State authorities on Tuesday brought down an international heroin ring based out of the South Bay, where they say young Norteño gang members imported drugs from Mexico and the Central Valley to sell throughout the United States.
Accused ringleader Carlos Jose Moreno, 28, and 11 suspected "middle men" were busted in early-morning raids throughout the Bay Area. Though no heroin was found, officials said undercover officers had bought 3 pounds of the drug from the gang members, and during the raids also seized guns and small amounts of cash, marijuana and methamphetamine.
The California Department of Justice, which led the 2½-year Operation Middle Men, says the drug chain originated with heroin in Mexico, from where the suspects imported the drugs to the Bay Area. It's unclear exactly how much drugs Moreno and his employees are suspected of moving, but officials called them significant players.
"He was supplying a pretty good portion of the Bay Area," said Michelle Gregory, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice. "He was getting this stuff and distributing it out not just through California but through the United States. So he's got to have a pretty decent supply."
The drug-trafficking organization also "smurfed" around the region, bypassing laws by visiting dozens of stores to buy small amounts of pseudoephedrine at a time, prosecutors said. They then used the ingredient to manufacture meth in the Central Valley.
The state DOJ, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office and the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force on Tuesday searched six properties near East Palo Alto, Oakland and Redwood City. They arrested 10 people from Palo Alto, including Moreno, and two Mexicans. Most of them ranged in age from 18 to 27, while one of them was 36.
It was not immediately clear if they had hired attorneys, as many of them were still being booked into jail late Tuesday.
The Attorney General's Office said prosecutors in December 2009 originally targeted the drug ring's middle men, who supplied street-level drug dealers, before they were led to Moreno. They wouldn't divulge exactly how agents brought them down, but said a key part was embedding undercover officers to buy drugs from the organization.
No violent crimes have been linked to the group. They were, however, charged with conspiracy, residential burglary, firearm sales, drug sales and gang enhancements. Officials seized three handguns, three shotguns and three rifles.
"Transnational gangs have become a top public safety threat as they increasingly traffic guns, drugs and human beings into California," Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement.
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