September 1999

OPERATIONS IMPUNITY & MILLENNIUM

Operations Impunity and Millennium were multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency investigations that tied drug trafficking activity within the United States to the highest levels of the international cocaine trade. Operation Impunity was a two-year operation that was completed in September 1999 and resulted in the arrest of 93 individuals linked to the Amado Carrillo-Fuentes drug-trafficking organization headquartered in Juarez, Mexico. Operation Millennium, a one-year investigation, concluded in October 1999 with the arrest of 31 individuals, including Fabio Ochoa-Vasquez and Alejandro Bernal-Madrigal, former members of the original Medellin cartel. At the time of their arrest, they were considered two of the most powerful international traffickers of cocaine in the world.

9.5 tons of cocaine were seized from the ocean vessel Xoloescuintle as part of Operation Millenium.

The significance of Operation Impunity was that it dismantled an entire trafficking organization through the identification and arrest of three major drug-trafficking cell heads that had been operating inside the United States. The arrests of these individuals and 90 of their subordinates disabled all facets of their organization--the group's headquarters in Mexico, the U.S. cell heads, the drug and money transportation systems, and the local distribution groups. As a result of Operation Impunity, 12,434 kilos of cocaine and over 4,800 pounds of marijuana were seized, along with $19 million in U.S. currency and another $7 million in assets. Operation Millennium effectively targeted major cocaine suppliers who had been responsible for shipping vast quantities of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico into the United States. Operation Millennium specifically targeted drug kingpin Alejandro Bernal-Madrigal, who, by his own admission, had been smuggling 30 tons, or 500 million dosage units, of cocaine into the United States every month. U.S. law enforcement authorites seized more than 13,000 kilograms of cocaine during the last two weeks of August alone.

Operation Impunity and Operation Millennium successfully targeted traffickers who had operated without fear of capture or prosecution in the United States, believing that only their low-level operatives were at risk. These operations effectively demonstrated that even the highest level traffickers based in foreign countries could not conduct drug operations inside the United States with impunity. The many accomplishments of Operations Impunity and Millennium were made possible by direct support from the governments of Mexico and Colombia, in addition to collaborative efforts between the DEA and foreign law enforcement agencies. These operations underscore the importance of cooperation among international drug law enforcement agencies.