and Consensual CrimeChapter 6 Summary- Know how the history, culture, and geography of Colombia influenced the development of drug trafficking organizations:o Colombia is the only South American country with both Pacific and Caribbean coastlines.o Colombia is a relatively large country, and many regions have only a weak federal presence.o Colombia has been torn by political strife, with three civil wars during the nineteenth century, and two in the twentieth—in 1902 and 1948.o The war officially ended when the Liberals and the Conservatives formed the National Front, but Marxist insurgencies and right-wing paramilitaries continue to threaten the stability of the central government.o Until the early 1970s, the importation of marijuana and cocaine into the United States was largely a Cuban operation. When Colombian traffickers became highly organized both in the United States, Cubans became subordinate.o Colombians have been able to control the cocaine market because Colombia is well-positioned both to receive coca from Peru and Bolivia and to export the processed drug to the United States by air or by sea andthe country's vast central forests effectively conceal clandestine processing laboratories and air strips. The Colombian reputation for violence serves to maintain discipline and intimidate would-be competitors.- Recognize the role of left- and right-wing organizations in drug trafficking:o Marxist guerilla forces of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) protect the crops and levy taxes on the drug business.o Paramilitaries are sometimes called allied with—sometimes fighting against—the drug traffickers and receive financial backing from wealthy landowners.- Understand the structure and vulnerabilities of Colombian drug organizations:o Colombian drug trafficking organizations are compartmentalized and individual members of the same network seldom know one another.o The sheer volume of Colombian drug transactions makes them vulnerable to sophisticated law enforcement efforts because the volume of their business requires sophisticated record-keeping to track expenses and sales.o The MedelIín and Cali cartels were vertically integrated to maintain control over cocaine through the entire chain from manufacturing to wholesale distribution. But as with any vertically integrated organization, a broken link can be devastating.- Understand the changes that have occurred with the collapse of the Medellín and Cali cartels:o In the absence of powerful drug lords, the drug trade has become more decentralizedo The dismantling of the Cali cartel created opportunities for their Mexican colleagues.- Be knowledgeable about Mexican history and the connection between politics, corruption, and drug trafficking:o In Mexico, societal focus is on the interests of the immediate and extended family, not the wider interests of a more impersonal societal good.o Mexico has a history of one-party domination intertwined with corruption, particularly in the underpaid law enforcement sector.o Drug groups are bureaucratically organized, but in a Mexican fashion built around familial relationships.- Know what led to the extreme violence that pervades Mexico:o The defeat of the PRI in Mexico ruptured a longtime implicit arrangement between narcotrafficantes and the PRI-controlled government and led to an unparalleled level of competitive violence.o The popular culture of Mexico is infused with songs glamorizing drug trafficking, and major narcotraficantes are celebrated, along with their subculture of violence.- Be familiar with the structure and business operations of Mexican drug organizations:o Mexican drug trafficking organizations control most of the U.S. drug market and have affiliations with gangs in the United States.o They have moved away from traditional hierarchical structures in favor of decentralized networks of interdependent, task-oriented cells.o Mexican drug organizations are family-run operations with a corresponding high degree of personal trust.o Unlike American organized crime, organized crime figures in Mexico have at their disposal an army of personnel, an arsenal of weapons and the finest technology that money can buy. o Rather than controlling territory, Mexican drug organizations seek to control plazas, transportation routes, and hubs.o Mexican drug trafficking is dominated by about a half-dozen cartels: Herrera Family, Sinloa, Gulf, Los Zetas, Tijuana, Juárez, La Familia Michoacána.- Know the role of Dominican organizations in drug trafficking:o The Dominican Republic serves as a transshipment point for drugs, and Dominican criminals in the United States purchase directly from Asian and Colombian importers, sharing a common language and entrepreneurial values with the latter.o Dominicans serve as midlevel cocaine and heroin distributors to lower-level distributors.- Know the role of MS-13:o In the late 1980s, a small number of roughly 300,000 Salvadorans living in Los Angeles formed mara salvatrucha or MS-13.o Estimated to have 30,000 to 50,000 members, 8,000 to 10,000 of who reside in the United States, MS-13 smuggles powdered cocaine and marijuana, into the United States and transport and distribute the drugs throughout the country.- Understand the history of the prison-based Mexican Mafia and its expansion beyond the institution:o Prison-bases gangs have been gaining prominence as organized criminal groups, most notably the Mexican Mafia whose members, when releasedfrom prison, traffic in drugs and extort money from weaker