Dismantling network in the US linked to the Sinaloa cartel

A drug trafficking network that sent drugs from the Sinaloa cartel through California to various criminal organizations in the area of ​​the capital of the United States has been dismantled, local and federal authorities indicated.

An investigation that began in 2017 with the work of a Loudon County Sheriff’s Deputy assigned to a federal task force, and later expanded to seven states, resulted in more than 30 arrests and the seizure of more than 100 firearms, $ 6 million in cash, jewelry, and other assets; 215 kilograms of methamphetamine; 42 kilograms of fentanyl and 129 kilograms of cocaine.

At a time when drug overdoses have risen during the pandemic, getting those narcotics off the streets “undoubtedly saved countless lives of members of our communities,” said Raj Parekh, Acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

California drug dealers linked to the Sinaloa cartel – which used to be headed by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – also supplied a drug trafficking group in Dayton, Ohio, linked to the 2019 murder of Jorge del Rio, a police officer from that 55-year-old city, who was shot while executing a search warrant as part of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force, said Jarod Forget, special agent in charge of the Division. of the DEA in Washington.

A specific seizure in Loudoun County that included 50 kilograms of cocaine and $ 1.4 million in cash was the largest of its kind in county history, Sheriff Mike Chapman said.

Seven drug trafficking organizations operating in and on the outskirts of the nation’s capital were broken up in what law enforcement officials called Operation Angels Envy, authorities said.

In Alexandria this year, Romaine Anthony Dixon, 32, of Camp Springs, Maryland, was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for his involvement in the network, and Roger Vincent, 42, of Temple Hills, Maryland, 15 years. .

Two California subjects related to the Sinaloa cartel – Bellflower’s Michael Barroso and Fullerton’s Roberto Ramirez Jr. – were sentenced to 10 years in jail in Alexandria, with a third awaiting sentencing.