CBP attributes regular drug convulsions to the” Gio”-run Nogales legal team.
Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, aka” Gio”, runs drug- smuggling operations for the Sinaloa gang in the Nogales, Mexico/Nogales, Arizona, area, and U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers capture shipments suspected to occur from his organizations about regularly, according to Troy A. Miller, acting commissioner of CBP.
At a press conference this year, Miller stated,” We are going into the next stage of our struggle against fentanyl: one where we are going after the plaza leaders, whose organizations are responsible for almost everything that is smuggled into the United States. ” Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela is the first square boss that we want to have,” he said.
Anne Milgram, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, stated to a House committee last summer that the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel ( CJNG ) are the main criminal organizations producing fentanyl and bringing it into the country illegally.
” DEA actively investigates gang members and associates, like Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, who allegedly handle the vehicles and distribution of these lethal drugs while joint partners, like U. S. Customs and Border Protection, interdict supplies at the border before they enter our country”, Milgram said in a statement. These collaborations guarantee that those accountable for offences are brought to justice.
Cartel rulers design hand-picked proxies to operate “plazas” in their territories. The square can be a significant metropolis where prescription drugs are sold at wholesale or a small section of a state where prescription drugs are grown. They can even serve as a gateway to the United States ‘ drug-assisted border towns.
Valenzuela, who also goes by Gio, Yiyo, and Felipe Sosa Canizales, was indicted by a federal grand jury in California in April 2018 on suspicion of conspiracy to import and deliver controlled materials. The convulsions of 1, 000 pounds or more of cannabis and 5 or more kilograms of cocaine are the subject of a felony. In connection with those claims, a federal judge issued an arrest warrant for” Gio” in 2021.
Valenzuela had three preceding run- outs with U. S. officials in 1993, 1996, and 2009. The first involved an unlawful entry near Sasabe, Arizona, that was followed by a repatriation to Mexico and five days of time served. Information about the other two scenarios, which were not immediately available, was not immediately available.
A DEA wanted poster lists him as a fugitive from the rules and lists him as 5’10”; he is between 54 and 55 years older.
The multi-agent Operation Plaza Spike is a result of the drive to acquire Valenzuela. It consists of seizing illegal proceeds, examining businesses on either side of the border that may be connected to the narcotics business, and making the names of native gang leaders known to force them.
The plaza bosses nowadays control not just the drug trade in a city, but also all extortion, kidnapping, migrant smuggling and illegal firearm imports, U. S. officials say.
” Over the past few years, we have continued to adapt and develop our counter-fentanyl strategy in response to the sophistication and relentlessness of the criminal organizations,” Miller said. ” The cartels are constantly evolving. Their business model is constantly changing, making it sell pure evil for profit.
