| | |  Americas & Beyond 
US Strikes Financial Blow to ‘La Familia’
 The News
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February 26, 2010
 |  | The US Treasury Department freezes the Mexican drug cartel’s assets. |  | | |
Washington – In a move to stifle transborder shipment and finances, a U.S. agency has singled out several leaders of a Mexican drug cartel, officials said this week.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified seven members of La Familia Michoacana as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs). Specifically, OFAC is targeting Nazario Moreno Gonzalez (“El Chayo”) and Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas (“El Chango”), and five of their lieutenants.
OFAC also labeled as an SDNT one company owned or controlled by one of the cartel’s lieutenants. The move forbids U.S. citizens from carrying out financial or commercial transactions with these SDNTs and the company and freezes any assets they might have under U.S. jurisdiction.
The measure falls under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act).
OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin said that the designation will provide “greater effect” to President Barak Obama’s 2009 decision to include La Familia among criminal groups subject to these sanctions.
“La Familia is one of the newest and most violent drug cartels in Mexico. We’re going to continue to aggressively pursue this dangerous organization and deny its leaders, businesses and agents access to the United States financial system,” Szubin said.
In 2003, Moreno was accused of trafficking by a federal court in Texas, while Méndez has been identified as one of those responsible for large shipments of methamphetamines and cocaine to the United States, according to a press release.
Other SDNTs include Dionicio Loya Plancarte “El Tío,” considered as the No. 2 in command, and Servando Gómez Martínez “La Tuta,” another leader.
The others include: Enrique Plancarte Solís “La Chiva,” José Arnoldo Rueda Medina “La Minsa,” and Nicandro Barrera Medrano. In addition, the measure extends to Transportadora Purépecha S.A. de C.V, property of Barrera.
The press release continues: La Familia, identified by Obama as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker in April 2009, operates primarily in Michoacán. It is a compartmentalized organization heavily involved in narcotics trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, and other criminal activities. La Familia is known for its extreme form of brutal violence.
The action is OFAC’s first offensive against La Familia since Obama identified it as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker, the release said.
Internationally, more than 500 businesses and individuals associated with 82 drug kingpins, 37 of which are based in Mexico, have been designated pursuant to the Kingpin Act since June 2000. Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties.
Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million. Other individuals face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to Title 18 of the U.S. Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.
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