Florida Redoubles Effort To Eradicate Mexican Cartels In State

Florida has been one of the Republican-led border states that have taken direct action against a border crisis that has grown exponentially under the Biden administration.

Last week, state Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a statement through the Office of Statewide Prosecution announcing a 25-year prison sentence for a Mexican cartel member related to a widespread drug trafficking operation. 

Working with other agencies on the state and federal level, Moody has cited this case as a sign of her office’s continuing effort to thwart crimes committed by Mexican cartels and gangs.

Florida investigators have also identified a pattern within the state’s prison system whereby gangs — under the orders of a ruling body known as “the Mesa” — distribute drugs, carry out hits on enemies, and engage in other criminal activities. 

So far, prisons in at least four counties have been linked to such an operation, which has reportedly been made possible through the use of cell phones smuggled into the facilities.

The sentence announced on Friday related to a drug trafficker working outside of the prison system in conjunction with inmates plotting the conspiracy and was just the first of more than two dozen such defendants facing similar charges. 

“Lethal substances are flooding into our country due to Biden’s disastrous open border and we must continue to be dogged in our efforts to interdict this poison and aggressively prosecute traffickers,” the attorney general said.

 Reports indicate that the investigation into this drug ring has already led to the seizure of 380 pounds of methamphetamines, five pounds of cocaine and enough fentanyl to kill more than 11 million people. 

Hendry County Sheriff Steve Whidden is among the law enforcement officers who helped conduct the operation and echoed Moody’s commitment to holding traffickers accountable.

“If they set up in Hendry County, we will find them and eliminate them,” he declared.

Moody joined a group of attorneys general representing nearly half of all U.S. states to send a letter to Congress requesting federal authority to jam cell phone signals inside of prisons.

“If inmates were blocked from using contraband cell phones, we could prevent serious levels of drug trafficking, deadly riots and other crimes from happening,” the letter asserted.