May 1996

OPERATION ZORRO II

On May 2, 1996, federal, state, and local agents successfully completed a unique Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force operation code-named "Zorro II." It was significant in that it simultaneously dismantled both the organization that owned the cocaine, as well as a second organization that ran the transportation system. It was the first coordinated multi-district enforcement action taken as part of the Southwest Border Initiative.

Cocaine was being shipped from Colombia to Mexico, where a transportation and distribution organization smuggled it across the border. Once in the United States, the cocaine was stored in the Los Angeles area for distribution by representatives of the owners from Colombia, who delivered it to wholesale and retail buyers in such cities as Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Richmond, and Newark. The cash receipts were then shipped to Colombia and Mexico.

Among those taken into custody were key Cali mafia figures Mauricio Gutierrez and Hernan Aquilera and Rafael Alapiaco, the alleged organizer of the transportation network based in Mexico. Authorities also arrested Jorge Valazquez, a New York City police officer and a sergeant in the National Guard, who was the alleged leader of a Chicago-based distribution network.

Zorro II was unique because over 40 state and local police agencies, the DEA, the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Offices, and seven other federal agencies across the country combined resources and expertise in this cooperative effort. Operation Zorro II was also significant because it demonstrated that drug trafficking is a seamless continuum reaching from Colombia, through Mexico, to the streets and neighborhoods of the United States.