The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) rated the Sinaloa Cartel as the largest criminal organization in the world and, among its ranks, it has citizens from various parts of the world, some professionals, who fulfill different functions within the group that was once led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
And to show a button, since recently an American citizen, Deanna Marie Gerads33, of Freeport, North Dakota, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances, Kare 11, an NBC affiliate, reports.
She was identified by the US authorities as part of the cartel, since since they intensified the fight against fentanyl and other drugs, the number of targets has expanded.
Gerads was in Mexico (in Cuernavaca, Morelos) at the time of his arrest, which occurred in August 2023, at that time He had been on a fugitive list for a year on charges of narcotics trafficking from North Dakota.
After a short time, the woman was deported to the United States by the Mexican authorities, who handed her over to elements of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on the Texas border.
An indictment indicates that Gerads and 11 co-defendants ran a drug operation since 2019, in which they imported methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl into Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
According to what prosecutors stated, at the time of their arrest Gerads and other defendants They received controlled substances directly from the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and imported them to the Midwest for distribution.
The indictment states that those behind the operation used violence or the threat of violence to guarantee payment for the drugs and hide their illegal activities.
Gerards’ case is part of “Operation Unfinished Business II,” an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation into the international trafficking of methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl.
18 people have been accused of this operation, including Macalla Knott (the leader of the criminal group Gerards worked for) and Melanie Quickboth from St. Cloud.
Authorities say they have so far seized 150 pounds of methamphetamine, nine pounds of powdered fentanyl and 120,000 fentanyl pills destined for Minnesota and North Dakota, KNSI reported.
Keep reading:
– A young man from Texas who worked for a Mexican drug trafficker transporting thousands of fentanyl pills is convicted.
– Mexican is sentenced in Texas to 35 years in prison for methamphetamine trafficking.