Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling: Lessons from the Inside

Summary

crack on the individual and society. One smuggler mentioned that he thought all the convicted smugglers and drug dealers should go through this program so that they too could appreciate the consequences of their actions. Summary It is important for law enforcement to understand the way smugglers are recruited into the business.When the smuggling operation was run by cartels, it was seen as well organized and efficient.With the demise of cartels and the separation of responsibility , the operation is less centralized and involves more entities . This, along with the use of confidential informants and cooperating defendants by U.S. law enforcement, has made trust a more important element of the job. It was easier to be accepted then. It was a smaller group and people knew each other a little bit better. (5) Our study confirmed that smuggling networks are built on trust relationships with people already actively involved in smuggling drugs and on a combination of ethnic or familial ties, close friendships, and routine recreational or professional activities important to smuggling operations (e.g., boating and importexport businesses). It also confirmed that drug smuggling organizations seem willing to cross cultural lines when it involves business. As methods of transporting drugs began to expand, the ethnic makeup of the transportation groups began to diversify, with American military veterans flying drugs into the United States, Colombians negotiating with Cubans to airdrop loads off Cuba, and Bahamians securing landing strips in the Bahamas. This diversification increases risk, creating trust and responsibility issues. Another result is that Colombians limit their contact with the transportation groups and hold the managers of the transport responsible for the actions of their crews. This information is important to law enforcement attempts to infiltrate Roles in the Drug Smuggling Trade b 111 these organizations, perhaps encouraging more use of confidential informants with existing ties to the smuggling community by relationship or trade. Our interviews also helped identify the various roles in smuggling networks, the information known by individuals in particular roles in the enterprise, and the identity of the roles that are more likely to generate information about the leaders of the distribution networks in the United States and the source countries. A recurrent theme is the dearth of formal organization that characterizes most of the drug smuggling activities our informants told us about. The lack of permanence, structure, and information flow across stages of the drug smuggling enterprise described by Williams (1998) and Griffith (1997) are consistent with most of the descriptions of roles we heard from our informants . Often an individual works in a small cell and has no contact outside a small circle of four or five people. In many respects, drug smuggling is big business that involves millions of dollars, affects the lives of millions of citizens, involves the activities of governments and government agents, and requires considerable coordination across different functions. Nevertheless, drug smuggling roles resemble those of small, family-owned businesses more than corporate hierarchies; the process often depends on word of mouth and ethnicity as entrees to the business rather than on technical qualifications (Williams, 1998). Also noteworthy are the smugglers’ perceptions of the easiest and hardest roles in the smuggling trade, which correspond to their perception that risk increases closer to the drug and its entry into the United States.The smugglers agreed that the hardest and most risky roles are those of “the little guys,” the individuals at the end of the distribution chain who are involved in offloading, storing , transporting, or carrying the drugs in the United States. The hardest role is the little guy.The little guy has the hardest role. He is the one that’s got the pressure.You know, if he doesn’t come through, he loses out on everything that he has dreamed of, big money, fancy cars. (6) 112 b Chapter 5 The United States.That’s where the main risk is. (16) Although there was less agreement, it was clear that the smugglers perceived that being an organizer, especially an organizer who does not leave Colombia, is one of the less risky roles. The easiest is the head guy. He’s never seen, and if he is seen, he’s only seen by people in the upper echelon. (6) The one that organizes this, the people that are unknown, the ones who finance this.The sponsors. (26) The best job to have.Well the best job to...