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U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced Sept. 17 that Project Reckoning, an international drug interdiction operation, led to the arrest of more than 500 individuals and the seizure of 16 tons of cocaine and $60 million in cash. The operation took 15 months and involved law enforcement agencies in Italy, the United States, Canada, Mexico and Guatemala. Of those arrested in the operation, 175 were arrested in the United States; most were of Mexican origin and were suspected of working for Mexico’s Gulf drug cartel. Sixteen suspected high-level drug traffickers working for Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta organized criminal clan were also arrested in the United States and Italy.
Cooperation between the two drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) involved the Gulf cartel using its distribution network to get cocaine from Mexico to the United States into Atlanta, Ga., and New York. From there, the cocaine was handed over to ‘Ndrangheta members and trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean to Italy. Once in Italy, the cocaine was sold via domestic and regional distribution networks on the European market. Project Reckoning was an effort to dismantle this network that spanned three countries.
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