FIRST A TRICKLE, NOW A FLOOD

A few weeks ago I was a guest on a nationally syndicated radio show. I was asked to comment on the usual topics - street gangs, crime, cops and prison gangs. One of the topics was the Mexican Cartels. There had been something on the news about a Cartel bust south of border. I happened to mention to the host that some Cartels were operating right here on our side of the border. And her reaction was total surprise. She said something to the effect that, "You're saying Cartels are operating in the U.S.?"

Frankly, I was surprised that she was surprised. What the hell else is new? Then I realized that the host lives and broadcasts from the East Coast. Despite the relative ease of getting news instantly from anywhere in the world, your average citizen on the East Coast isn't as up to speed as the Left Coasters who stare right down the barrel of the cannon pointed in our direction.

There was a time when Cartel-connected crimes were fairly infrequent. Now, it seems a week doesn't go by without some significant Cartel-connected news hitting us in the face. 

Every week it appears another Panga shows up in Malibu, Orange County or Santa Barbara loaded with dope and/or illegal aliens. Then there was the "startling" revelation a few weeks ago that Florencia 13 had a deal with a Mexican Cartel that was brokered, apparently, by Tablas Castellanos. Never mind that arrangements like that have been going on for decades. 

And the latest is the revelation of a stash house in Orange County rented by a Mexican National where coppers found over a $1 million in cash and hundreds of pounds of cocaine. 

It's astonishing that news of foreign organized criminal enterprises operating on the same streets we all walk on doesn't make more of an impression in the national psyche. The LA TIMES for instance ran a dozen stories on the Pelican Bay hunger strike. In the great scheme of things, this is a minor Eme-sponsored policy initiative to facilitate easier communications between the SHU and the street where you live. 

News of a foreign DTO operating out of an upscale Irvine apartment complex hasn't even been mentioned in the Times. The ominous stuff gets buried. The cynical gamesmanship of the Eme, on the other hand, makes the LA Times look like the Public Relations department of the Carnales.