ATF Death Watch 94: Who Got the Fast and Furious Firearms?

Click on map to embiggen. The numbers represent the ATF-enabled Fast and Furious guns recovered by Mexican police and military submitted for ATF eTrace. Strangely, the specific info that would help ID the weapons (make, model, serial numbers, exact location, etc.) started drying up when U.S. aid money started flowing to Mexico. Also, there’s evidence that the Mexican government has been destroying ATF F&F firearms. Bottom line: this DOJ data is neither complete nor reliable. But it does give us a snapshot of where some (if not most or all) of the guns went. As we know which drug cartels operate in which geographic areas, we can draw some conclusions. Make the jump for a narco-terrorist roster, scorecard and roadmap . . .

First, the bad guys . . .

AFO  – the Arellano-Félix Organization, named after the relevant family members, based in Tijuana, BC. It’s still pretty viable in the immediate urban area.

Sinaloa Cartel /Federation –  “El Chapo’s” group based in Sinaloa, as were many of the original Mexican drug cartels—which explains the continuing conflicts in the state
The Sinaloas have grown to cover much, but not all, of the Southwest border, from outside Tijuana / San Diego to Juarez / El Paso and somewhat beyond to the east.

CPS or Cartel Pacifico Sur – Based in the south Pacific, an alliance of various west coast groups aligned with locals in Nogales / Nogales and Agua Prieta / Douglas. The CPS is active mostly in Sonora, and along the Pacific coast, south of Sinaloa.

LFM – It was the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel; it’s since split up. The main group has joined . . .

CT the Caballeros Templar (Knights Templar). Other LFM members have joined various factions, including remants of BLO and Zetas based in Michoacan, a Mexican state made for the drug industry (good sea, highway access and good growing areas).

BLO – The Bertran Levya Organization originally split off from the Sinaloa Federation
Survivors split up among different organizations now: Sinaloa Fed, CT, CPS, Zetas, et al.

CFO /NCJ / Aztecas – Locals cartels based in Cuidad. Juarez and Chihuahua. They are respectively the Carrillo Fuentes Organization, the Nuevo Cartel de Juarez, and the Aztecas. The Aztecas are a Juarez/El Paso street gang, drug retailer and enforcers. They’re all fighting the Sinaloans for control of a very profitable drug / human smuggling route through West Texas and New Mexico.

Gulf cartel or Cartel de Golfo – They were running most of the Mexico’s east coast smuggling until the Zetas split off. They’ve lost a lot of territory to the Zetas and others.

Los Zetas – Started by ex-military men as enforcers for the Gulf Cartel. Now the largest and most famous Mexican drug cartel. They’re currently battling the Sinaloas for control of the major drug routes into the United States. Public enemy number one for the Calderon government.

Now their link to Fast and Furious firearms

Baja California: 74 firearms recovered. To ID the recipients, we’d need to know exactly where the guns were recovered. If they came from the Tijuana area, they probably belong to the the AFO. If outside the area and south, most likely the Sinaloans.

Sonora: 71 firearms recovered. Again, without more precise geographic details, there’s a a good chance of it being a 50/50 split between the Pacifico and Sinaloa gangs and/or the local home boys throughout the state.

Sinaloa: 9 firearms recovered. That doesn’t make sense; the ATF claims that the Fast and & Furious firearms were headed for the Sinaloans.

[NB: The total number of guns on this map: 567. The estimated total of guns enabled by Operation Fast and Furious (alone) is somewhere around 2000. Either the ATF / DOJ / Mexican government et al. have cooked the books and/or destroyed F&F guns, or there are still some 1500 guns out there, somewhere.]

Nayarit: 1 firearm recovered. Could be anyone.

Jalisco: 6 firearms recovered. Depending on where in the state the guns were confiscated, they probably belonged to the Sinaloans

Michoacan: 1 firearm recovered. Could be anyone, but most likely LFM or CT.

Guerrero: 13  firearms recovered. Most likely the locals, as they been doing their own thing for long time.

Chihuahua: 12 firearms recovered. If the Mexican confiscated the guns around Juarez, probably the CFO/NCJ/Aztecas. If down state, it could be Sinaloans or even Los Zetas.

Durango: 4 firearms recovered. The state’s still in play (i.e. the subject of a brutal turf war). It could have been anyone.

Tamaulipas: 4 firearms recovered. Depending on location, the firearms went to either the Gulf Cartel or Los Zetas

San Antonio, TX: 57 firearms recovered. San Antonio is pretty much out of the Sinaloans’ and CFO’s area of operations. So either locals, Zetas or even Gulf guys.

El Paso, TX: 62 firearms recovered. It’s most likely the firearms “fell” into the hands of the CFO/NCJ/Aztecas, maybe some to the Sinaloans.

Arizona: 242 firearms recovered. Good bet lot of the weapons went to the home boys, with rest going to Pacifico and Sinaloans. The home boys in both AZ and TX seem to have no lack of hardware.

[Thanks to you-know-who for the data dump.]