CINCINNATI — The Drug Enforcement Agency's Cincinnati office wants people to know the names of two Mexican drug cartels: Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation (CJNG).
"They've become the two most powerful cartels," said Joe Reder, Cincinnati DEA Resident Agent in Charge. "They're the ones running the markets."
In an exclusive interview Thursday, Reder told WCPO 9 News that the drug trade fueled by the two cartels has ties to violence in some communities.
"The biggest threat to the region is absolutely the drug cartels, specifically Sinaloa and the Jalisco New Generation," Reder said. "They go by CJNG. They're the two primary cartels that are flooding the United States and this region with fentanyl.
"What we're finding is guys that used to only have local numbers in their phone now have the 52 area code Mexican numbers in their phones. So, we are seeing where even street-level dealers are finding connections directly to Mexico."
Reder said that connection could happen as dealers go in and out of the prison system. They can have something sent to the U.S. from Mexico at a day's notice if needed.
A Greater Cincinnati native, Reder sees progress in community strategies to slow the illegal drug trade.
"Right now we're definitely focused on areas that involve high drug trafficking and high crime, specifically high violence," Reder said. "So for us, we're targeting the West End. We're looking at the violence that's associated with drug trafficking in the West End. The Price Hill area has always been the epicenter for overdoses. So these are hotspots that we're paying close attention to right now."
When asked what his agents are seeing in recent seizures, Reder said "fentanyl in both powder form and pill form." They also seize growing amounts of cocaine, crack and methamphetamine.
The DEA seized record volumes of fentanyl pills across the country last year.
In data obtained by WCPO 9 News, Butler County Sheriff's Undercover Regional Narcotics (BURN) Task Force found pills in just 6% of documented seizures in 2022. The task force seized fentanyl that had been pressed into 26,000 pills in September, according to county records. The other BURN pill seizures involved no more than 26 prescription pills combined, according to county records.
"I definitely think federal agencies have more resources when it comes to dark web and cyber investigations," Reder said. "But I think the state and local agencies are doing a good job as well because they're expanding into that as well. It's become common when downloading a phone that you seize to find a history of dark web use (and) history of bitcoin use. So, it's not unusual at all at all levels.
"I think the more pressure we can put on these two cartels on Sinaloa and on Jalisco New Generation, the more effective we can be at DEA in stopping it. That is our focus."
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