tfs

Recently, Houston news site Chron.com ran a weekend piece on a local DEA sting branded ‘Operation Three Star’. Through use of a converted informant, drug agents were able to work slowly through a branch of a Mexican cartel operating in Houston. Ultimately, agents seized a few thousand pounds of cocaine and a few million dollars in drug money.

The major arrest cited in the story was of an elderly grandmother name Elisa Castillo. She was given life in prison for what she claims was simply agreeing to have several vehicles registered in her name. As someone who had worked 20 years as an obtrician before retirement, she doesn’t exactly fit the profile of a hardened criminal and drug boss.

In fact, according to the story, the biggest ‘break’ in the case lead to information on a mid-level cartel operative known as Leal Gonzalez. After spending dozens of hours staking out his smuggling route and finally pinning him to a black Volkswagon, the DEA lost him. He remains at large.

According to the report:

Of the people arrested on federal drug-trafficking charges, some had full-time jobs as criminals, others kept day jobs… Others snared included a tractor-trailer driver, a printing shop employee, a tire shop owner, a bus baggage handler, a man who drove a taxi back in Mexico. Several told authorities they had made money buying and selling used cars.

All those drugs on the table and the DEA managed to avoid arresting a single major cartel officer. Instead, they focused their efforts on pawns, part-timers, and patsies. Yup, just another day squandered in the War on Drugs.