An Indiana beauty queen, Glenis Zapata, was arrested as part of a drug bust with ties to a Mexican cartel. Zapata allegedly used her job as a flight attendant to move drug money from Chicago to southern states and Mexico, resulting in charges of money laundering. She was one of 18 suspects arrested along with Oswaldo Espinosa, the alleged ring leader of a multi-million dollar drug trafficking ring. Cash and cocaine were transported in semi-trailer trucks and on planes from Midwest stash houses to the southern US and Mexico, with the assistance of Zapata.
Espinosa was the head of the Espinosa DTO, a Mexican international drug trafficking organization, which was responsible for flooding US streets with cocaine. The indictment detailed eight drug trafficking operations from 2021 to 2023 and 15 cash transports between November 2019 and March 2022. The investigation into Espinosa was led by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, created to target major drug rings in the US. Despite being a smaller cartel, the Espinosa DTO’s operations were significant in the drug trade.
Mexican cartels, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel, are estimated to have 150 different organizations with about 175,000 active members. These cartels smuggle drugs and money into the US, causing a significant drug crisis. The DEA is focused on dismantling major drug operations, particularly focusing on the two Mexican drug cartels primarily responsible for the fentanyl poisoning epidemic in the US. Law enforcement agencies near the border have conducted numerous bulk cash seizures valued at millions of dollars in order to combat the drug crisis.
Efforts to target Mexican cartels in the US continue, with a focus on violent dealers and the circulation of fentanyl. The goal of law enforcement agencies is to defeat the cartels responsible for the fentanyl poisoning epidemic in the US, as well as other drugs that contribute to the country’s drug crisis. Despite the challenges posed by these powerful cartels, law enforcement agencies are committed to dismantling their operations in order to reduce violence and drug-related deaths in the US. The arrest of individuals like Glenis Zapata demonstrates a continued dedication to prosecuting those involved in drug trafficking and money laundering schemes.
