We know that the two thousand or so guns enabled by the ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious (Phoenix based ) and Operation Castaway (Tampa-based) walked to anti-Zetas drug cartels in Mexico and Honduras respectively.
This revelation—the ATF enabled illegal gun purchases in Indiana without interdicting the firearms before they could be used in crimes—indicates that Operation Fast and Furious was part of a wider effort by the ATF to arm Mexican drug cartels on U.S. soil. In Indiana. I know that sounds bizarre but . . .
Hispanics account for some six percent of Indiana’s population. More to the point, the meths trade in the “Crossroads to America’s” is worth tens of millions of dollars. Mexican drug cartels have been going for vertical integration (from supply to end user) for a long time, including American distribution. Here’s an excerpt from indy.com in 2009:
The horrific violence brought on by feuding Mexican drug cartels that has spilled into border states has stoked fears that the same kinds of slayings and kidnappings could migrate farther north.
But narcotics experts say that fear is probably overstated, despite the far-reaching presence of the cartels within the U.S. — including Indianapolis.
Federal and local drug enforcement agents acknowledge the cartels have been quietly working in Indianapolis for about a decade. And they have had an impact . . .
The drugs those cartels supply are the root of much of the violence in Indianapolis, including slayings committed by Mexican traffickers and people they hire.
Which cartels? TTAG has been stressing the connection between the ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious and the Sinaloa cartel. If the Indianapolis straw purchases are linked to crimes committed by Sinaloas or their agents north of the border, Houston we have a problem. (Yes there too.)
It’s one thing for the ATF to let guns walk into Mexico and—oops!—bounce back into the U.S. and end up in hands of drug thugs who murdered a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agent in Arizona. It’s another if the ATF and their friends in the FBI, DEA, DHS, DOJ, IRS, ICE, CPB, CIA, State Department and White House were/are arming vicious criminals on American soil.
On the face of it, that’s exactly what’s happened. Happening? What kind of quid pro quo would justify that kind of action? How could the feds think they could get away with this? The mind boggles. Meanwhile, the Gunwalker scandal just took a very bad turn for The Powers that Be. Watch this space.