ARCHIVED Product No. 2007-R0813-011 Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis June 2007 U.S. Department of Justice Preface recent law enforcement reporting, information This assessment provides a strategic overview of obtained through interviews with law enforcement the illicit drug situation in the Houston High Inten- and public health officials, and available statistical sity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), highlighting data. The report is designed to provide policymakers, significant trends and law enforcement concerns resource planners, and law enforcement officials related to the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. with a focused discussion of key drug issues and The report was prepared through detailed analysis of developments facing the Houston HIDTA. KS KilleenMO KY OK TN NM AR MS AL GA TX LA HARDIN OR AN GE Austin Beaumont LIBERTY JEFFERSON Port Houston Arthur HARRIS Area of Houston HIDTA FORT BEND GALVESTON Galveston TEXAS VICTORIA REFUGIO ARANSAS o SAN PATRICIO i c x e JIM Corpus Christi M WELLS NUECES f o f KLEBERG l u PADRE ISLAND G NATIONAL SEASHORE BROOKS KENEDY Major City 250,000 + 100,000 - 249,999 Other Place of Interest HIDTA County Figure 1. Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. This assessment is an outgrowth of a partnership between the NDIC and HIDTA Program for preparation of annual assessments depicting drug trafficking trends and developments in HIDTA Program areas. The report has been vetted with the HIDTA, is limited in scope to HIDTA jurisdictional boundaries, and draws upon a wide variety of sources within those boundaries. This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis Strategic Drug Threat Drug Trafficking Organizations, Developments Criminal Groups, and Gangs • Houston is one of the most significant cocaine Drug trafficking organizations are complex and marijuana distribution centers in the United organizations with highly defined command- States. Large quantities of cocaine and mari- and-control structures that produce, transport, juana are distributed from Houston to numerous and/or distribute large quantities of one or more market areas, including Atlanta, Georgia; Chi- illicit drugs. cago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and New Criminal groups operating in the United States Orleans, Louisiana. are numerous and range from small to moderately sized, loosely knit groups that distribute one or • Houston has emerged as a principal transship- more drugs at the retail and midlevels. ment center for Mexico-produced ice metham- Gangs are defined by the National Alliance of phetamine supplied by Mexican drug trafficking Gang Investigators’ Associations as groups or organizations (DTOs) to major drug markets in associations of three or more persons with a the southeastern and central United States. common identifying sign, symbol, or name, the Transshipment through Houston will increase as members of which individually or collectively demand for high-purity ice methamphetamine engage in criminal activity that creates an continues to rise in these markets as well as atmosphere of fear and intimidation. throughout the United States. HIDTA Overview • Houston has become a significant source for The Houston HIDTA region, which encom- pharmaceutical drugs distributed to markets out- passes 16 counties along the Gulf of Mexico in side the HIDTA region. The drugs, which pri- southeastern Texas, is a key distribution and trans- marily include hydrocodone and codeine, are shipment area for illicit drugs supplied to drug diverted in Houston and distributed to markets markets in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast in the southeastern United States, including and a consolidation point for the smuggling of drug Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. proceeds into Mexico. The proximity of the Hous- • As a result of Hurricane Katrina, associations ton HIDTA region to the U.S.–Mexico border and between Houston and New Orleans drug traf- the Gulf of Mexico makes the area susceptible to fickers are increasing. Many evacuees have drug trafficking as well as other national security returned home to New Orleans and are using the and law enforcement threats such as alien smug- relationships that they built with Houston-based gling, weapons trafficking, and terrorist entry into drug traffickers to obtain significant quantities the United States. Houston, located in Harris of illicit drugs for distribution in Louisiana. County, is the principal drug market area in the HIDTA region; however, other smaller, outlying • Methamphetamine production has considerably drug markets exist in the area, including Corpus decreased over the past 3 years in the Houston Christi and Beaumont/Port Arthur. HIDTA region. This decrease is attributed to several factors, including precursor chemical Mexican DTOs exploit the geography and control legislation enacted in Texas, the influx economy of the Houston HIDTA region to smuggle of ice methamphetamine from Mexico, and suc- illicit drugs from Mexico and to launder their illicit cessful law enforcement programs. proceeds. The HIDTA region’s geographic makeup varies from sparsely populated ranchland in the south to major metropolitan areas in the north— including Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States. A large segment of the HIDTA region is located along undeveloped areas of the 2 This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED National Drug Intelligence Center Gulf Coast, which are susceptible to maritime drug Table 1. Houston HIDTA Drug Seizures smuggling from Mexico. Well-developed eco- by Drug, 2004–2006 nomic and financial infrastructures in metropolitan Year areas of the HIDTA region, particularly in Hous- Drug ton, provide DTOs with the means to launder drug 2004 2005 2006 proceeds through traditional financial institutions Powder Cocaine (kg) 3,861 1,974 2,327 and money services businesses (MSBs). Crack Cocaine (kg) 001 The Houston HIDTA region has a dynamic Heroin (kg) 26 29 34 transportation infrastructure that offers DTOs Marijuana (kg) 49,904 38,901 86,824 extensive land, sea, and air modes of transporta- tion. Overland transportation through an intricate Methamphetamine (kg) 675 180 74 network of interstates, highways, advanced second- MDMA (du) 58,003 13,112 316,925 ary routes, and railroads provides DTOs with numerous means by which to smuggle illicit drugs Source: Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. into and through the area. Moreover, Houston is a The large-scale transportation and distribution of major hub for the trucking industry; tractor-trailers illicit drugs and laundering of drug proceeds are the are commonly used by DTOs to smuggle large most significant illicit drug issues facing the Houston drug shipments from Mexico through the HIDTA HIDTA region, requiring a large commitment of law region to markets throughout the United States. enforcement resources from member agencies in the The Houston HIDTA region’s transportation sys- HIDTA region as shown by the amount of drugs tem also is supported by four major railroads in seized in the HIDTA region. (See Table 1.) Wholesale Houston, Beaumont/Port Arthur, and Corpus quantities of illicit drugs, particularly cocaine and Christi, which provide access to Mexico. Drug marijuana, are transported from Mexico through smuggling by sea and air conveyances poses a South Texas to the HIDTA region, primarily to Hous- moderate threat to the Houston HIDTA region, ton and Corpus Christi, where they are distributed to which contains or immediately borders 10 seaports. major markets throughout the United States, includ- The sheer volume of maritime traffic and foreign ing Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; cargo that passes through these ports offers another Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, avenue for drug smuggling. The Port of Houston California; New York, New York; Philadelphia, Penn- has long been the nation’s leading port for foreign sylvania; and St. Louis, Missouri. Wholesale quanti- tonnage and is the sixth-largest seaport in the ties of ice methamphetamine are transported to the world. The Padre Island National Seashore (PINS), region and distributed to markets in the southeastern an undeveloped natural barrier island that extends and central United States. Heroin and MDMA south from Corpus Christi to the Mansfield Chan- (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known nel, poses an additional maritime smuggling threat as ecstasy) are also distributed to markets outside the to the area. Commercial aircraft are also used by HIDTA region, but to a much lesser extent. Addition- traffickers to smuggle drugs and U.S. currency ally, some wholesale quantities of drugs remain in the through the three major international airports in the HIDTA region for local distribution. Houston HIDTA region; however, increased secu- rity at these facilities since September 11, 2001, Illicit drug production in the Houston HIDTA has decreased drug trafficking by aircraft. region generally entails crack conversion, limited cannabis cultivation, and decreasing methamphet- Drug Threat Overview amine production. The number of seized metham- The Houston HIDTA region is a primary distribu- phetamine laboratories decreased 81 percent from tion and transshipment area in the United States for 2004 to 2006 in the Houston HIDTA region, a devel- drugs smuggled from