Nine members of a Colorado-based drug trafficking organization with direct ties to the Sinaloa Cartel were recently indicted on counts of smuggling fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs into Adams County in Colorado. "This is just one step in the process of ridding our communities of these drug cartels", said Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason.
"I created an experienced Drug Trafficking Unit in the District Attorney's Office to take down large-scale drug dealers and break pipelines that feed into our local communities and destroy lives in the process. The joint efforts of the District Attorney's Office, the North Metro Task Force, and the DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division in this investigation truly shows our commitment to dismantling these troublesome and deadly operations. I'm proud of the work of my staff and our partners, and it is encouraging to see it come to fruition through this expansive indictment; however, the work continues", said Brian Mason.
Colorado’s 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office has released information about an operation named Dress for Less that revealed a distribution network connecting members of the Sanudo-Rivera drug trafficking organization to the Sinaloa Cartel. The operation found that these nine individuals not only funneled illicit drugs such as fentanyl into Adams County but also other parts of Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona.
News Nation reports indicate that two out of nine people indicted: Dallas Beller and Juan Manuel Sanudo-Rivera are currently under police custody while others remain at-large.
In addition to these indictments, various drug seizures took place during this operation. These included 84.3 pounds of fentanyl pills, 66 pounds of methamphetamine, 1.4 kilos of cocaine, 14g of heroin, one active methamphetamine lab, five guns and $93,000.
CBS News states that this operation was successful due to a wiretap placed on a higher up within the drug trafficking organization. The North Metro Task Force initiated this investigation in May, discovering that the Sanudo-Rivera drug trafficking organization was a subgroup of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Denver Gazette notes an alarming statistic: over 900 Coloradians died from fentanyl overdoses in 2022. This number mirrors those from 2021, marking a significant increase compared to the 540 deaths in 2020 and 222 deaths in 2019. Fentanyl did not significantly infiltrate Colorado’s illicit drug scene until 2017.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram stated that the Sinaloa Cartel “pose[s] the greatest criminal drug threat the United States has ever faced”. She further added that they maintain an advanced criminal organization network, with members located across all U.S states and over 100 countries worldwide.
