"Because until we do that, if it's not Mexico, it's going to be in another country."ĭisclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and Telemundo. "We here in the United States have to do a better job in terms of reducing the demand for drugs," he said. Vigil agreed, and he said that in his 30 years with the DEA, he never agreed with the emphasis on drug kingpins. He said that means more resources to treat drug addiction and to take aim at organized crime and corruption in Mexico. "I believe we have to look at the idea of harm reduction, and harm reduction being reducing the harm that drugs do to Americans in terms of overdose deaths and addiction and reducing the harm of violence involved with the drug trade," he said. Grillo said that while it is important not to let drug lords operate with impunity, a better strategy involves taking aim at the stakes in the drug trade. "The war on drugs conceptually was a failure," Grillo said, "And the kingpin strategy was a failure." law enforcement's long-running strategy of targeting drug kingpins, Vigil and Grillo told "American Greed." The fact that the organization seems to barely miss a beat even as its leaders turn on one another shows the folly of U.S. "I think that anyone charged with a federal crime who faces a minimum sentence of 10 years will certainly be open to hearing what the government has to say in terms of a negotiated settlement," he told Telemundo in March. Still, Lichtman has not taken a deal for his client off the table. "The Sinaloa cartel is a very resilient cartel," he said. Vigil believes the cartel may already be making adjustments just in case. "You could give away information about political protection, but even in the case you do that, then there's other political protection people can get," he said. And even if she were able to give up corrupt government officials, there are plenty more where they came from. He said the cartel can easily shift to other routes if its existing supply lines are compromised. "I don't think there's any serious case it would be a major blow," said Grillo, whose latest book, "Blood Gun Money: How America Arms Gangs and Cartels ," came out this year. "It is not like he has been on the phone telling her secrets from the prison."Īnother expert on the drug trade, Mexico City-based journalist Ioan Grillo, told "American Greed" that the Sinaloa cartel is so sprawling and decentralized that even Coronel would not have the secrets authorities would need to bring it down. "That is a popular belief, but it is based on speculation," Lichtman said, noting that El Chapo has been behind bars for much of the time the couple has been married. In March, Lichtman told NBCUniversal's Telemundo that his client does not have as much information as people think. Lichtman has previously called rumors about Coronel's potential cooperation "despicable," warning that they put his client's and her daughters' lives at risk. "We're working on a possible plea deal," her New York-based attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said in an email to "American Greed." "Things may be resolved in the next couple weeks." He did not say whether an agreement might include Coronel's cooperation. In March, she waived her right to a preliminary hearing. District Court for the District of Columbia, has not entered a plea. and Mexican citizenship and was charged in U.S. Some believe Coronel could help break the cycle of violence.Ĭoronel, who has U.S. prosecutors say the cartel has been known to carry out murders, assassinations and torture just to protect its turf. And the organization is as violent at it is ruthless. southwestern border, controlling smuggling routes into California and Arizona. The cartel controls drug trafficking in Mexico's most crucial areas - along the Pacific Coast and the northern and southern borders, and is the gatekeeper along the U.S. "Coronel understood the scope of the Sinaloa cartel's drug trafficking." "Coronel grew up with knowledge of the narcotics trafficking industry," the complaint says. But language in the 12-page complaint suggests the feds' interest in the former beauty queen, who married El Chapo when she was 19, goes deeper. authorities reportedly have high hopes for a break in their three-decade war with the cartel following the arrest in February of Emma Coronel Aispuro, El Chapo's wife, and the mother of their twin daughters.Ĭoronel, 31, is being held without bail on a criminal complaint charging her with conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and with helping El Chapo escape from a Mexican prison in 2014. It appears to be proof that the organization is much bigger than one man.
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