In the battle against the nation’s deadliest drug crisis, law enforcement has intensified pressure on Mexican cartel networks operating in and through the Chicago region — and the results are significant, even if not as sensational as some viral posts suggest. Over the past year, multiple federal and local agencies have conducted coordinated operations targeting cartel-linked drug trafficking and distribution pipelines, especially those tied to the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), two of the Mexican organizations most responsible for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States.
Across these efforts, authorities have arrested hundreds of suspects — including more than 600 individuals in a major DEA sweep that spanned multiple states — and seized huge quantities of narcotics, firearms, and cash that underline the scale of the problem. In one operation, agents intercepted 480 kilograms of fentanyl powder, more than 700,000 counterfeit pills, thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine, and hundreds of firearms, all tied to cartel activity.
In Chicago itself, a separate long-running effort by the DEA Chicago Field Division and partner agencies resulted in 173 arrests, along with the seizures of significant amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine, weapons, and illicit assets, in an operation aimed at disrupting cartel-linked distribution networks across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.