Leroy N. Soetoro
2023-12-13 20:33:25 UTC
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/mexico-usa-guns/
By SARAH KINOSIAN Filed Dec. 9, 2023, 11 a.m. GMT
Racine, Wisconsin is best known for factories, farming, and an extravagant
televised prom celebration.
But in 2018, Racines suburban sprawl on the edge of Lake Michigan became
a source of high caliber weapons for one of Mexicos top fentanyl
trafficking gangs, the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), U.S.
federal arms-trafficking investigators allege.
The cartel exploited permissive federal and state-level gun control rules
to buy some of the most powerful weapons available to American civilians,
according to two former agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and two other sources, all with knowledge of
the investigation.
Members of a local family, working with a cousin in Mexico, enlisted
friends and relatives who bought guns on their behalf in Racine and
transported them to California and south across the border, according to
an indictment from Wisconsins Eastern District Court unsealed in
February.
Their clients included a hit squad reporting to CJNG leader Nemesio
Oseguera, better known as El Mencho, according to Chris Demlein, one of
the former ATF agents.
The Racine case unlocked the most prolific CJNG firearms trafficking
network ever discovered, said Demlein, who until 2021 served as a senior
special agent with ATF and oversaw a multi-agency arms trafficking project
that coordinated dozens of investigations.
The traffickers in Racine and two connected cells in other locations
bought more than $600,000 of high-end military-style firearms in under a
year, internal ATF documents reviewed by Reuters allege. It seemed like an
unprecedented shopping spree, said Tim Sloan, the other former ATF
investigator. Sloan was the first to trace a CJNG gun to Racine.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_1.jpg?v=242715111223
An employee shows a .50 caliber Barrett M107A1 semi-automatic rifle to
Reuters at a gun store in Racine, Wisconsin where local residents sourced
weapons to be smuggled to the CJNG cartel, according to a federal
indictment. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
This account of the CJNG gun trafficking ring is based on a review of U.S.
and Mexican law enforcement documents and interviews with two individuals
alleged to have procured guns for the cartel as well as with eight current
and former U.S. and Mexican officials. Reuters was able to chronicle the
extent of the operation uncovered by ATF agents as they followed the trail
of military-style guns back to the United States from the Mexican state of
Jalisco, almost 2,000 miles away.
Racine was just the tip of the iceberg. The city was a key part of a CJNG
firearms network that bought hundreds of guns from more than a dozen U.S.
states, specializing in semi-automatic .50 caliber rifles and FN SCAR
assault rifles designed for U.S. special forces, internal ATF reports
obtained by Reuters allege.
ATF dubbed the Wisconsin case Grin and Barrett, after Barrett, a
Tennessee-based weapons maker whose powerful .50 caliber firearms were
among those trafficked by the network. Now a unit of Australias NIOA
Group, Barrett did not respond to detailed requests for comment for this
report.
ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua declined to comment on what she
described as an open case. Mastropasqua said preventing cross-border
firearms trafficking was an ATF priority and new powers had led to 250
people being charged since last year.
Commenting on this storys findings, Alejandro Celorio, legal advisor to
Mexicos foreign ministry, said those involved in the U.S. firearms
business should be more careful to prevent their products from falling
into the wrong hands.
The Racine Mayors Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Reuters was unable to reach representatives for CJNG or Oseguera.
The reach of CJNGs alleged gun trafficking network
Loading Image...
From North Carolina to Oregon, the CJNG network reached deep into the
United States to find and buy heavier, rarer firearms, Sloan and Demlein
said. Far from the border cities that are the usual sources of weapons for
Mexicos criminal groups, relaxed surveillance can make such weapons
easier to buy in quantity, they said.
Overseeing much of the network was Mexican citizen Jesus Cisneros,
according to ATF internal presentations that cited his intercepted
communications with other suspects about moving .50 calibers and other
firearms to Mexico. The Wisconsin indictment charged Cisneros and a local
accomplice named Victor Cobian on multiple counts related to gun
trafficking.
One internal ATF presentation cited more than 28 pending indictments
related to the wider network. Reuters could not independently corroborate
the status of the cases.
A spokesperson for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Attorneys Office
said they could only comment on public court records, adding those records
suggested Cisneros was the lead player in the Wisconsin conspiracy.
$600,000
Value of high-end military-style firearms trafficked from Racine and two
connected cells in under a year
Cisneros is believed to reside in Mexico, one of the sources with
knowledge of the investigation said. The source requested anonymity to
speak freely.
Cobian told Reuters in an interview that Cisneros was his cousin and lived
in Jalisco. Cobian, who pleaded not guilty to gun-trafficking charges,
denied involvement in or knowledge of the alleged trafficking scheme.
Reuters was unable to locate or contact Cisneros or his representatives.
Mexican law enforcement agencies did not respond to inquiries about
Cisneros but did acknowledge that Mexican authorities automatically freeze
the accounts of individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. Cisneros was
sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in February.
The indictment charged Cisneros, Cobian and six other accomplices with
felonies ranging from false statements to unlicensed gun dealing and
smuggling. The alleged accomplices included Cobians sister and her
fiance, who also entered not guilty pleas. A jury trial was set for May 6,
2024, court filings show.
Mexican states where .50 caliber rifles and machine guns were recovered
1 gun
61 guns
Loading Image...
Gun thirty-one
The existence of the wider Cisneros network and Wisconsins role in it may
never have come to light had it not been for a single Barrett .50 caliber
rifle picked up by police in a 2018 raid in Mexicos second-largest city,
Guadalajara, the state capital of Jalisco.
Sloan, ATFs attache at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City at the time,
called the weapon the key to the CJNG gun pipeline.
Weighing 30 pounds, Barrett .50 calibers are used by militaries around the
world for their ability to rip through armored vehicles from over a mile
away. They are among the most powerful weapons civilians can buy in the
United States through licensed dealers and sell for around $9,000.
In Mexico, they are popular with organized criminal groups. CJNG uses .50
calibers to defend routes through which the U.S. Justice Department says
thousands of tons of fentanyl and methamphetamine are shipped to U.S.
consumers.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_13.jpg?v=242715111223
The cartels highly-trained, uniformed squadrons have used the guns to
down a police helicopter, to kill 13 policemen in an ambush, and in a
failed hit on Mexico Citys top cop, Mexican and U.S. authorities say.
On May 21, 2018, gunmen from a CJNG hit squad known as Delta tried to kill
a Jalisco government minister who previously served as the states
attorney general in a brazen afternoon attack outside a Japanese
restaurant near the city center.
A few weeks later, on June 9, a team of Mexican Federal Police
investigating the attack gathered before dawn outside a Guadalajara
cemetery, across from a two-story building used by Delta, detailed
handwritten Federal Police records show.
Delta reports directly to CJNG head Oseguera, according to a cartel
organization chart from Mexicos National Guard, seen by Reuters. In 2021,
a Mexican court convicted Delta gunmen for the Guadalajara attack.
Agents crept into the bright orange house through the garage. Moving
upstairs, they found 36 weapons, including grenade launchers and nearly
8,000 rounds of ammunition, the police records said.
A Jalisco ballistics lab report seen by Reuters showed 27 of the firearms
were traced to the United States. It did not establish if the weapons were
used in the attack.
But one of them, a Barrett .50 caliber registered as Gun #31 in the
report, led investigators to Wisconsin.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_19.jpg?v=242715111223
An injured woman lies on a stretcher after an ambush on a former
prosecutor in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2018. The attack triggered an
investigation that led police to a .50 caliber Barrett rifle that U.S.
agents later traced to the Wisconsin gun store. REUTERS/Stringer
Shooters Sports Center
Sloan traced the weapon to Shooters Sports Center, a Racine gun shop,
where a man called Elias Cobian picked it up on April 9, two months before
the Guadalajara raid, according to ATF trace data and purchase records
shown to Reuters by store employees.
Two days after Elias picked up the gun, on April 11, his brother Oswaldo
Cobian picked up another .50 caliber, the records show. Oswaldo picked up
another one a couple of months earlier. Shooters Sports Center declined
to say how much the weapons had sold for.
The Cobian brothers are cousins of Victor Cobian, two family members told
Reuters. ATF investigation documents reviewed by Reuters allege the
cousins worked together closely to traffic weapons.
Victors older brother, Marco Cobian, said he was surprised when he heard
early in 2018 that an associate of Elias and Oswaldo was going around
asking people to buy guns.
Later, when Elias and Oswaldo got in trouble, it "all made sense, said
Marco, who lives in the Racine area and works construction.
One successful recruit was Elias and Oswaldos friend and coworker at an
energy infrastructure company, a local man called Patrick Finnell.
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guns/mexicoguns_3.jpg?v=242715111223
The Shooters Sports Center, where Racine residents acquired .50 caliber
Barrett semi-automatic rifles to be trafficked to the CJNG in Mexico,
according to the federal indictment. The gun store says it does not
condone the illegal movement of firearms. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
On July 10, Finnell walked out of Shooters Sports Center with another
Barrett .50 caliber. In an interview, Finnell confirmed buying the weapon.
The rifles bought by Finnell and the Cobian brothers were identified in
the indictment as being picked up at the store to be trafficked into the
arsenal of CJNG.
Finnell said in the interview he bought the weapon on behalf of the
brothers, who he said told him the gun was going to Mexico, adding he
thought they were full of shit. Finnell didnt respond to follow-up
interview requests.
The brothers and Finnell are not charged or named in the Wisconsin
indictment, which connects the guns they picked up at Shooters Sports
Center to three unidentified co-conspirators. Reuters was unable to locate
or contact the brothers or their representatives for comment. The
Wisconsin Eastern District Attorney said it could not comment on
individuals not named in the indictment.
Shooters Sports Center was lucky to sell one Barrett .50 caliber in a
normal year, employees said.
In just six months in 2018, the crew had picked up four from the store.
In Wisconsin, licensed dealers can legally sell multiple high-caliber
semi-automatic rifles to adults. We do not condone the illegal movement
of firearms, store owner Bernie Kupper said in an email. He said it was
not unusual for people to refer friends and family to the store.
Finnell himself bought three more .50 calibers in the Racine area, the
first source close to the investigation said. Finnell declined to either
confirm or deny whether he bought more for the brothers, telling Reuters
he would "rather leave that to the side.
The rash of sales of .50 calibers caught the eye of Wisconsin agents from
ATFs field offices in Milwaukee, according to the first source, who
requested anonymity to speak freely.
Over the next few months, the agents dug further.
Quarter of a million guns
In the past three years alone, Mexican authorities have seized 300 .50
calibers, a record, according to previously unpublished data collated by
the Mexican attorney generals office and seen by Reuters.
Once in Mexico, the gun's black market value increases to between $30,000
and $50,000, according to Demlein and Sloan.
The great majority of illegal guns in Mexico come from the United States,
Mexican and U.S. authorities say. A 2013 University of San Diego study
estimated a quarter of a million guns illegally cross the border each
year.
Mexico, a country of 127 million people, has tight gun laws and just a
single gun store, located on a military base. By contrast, the United
States has nearly 78,000 gun dealers more than the combined number of
McDonalds, Burger King, Subway and Wendys franchises, according to gun-
control advocates Everytown for Gun Safety.
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After Mexico launched its drug war in 2006, homicides tripled. Nearly
400,000 Mexicans have been killed, increasingly with firearms. According
to Mexico Citys Ibero University, guns were responsible for nearly three
quarters of murders last year.
Powerful weapons poured over the border after a U.S. ban on assault rifles
expired in 2004, fueling an arms race between criminal groups and Mexican
security forces, said Romain Le Cour, a violence researcher in Mexico.
Cartels have become more militarized. Their firepower has shot up, Le
Cour said.
As well as tighter U.S. gun laws, Mexico needed to improve its own border
security and intelligence on gun trafficking, he said. They need a
disarmament campaign and they need to target the black market.
300
.50 caliber rifles seized by Mexican authorities in the past three years
alone
In the United States, complex gun trafficking investigations that link
together cases across multiple states are relatively rare. Compared to
efforts to stop drugs moving north, until recently few laws or resources
were dedicated to preventing guns moving into Mexico.
Mexican officials are vocal about this disparity at a time when some
Republican Party politicians are calling for the U.S. government to send
troops into Mexico or drop bombs on cartels as a plank for the 2024
election campaign. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from
opioid overdoses in recent years.
The financial, economic and military power of the Mexican cartels comes
from the United States, said Alfredo Femat, head of the Mexican lower
house of Congress foreign relations committee. U.S. guns give drug cartels
the capacity to wage war and Mexico pays a heavy human price, he added.
Mexico expected the United States to do more to stem the flow of weapons,
he said, while acknowledging Mexico should intensify its own efforts.
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A flag that combines U.S. and Mexican emblems hangs outside a home in
Racine. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Mexico is suing nine major gun companies, including Barrett, for $10
billion in damages, arguing the availability of their weapons exacerbates
the drug wars carnage.
The companies argued in court that Mexico failed to control cartel
violence within its own borders. A Boston court dismissed the case,
saying federal law unequivocally bars lawsuits seeking to hold gun
manufacturers responsible when people use guns for their intended purpose.
Mexico has appealed. Barrett did not respond to questions from Reuters
about the case.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, introduced
tougher sentencing for arms trafficking last year. The bill passed with
the help of 14 Republican members, while 193 Republican members voted
against it, in line with the party's opposition to restrictions on gun
rights.
In four U.S. states along the Mexico border, federal rules adopted a
decade ago to combat rampant trafficking mean gun dealers must report
multiple purchases of certain high caliber rifles. In Wisconsin and many
other states, there are no such requirements.
The indictment says the network also bought FN SCAR assault rifles for
CJNG. Belgiums FN Herstal, which makes the gun, told Reuters it commends
U.S. law enforcement for investigating illegal networks, saying its US-
made firearms are only intended for the Defense Department, law
enforcement and the most reputable authorized dealers. FN Herstal is not
mentioned in the Mexican lawsuit.
Jalisco hometown
In 1976, Victor Cobians father, Victoriano Cobian, asked his girlfriend
Maria to marry him and move to Racine from Tonaya, a small agave farming
town in Jalisco, Maria said in an interview. It was already common for
people from Jalisco to migrate to and from Wisconsin, first for farm work,
then for better paying factory jobs.
Victors cousins Elias and Oswaldo Cobian followed north several decades
later. By then, CJNG frequently battled security forces in the area around
Tonaya. The town is often described in Mexican media as a hideout for CJNG
leader Oseguera.
Reuters could not independently verify Osegueras connection to the town.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_8.jpg?v=242715111223
Marco Cobian, whose brother Victor has been indicted by U.S. authorities
in the arms trafficking case, talks in his garage near Racine.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_5.jpg?v=242715111223
Victors mother Maria Cobian works at Victors Again, the bar she owns and
is named after her son, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Victoriano and Maria Cobian kept close ties to Tonaya, visiting at least
once a year, often with the kids, their oldest son Marco said in an
interview. Marco and Maria told Reuters they denied any knowledge about
the alleged gun trafficking. Victoriano passed away in 2013.
Victor Cobian, speaking on his driveway in Racine, told Reuters he was
unjustly associated with alleged gun-running honcho Cisneros because of
their family ties. He said he only knew Cisneros in passing, on the street
during family visits to Tonaya.
Victors Again
In October 2018, agents investigating the Cobian cousins got a break.
Local police in Oak Creek, a city neighboring Racine, found multiple
storage cases for high caliber firearms in a red dumpster at a
construction site, according to the indictment and the two sources close
to the investigation. The sources said they suspected the discarded cases
were a sign weapons were being trafficked. Oak Creek police declined to
comment.
The dumpster was near Victors Again, a bar that Victor Cobians parents
opened in 1991 and named after him.
After the find, agents set up a pole camera facing Oswaldo Cobians house,
one of the sources close to the investigation said. Agents staked out
Victor Cobians home. They gathered bank and phone records and set up
surveillance on the bar and other Cobian family member homes, the source
said.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_4.jpg?v=242715111223
A sign illuminates Victors Again. Local police found several storage
cases for high caliber firearms in a dumpster near the bar. REUTERS/Brian
Snyder
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guns/mexicoguns_9.jpg?v=242715111223
The driveway sits empty at the Racine house where Oswaldo Cobian lived
when it was raided in 2019. Police found FN SCAR assault rifles there they
believed were about to be trafficked to Mexico. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
On February 28, 2019, after gathering intelligence for four months, agents
saw the brothers carrying two FN SCAR assault rifles into Oswaldos
garage, both sources said.
One of the sources said agents were worried the guns would be moved to the
border. They secured a search warrant in less than 24 hours, according to
an internal ATF presentation.
In the parking lot of an abandoned KMart the next afternoon, around 75
agents from ATF, local police, FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations
gathered. Backed by BearCat SWAT vehicles, they raided the homes of
Patrick Finnell and Victor, Oswaldo and Elias Cobian, among others.
Agents recovered 52 firearms, including the two FN SCARs, one of the
sources said.
No .50 caliber Barrett rifles were found. But Victor Cobian was arrested
at his house with three empty Barrett cases and a conversion kit to turn
weapons into fully automatic machine guns, according to the source.
Also found were two Colt 1911 pistols sporting gold-plated grips and
ornately decorated with cartel insignia, the presentation showed.
Victor told Reuters the conversion kit wasnt his. He said he embellished
the pistols in homage to his home state of Jalisco and his love of
gangster TV shows.
One of the pistols, the presentation showed, was engraved with San Judas
Tadeo, a saint popular with Mexican narcotraffickers. The other was inlaid
with a gold 50-peso coin, similar to coins stolen during a heist of
Mexicos Central bank in 2019. Carved below the coin were the letters
CJNG.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/mexico-usa-guns/
--
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Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
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Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
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Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
By SARAH KINOSIAN Filed Dec. 9, 2023, 11 a.m. GMT
Racine, Wisconsin is best known for factories, farming, and an extravagant
televised prom celebration.
But in 2018, Racines suburban sprawl on the edge of Lake Michigan became
a source of high caliber weapons for one of Mexicos top fentanyl
trafficking gangs, the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), U.S.
federal arms-trafficking investigators allege.
The cartel exploited permissive federal and state-level gun control rules
to buy some of the most powerful weapons available to American civilians,
according to two former agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and two other sources, all with knowledge of
the investigation.
Members of a local family, working with a cousin in Mexico, enlisted
friends and relatives who bought guns on their behalf in Racine and
transported them to California and south across the border, according to
an indictment from Wisconsins Eastern District Court unsealed in
February.
Their clients included a hit squad reporting to CJNG leader Nemesio
Oseguera, better known as El Mencho, according to Chris Demlein, one of
the former ATF agents.
The Racine case unlocked the most prolific CJNG firearms trafficking
network ever discovered, said Demlein, who until 2021 served as a senior
special agent with ATF and oversaw a multi-agency arms trafficking project
that coordinated dozens of investigations.
The traffickers in Racine and two connected cells in other locations
bought more than $600,000 of high-end military-style firearms in under a
year, internal ATF documents reviewed by Reuters allege. It seemed like an
unprecedented shopping spree, said Tim Sloan, the other former ATF
investigator. Sloan was the first to trace a CJNG gun to Racine.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_1.jpg?v=242715111223
An employee shows a .50 caliber Barrett M107A1 semi-automatic rifle to
Reuters at a gun store in Racine, Wisconsin where local residents sourced
weapons to be smuggled to the CJNG cartel, according to a federal
indictment. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
This account of the CJNG gun trafficking ring is based on a review of U.S.
and Mexican law enforcement documents and interviews with two individuals
alleged to have procured guns for the cartel as well as with eight current
and former U.S. and Mexican officials. Reuters was able to chronicle the
extent of the operation uncovered by ATF agents as they followed the trail
of military-style guns back to the United States from the Mexican state of
Jalisco, almost 2,000 miles away.
Racine was just the tip of the iceberg. The city was a key part of a CJNG
firearms network that bought hundreds of guns from more than a dozen U.S.
states, specializing in semi-automatic .50 caliber rifles and FN SCAR
assault rifles designed for U.S. special forces, internal ATF reports
obtained by Reuters allege.
ATF dubbed the Wisconsin case Grin and Barrett, after Barrett, a
Tennessee-based weapons maker whose powerful .50 caliber firearms were
among those trafficked by the network. Now a unit of Australias NIOA
Group, Barrett did not respond to detailed requests for comment for this
report.
ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua declined to comment on what she
described as an open case. Mastropasqua said preventing cross-border
firearms trafficking was an ATF priority and new powers had led to 250
people being charged since last year.
Commenting on this storys findings, Alejandro Celorio, legal advisor to
Mexicos foreign ministry, said those involved in the U.S. firearms
business should be more careful to prevent their products from falling
into the wrong hands.
The Racine Mayors Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Reuters was unable to reach representatives for CJNG or Oseguera.
The reach of CJNGs alleged gun trafficking network
Loading Image...
From North Carolina to Oregon, the CJNG network reached deep into the
United States to find and buy heavier, rarer firearms, Sloan and Demlein
said. Far from the border cities that are the usual sources of weapons for
Mexicos criminal groups, relaxed surveillance can make such weapons
easier to buy in quantity, they said.
Overseeing much of the network was Mexican citizen Jesus Cisneros,
according to ATF internal presentations that cited his intercepted
communications with other suspects about moving .50 calibers and other
firearms to Mexico. The Wisconsin indictment charged Cisneros and a local
accomplice named Victor Cobian on multiple counts related to gun
trafficking.
One internal ATF presentation cited more than 28 pending indictments
related to the wider network. Reuters could not independently corroborate
the status of the cases.
A spokesperson for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Attorneys Office
said they could only comment on public court records, adding those records
suggested Cisneros was the lead player in the Wisconsin conspiracy.
$600,000
Value of high-end military-style firearms trafficked from Racine and two
connected cells in under a year
Cisneros is believed to reside in Mexico, one of the sources with
knowledge of the investigation said. The source requested anonymity to
speak freely.
Cobian told Reuters in an interview that Cisneros was his cousin and lived
in Jalisco. Cobian, who pleaded not guilty to gun-trafficking charges,
denied involvement in or knowledge of the alleged trafficking scheme.
Reuters was unable to locate or contact Cisneros or his representatives.
Mexican law enforcement agencies did not respond to inquiries about
Cisneros but did acknowledge that Mexican authorities automatically freeze
the accounts of individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. Cisneros was
sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in February.
The indictment charged Cisneros, Cobian and six other accomplices with
felonies ranging from false statements to unlicensed gun dealing and
smuggling. The alleged accomplices included Cobians sister and her
fiance, who also entered not guilty pleas. A jury trial was set for May 6,
2024, court filings show.
Mexican states where .50 caliber rifles and machine guns were recovered
1 gun
61 guns
Loading Image...
Gun thirty-one
The existence of the wider Cisneros network and Wisconsins role in it may
never have come to light had it not been for a single Barrett .50 caliber
rifle picked up by police in a 2018 raid in Mexicos second-largest city,
Guadalajara, the state capital of Jalisco.
Sloan, ATFs attache at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City at the time,
called the weapon the key to the CJNG gun pipeline.
Weighing 30 pounds, Barrett .50 calibers are used by militaries around the
world for their ability to rip through armored vehicles from over a mile
away. They are among the most powerful weapons civilians can buy in the
United States through licensed dealers and sell for around $9,000.
In Mexico, they are popular with organized criminal groups. CJNG uses .50
calibers to defend routes through which the U.S. Justice Department says
thousands of tons of fentanyl and methamphetamine are shipped to U.S.
consumers.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_13.jpg?v=242715111223
The cartels highly-trained, uniformed squadrons have used the guns to
down a police helicopter, to kill 13 policemen in an ambush, and in a
failed hit on Mexico Citys top cop, Mexican and U.S. authorities say.
On May 21, 2018, gunmen from a CJNG hit squad known as Delta tried to kill
a Jalisco government minister who previously served as the states
attorney general in a brazen afternoon attack outside a Japanese
restaurant near the city center.
A few weeks later, on June 9, a team of Mexican Federal Police
investigating the attack gathered before dawn outside a Guadalajara
cemetery, across from a two-story building used by Delta, detailed
handwritten Federal Police records show.
Delta reports directly to CJNG head Oseguera, according to a cartel
organization chart from Mexicos National Guard, seen by Reuters. In 2021,
a Mexican court convicted Delta gunmen for the Guadalajara attack.
Agents crept into the bright orange house through the garage. Moving
upstairs, they found 36 weapons, including grenade launchers and nearly
8,000 rounds of ammunition, the police records said.
A Jalisco ballistics lab report seen by Reuters showed 27 of the firearms
were traced to the United States. It did not establish if the weapons were
used in the attack.
But one of them, a Barrett .50 caliber registered as Gun #31 in the
report, led investigators to Wisconsin.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_19.jpg?v=242715111223
An injured woman lies on a stretcher after an ambush on a former
prosecutor in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2018. The attack triggered an
investigation that led police to a .50 caliber Barrett rifle that U.S.
agents later traced to the Wisconsin gun store. REUTERS/Stringer
Shooters Sports Center
Sloan traced the weapon to Shooters Sports Center, a Racine gun shop,
where a man called Elias Cobian picked it up on April 9, two months before
the Guadalajara raid, according to ATF trace data and purchase records
shown to Reuters by store employees.
Two days after Elias picked up the gun, on April 11, his brother Oswaldo
Cobian picked up another .50 caliber, the records show. Oswaldo picked up
another one a couple of months earlier. Shooters Sports Center declined
to say how much the weapons had sold for.
The Cobian brothers are cousins of Victor Cobian, two family members told
Reuters. ATF investigation documents reviewed by Reuters allege the
cousins worked together closely to traffic weapons.
Victors older brother, Marco Cobian, said he was surprised when he heard
early in 2018 that an associate of Elias and Oswaldo was going around
asking people to buy guns.
Later, when Elias and Oswaldo got in trouble, it "all made sense, said
Marco, who lives in the Racine area and works construction.
One successful recruit was Elias and Oswaldos friend and coworker at an
energy infrastructure company, a local man called Patrick Finnell.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_3.jpg?v=242715111223
The Shooters Sports Center, where Racine residents acquired .50 caliber
Barrett semi-automatic rifles to be trafficked to the CJNG in Mexico,
according to the federal indictment. The gun store says it does not
condone the illegal movement of firearms. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
On July 10, Finnell walked out of Shooters Sports Center with another
Barrett .50 caliber. In an interview, Finnell confirmed buying the weapon.
The rifles bought by Finnell and the Cobian brothers were identified in
the indictment as being picked up at the store to be trafficked into the
arsenal of CJNG.
Finnell said in the interview he bought the weapon on behalf of the
brothers, who he said told him the gun was going to Mexico, adding he
thought they were full of shit. Finnell didnt respond to follow-up
interview requests.
The brothers and Finnell are not charged or named in the Wisconsin
indictment, which connects the guns they picked up at Shooters Sports
Center to three unidentified co-conspirators. Reuters was unable to locate
or contact the brothers or their representatives for comment. The
Wisconsin Eastern District Attorney said it could not comment on
individuals not named in the indictment.
Shooters Sports Center was lucky to sell one Barrett .50 caliber in a
normal year, employees said.
In just six months in 2018, the crew had picked up four from the store.
In Wisconsin, licensed dealers can legally sell multiple high-caliber
semi-automatic rifles to adults. We do not condone the illegal movement
of firearms, store owner Bernie Kupper said in an email. He said it was
not unusual for people to refer friends and family to the store.
Finnell himself bought three more .50 calibers in the Racine area, the
first source close to the investigation said. Finnell declined to either
confirm or deny whether he bought more for the brothers, telling Reuters
he would "rather leave that to the side.
The rash of sales of .50 calibers caught the eye of Wisconsin agents from
ATFs field offices in Milwaukee, according to the first source, who
requested anonymity to speak freely.
Over the next few months, the agents dug further.
Quarter of a million guns
In the past three years alone, Mexican authorities have seized 300 .50
calibers, a record, according to previously unpublished data collated by
the Mexican attorney generals office and seen by Reuters.
Once in Mexico, the gun's black market value increases to between $30,000
and $50,000, according to Demlein and Sloan.
The great majority of illegal guns in Mexico come from the United States,
Mexican and U.S. authorities say. A 2013 University of San Diego study
estimated a quarter of a million guns illegally cross the border each
year.
Mexico, a country of 127 million people, has tight gun laws and just a
single gun store, located on a military base. By contrast, the United
States has nearly 78,000 gun dealers more than the combined number of
McDonalds, Burger King, Subway and Wendys franchises, according to gun-
control advocates Everytown for Gun Safety.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_10.jpg?v=242715111223
After Mexico launched its drug war in 2006, homicides tripled. Nearly
400,000 Mexicans have been killed, increasingly with firearms. According
to Mexico Citys Ibero University, guns were responsible for nearly three
quarters of murders last year.
Powerful weapons poured over the border after a U.S. ban on assault rifles
expired in 2004, fueling an arms race between criminal groups and Mexican
security forces, said Romain Le Cour, a violence researcher in Mexico.
Cartels have become more militarized. Their firepower has shot up, Le
Cour said.
As well as tighter U.S. gun laws, Mexico needed to improve its own border
security and intelligence on gun trafficking, he said. They need a
disarmament campaign and they need to target the black market.
300
.50 caliber rifles seized by Mexican authorities in the past three years
alone
In the United States, complex gun trafficking investigations that link
together cases across multiple states are relatively rare. Compared to
efforts to stop drugs moving north, until recently few laws or resources
were dedicated to preventing guns moving into Mexico.
Mexican officials are vocal about this disparity at a time when some
Republican Party politicians are calling for the U.S. government to send
troops into Mexico or drop bombs on cartels as a plank for the 2024
election campaign. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from
opioid overdoses in recent years.
The financial, economic and military power of the Mexican cartels comes
from the United States, said Alfredo Femat, head of the Mexican lower
house of Congress foreign relations committee. U.S. guns give drug cartels
the capacity to wage war and Mexico pays a heavy human price, he added.
Mexico expected the United States to do more to stem the flow of weapons,
he said, while acknowledging Mexico should intensify its own efforts.
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A flag that combines U.S. and Mexican emblems hangs outside a home in
Racine. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Mexico is suing nine major gun companies, including Barrett, for $10
billion in damages, arguing the availability of their weapons exacerbates
the drug wars carnage.
The companies argued in court that Mexico failed to control cartel
violence within its own borders. A Boston court dismissed the case,
saying federal law unequivocally bars lawsuits seeking to hold gun
manufacturers responsible when people use guns for their intended purpose.
Mexico has appealed. Barrett did not respond to questions from Reuters
about the case.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, introduced
tougher sentencing for arms trafficking last year. The bill passed with
the help of 14 Republican members, while 193 Republican members voted
against it, in line with the party's opposition to restrictions on gun
rights.
In four U.S. states along the Mexico border, federal rules adopted a
decade ago to combat rampant trafficking mean gun dealers must report
multiple purchases of certain high caliber rifles. In Wisconsin and many
other states, there are no such requirements.
The indictment says the network also bought FN SCAR assault rifles for
CJNG. Belgiums FN Herstal, which makes the gun, told Reuters it commends
U.S. law enforcement for investigating illegal networks, saying its US-
made firearms are only intended for the Defense Department, law
enforcement and the most reputable authorized dealers. FN Herstal is not
mentioned in the Mexican lawsuit.
Jalisco hometown
In 1976, Victor Cobians father, Victoriano Cobian, asked his girlfriend
Maria to marry him and move to Racine from Tonaya, a small agave farming
town in Jalisco, Maria said in an interview. It was already common for
people from Jalisco to migrate to and from Wisconsin, first for farm work,
then for better paying factory jobs.
Victors cousins Elias and Oswaldo Cobian followed north several decades
later. By then, CJNG frequently battled security forces in the area around
Tonaya. The town is often described in Mexican media as a hideout for CJNG
leader Oseguera.
Reuters could not independently verify Osegueras connection to the town.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_8.jpg?v=242715111223
Marco Cobian, whose brother Victor has been indicted by U.S. authorities
in the arms trafficking case, talks in his garage near Racine.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_5.jpg?v=242715111223
Victors mother Maria Cobian works at Victors Again, the bar she owns and
is named after her son, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Victoriano and Maria Cobian kept close ties to Tonaya, visiting at least
once a year, often with the kids, their oldest son Marco said in an
interview. Marco and Maria told Reuters they denied any knowledge about
the alleged gun trafficking. Victoriano passed away in 2013.
Victor Cobian, speaking on his driveway in Racine, told Reuters he was
unjustly associated with alleged gun-running honcho Cisneros because of
their family ties. He said he only knew Cisneros in passing, on the street
during family visits to Tonaya.
Victors Again
In October 2018, agents investigating the Cobian cousins got a break.
Local police in Oak Creek, a city neighboring Racine, found multiple
storage cases for high caliber firearms in a red dumpster at a
construction site, according to the indictment and the two sources close
to the investigation. The sources said they suspected the discarded cases
were a sign weapons were being trafficked. Oak Creek police declined to
comment.
The dumpster was near Victors Again, a bar that Victor Cobians parents
opened in 1991 and named after him.
After the find, agents set up a pole camera facing Oswaldo Cobians house,
one of the sources close to the investigation said. Agents staked out
Victor Cobians home. They gathered bank and phone records and set up
surveillance on the bar and other Cobian family member homes, the source
said.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_4.jpg?v=242715111223
A sign illuminates Victors Again. Local police found several storage
cases for high caliber firearms in a dumpster near the bar. REUTERS/Brian
Snyder
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/mexico-usa-
guns/mexicoguns_9.jpg?v=242715111223
The driveway sits empty at the Racine house where Oswaldo Cobian lived
when it was raided in 2019. Police found FN SCAR assault rifles there they
believed were about to be trafficked to Mexico. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
On February 28, 2019, after gathering intelligence for four months, agents
saw the brothers carrying two FN SCAR assault rifles into Oswaldos
garage, both sources said.
One of the sources said agents were worried the guns would be moved to the
border. They secured a search warrant in less than 24 hours, according to
an internal ATF presentation.
In the parking lot of an abandoned KMart the next afternoon, around 75
agents from ATF, local police, FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations
gathered. Backed by BearCat SWAT vehicles, they raided the homes of
Patrick Finnell and Victor, Oswaldo and Elias Cobian, among others.
Agents recovered 52 firearms, including the two FN SCARs, one of the
sources said.
No .50 caliber Barrett rifles were found. But Victor Cobian was arrested
at his house with three empty Barrett cases and a conversion kit to turn
weapons into fully automatic machine guns, according to the source.
Also found were two Colt 1911 pistols sporting gold-plated grips and
ornately decorated with cartel insignia, the presentation showed.
Victor told Reuters the conversion kit wasnt his. He said he embellished
the pistols in homage to his home state of Jalisco and his love of
gangster TV shows.
One of the pistols, the presentation showed, was engraved with San Judas
Tadeo, a saint popular with Mexican narcotraffickers. The other was inlaid
with a gold 50-peso coin, similar to coins stolen during a heist of
Mexicos Central bank in 2019. Carved below the coin were the letters
CJNG.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/mexico-usa-guns/
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.