ARCHIVED Drug Market Analysis 2008 Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE National Drug Intelligence Center 319 Washington Street 5th Floor, Johnstown, PA 15901-1622 • (814) 532-4601 NDIC publications are available on the following web sites: INTERNET www.usdoj.gov/ndic ADNET http://ndicosa RISS ndic.riss.net LEO https://www.leo.gov/http://leowcs.leopriv.gov/lesig/ndic/index.htm 060408 This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED Product No. 2008-R0813-013 June 2008 Drug Market Analysis 2008 Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 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 coordinated 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 National Drug Intelligence Center This page intentionally left blank. ii This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED LOS ANGELES High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 2008 TABLE OF CON T EN T S Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 Strategic Drug Threat Developments ......................................................................................................... 2 HIDTA Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Drug Threat Overview .............................................................................................................................. 4 Drug Trafficking Organizations ................................................................................................................. 7 Production ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Transportation ........................................................................................................................................ 15 Distribution ............................................................................................................................................ 16 Drug-Related Crime ................................................................................................................................ 18 Abuse ...................................................................................................................................................... 19 Illicit Finance .......................................................................................................................................... 19 Outlook .................................................................................................................................................. 21 Sources ................................................................................................................................................... 23 iii This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED National Drug Intelligence Center This page intentionally left blank. iv This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED LOS ANGELES High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 2008 PREFA C E This assessment provides a strategic overview of the illicit drug situation in the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) region, highlighting significant trends and law enforcement con- cerns related to the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. The report was prepared through detailed analy- sis of recent law enforcement reporting, information obtained through interviews with law enforcement and public health officials, and available statistical data. The report is designed to provide policymakers, resource planners, and law enforcement officials with a focused discussion of key drug issues and devel- opments facing the Los Angeles HIDTA. Major City* Interstate U.S. Highway NEVADA Over 1,000,000 State Highway ! Inland Empire City Mexico Highway )"D Port of Entry Inland Empire County HIDTA County * By Census 2000 Population ¨¦§15 Barstow ! SAN BERNARDINO ! ¨¦§40 Needles ¨¦§15 Victorville ¨¦§5 ! Hesperia LOS ANGELES ! CALIFORNIA ¤£101 Yucca Valley Twentynine Palms ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Banning Los Angeles ! ! ! ! ¨¦§10 ! RIVERSIDE UV111 215 ORANGE ¨¦§ ¨¦§10 Inland Empire Cities SAN BERNARDINO 111 LOS 5 86 UV ARIZONA ANGELES ¨¦§ UV Rancho §15 San §15 Cucamonga ¨¦ ¨¦ Bernardino ! Rialto ! Fontana ! ¨¦§210 ! ! ! Colton ! §10 ! Ontario Grand ¨¦ Chino Terrace San Riverside Moreno Norco ! Valley Diego ! ! ¨¦§8 )"D )"D )"D ¨¦§8 ! RIVERSIDE Corona 215 Andrade ¨¦§ D )"D )"2 ORANGE Perris San Ysidro )"D )"D 2 Calexico West ! )" Tecate §15 Calexico East ¨¦§5 ¨¦ Otay Mesa )"2 1 "5 )" MEXICO ) Figure 1. Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. 1 This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED National Drug Intelligence Center • Asian (particularly Vietnamese) DTOs and ST RA T EGI C DRUG THREA T criminal groups in the Los Angeles HIDTA re- DEVELO P MEN T S gion increasingly are producing high-potency marijuana in a number of upscale suburban • Highly organized and very sophisticated neighborhoods at which high levels of black Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) mold (see text box on page 14) and carbon and criminal groups control the most signifi- dioxide also are discovered; many of the cant drug operations in the HIDTA region growers also booby-trap the homes and and an increasing number of drug markets reroute the electrical wiring, which further throughout the country; this expansion is threatens law enforcement safety. facilitated through their enhanced cooperative efforts with Los Angeles-based street gangs, • The increased visibility of violent cartels prison gangs and, to a lesser extent, outlaw in Mexico and near the California–Mexico motorcycle gangs (OMGs) that are increas- border has contributed to shifts in drug ingly joining forces with Mexican DTOs and smuggling patterns and, occasionally, drug criminal groups for economic gain. (See text flow from Mexico into and through the Los box on page 9.) Angeles HIDTA region. • The migration of Los Angeles-based street • Mexican ice methamphetamine—the avail- gangs from inner-city neighborhoods— ability of which has somewhat diminished— particularly those in Los Angeles County— is the principal type available in the Los to more suburban and rural communities Angeles HIDTA region; however, the Los within Los Angeles County (notably the Angeles HIDTA region is one of the most Antelope Valley area) as well as San Ber- prominent domestic source areas for meth- nardino and Riverside Counties and many amphetamine available throughout the other drug markets throughout the country western portion of the country and in many has escalated dramatically. eastern drug market areas. • A large and increasing number of street • Many DTOs and criminal groups in the Los gangs that distribute illicit drugs in the Los Angeles HIDTA region that distribute illicit Angeles HIDTA region have military-trained drugs also commit various other crimes— gang members with knowledge of and access murder, alien smuggling, kidnapping, and to sensitive military equipment and weapons; weapons smuggling—to further their criminal their increasing reliance on military-trained enterprises and generate profits. gang members to facilitate their drug en- • Conflicting state and federal laws regarding terprises threatens law enforcement safety be- marijuana distribution and use for serious cause most officers are not similarly trained illnesses are increasingly difficult for law to protect themselves and others. enforcement officers in the HIDTA region to • The increasing demand for high-potency enforce; in January 2008 distributors in Los marijuana throughout the United States has Angeles became first in the state to use the contributed to increases in domestic can- protections offered through state medicinal nabis cultivation, both indoors (primarily by marijuana laws to dispense marijuana through Asian groups) and outdoors (principally by vending machines—known as Anytime Vend- Mexican groups) in the Los Angeles HIDTA ing Machines (AVMs)—that resemble candy region, a principal source area for domesti- and other snack vending machines. cally produced marijuana. 2 This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED LOS ANGELES High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 2008 with their neighbors. Most of their crack and PCP HIDTA OVERVIEW production occurs in inner-city neighborhoods; The Los Angeles HIDTA region—composed however, PCP increasingly is produced in the high of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Ber- desert areas of San Bernardino County. nardino Counties—is one of the most populous