Local Context
The Chicago Crime Commission named the Sinaloa’s Cartel leader, the mysterious and fearsome Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, Public Enemy No. 1, a title last held by Al Capone. The Sinaloa cartel and its rivals are selling record amounts of heroin and methamphetamine in Chicago, according to drug seizure data and law enforcement officials. Chicago has replaced Miami as the primary U.S. distribution point for illegal drugs, mainly cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine, imported from Mexico. In a 2010 report, the U.S. Department of Justice named the Chicago area the No. 1 destination in the United States for heroin shipments, No. 2 for marijuana and cocaine, and No. 5 for methamphetamine. Chicago is the only U.S. city to rank in the top five for all four major drug categories. There are four main reasons this is happening: transportation, ethnic makeup, size, and gang culture. Chicago is located within a day’s drive of 70 percent of the nation’s population. Six interstate highways cross into the area. Only two states (Texas and California) have more interstate highway miles than Illinois. Chicago also welcomes six of seven major railroads and accounts for a quarter of the country’s rail traffic. Chicago is also the world’s third-largest handler of shipping containers after Singapore and Hong Kong. Lastly, more than 86 million passengers and 1.5 million tons of cargo passed through Midway and O’Hare. Second, the Chicago metro area has a large Hispanic immigrant population, making it easy for Mexican cartel operators to blend in. (Only Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Houston have more residents of Mexican descent, according to the 2010 census.) Because many of these immigrants, especially those who are here illegally, are poor or underemployed, the area provides a rich recruiting ground for cartel workers. According to a Cook County law enforcement officer familiar with the local drug trade, the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods, which are more than 80 percent Hispanic, are the focus of drug distribution in the city. They’re conveniently located near the Stevenson, Dan Ryan, and Eisenhower Expressways. Third, the city is a huge market in its own right. Chicagoans’ taste for drugs is as bigger than most other Americans. For example, according to a report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, 86 percent of people arrested in Cook County in 2012 tested positive for at least one illegal drug which is the highest percentage of any big city. Twenty-two percent tested positive for more than one. Finally, Chicago’s deeply entrenched street gangs offer a great retail network. Law enforcement officials estimate the number of street gangs in the city at more than 70 and the number of members at between 70,000 and 125,000. It simple to get drugs to Chicago and put them on the street.