REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — Mexican authorities are raiding cartel casinos, bars, and seizing unlicensed taxicabs; all part of a concerted effort to target business fronts of the various drug cartels that operate in the state. Authorities seized more than 1460 slot machines throughout the state and seized 26 unlicensed taxicabs.
As Breitbart Texas has reported, Mexican cartels use underground casinos in the U.S. to launder their profits. In Mexican cities like Matamoros and Reynosa, criminal organizations have been able to operate their casinos with impunity. In the case of taxicabs, Gulf Cartel members in Reynosa had been using cloned cabs or unlicensed taxis to move about the city while remaining under the radar of law enforcement.
Mexican law enforcement officials confirmed to Breitbart Texas that unlicensed taxis pay an average of $450 pesos per week to cartel members in order to be able to work without having to deal with government restrictions. At the same time, those taxis are forced to work as occasional lookouts providing the drug cartel with a fresh set of eyes and ears throughout the city.
Recently the Tamaulipas government carried our a series of raids at two local casinos where state officials seized 716 slot machines. Authorities also shut down 12 bars as part of the enforcement operation. In a prepared statement provided to Breitbart Texas, state officials revealed that the raids were an effort to target cartel funding sources.
The raids were carried out at the Dubai and 21 Black casinos in this city. The Fuerza Tamaulipas police force and the state finance office seized the machines after the owners of the businesses were not able to prove that they had legally imported the machines.
At the Dubai casino, authorities seized 364 slot machines and shut down the business after discovering that the establishment sold liquor without the proper government license. At the 21 Black Casino, authorities seized 352 slot machines. State officials confirmed that similar raids in the border city of Nuevo Laredo and in the state capital of Ciudad Victoria they seized 699 machines.
In an effort to crack down on the cartel taxis, authorities inspected more than 100 taxi’s in the city and seized 26 of those that were found to not be registered.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “A.C. Del Angel” from Reynosa, Tamaulipas.