[Washington Examiner] Mexican cartels are quietly expanding their global criminal empires to include mass theft operations targeting big-box stores, luxury retail brands, and small businesses, then selling the stolen goods online and laundering the profits through Chinese brokers.The same transnational criminal organizations, known as cartels, that have facilitated the greatest-ever human smuggling operation across the U.S.-Mexico border over the past two years and simultaneously caused the fentanyl epidemic in America now have a hand in organized retail crime.
"It’s a $70 billion a year enterprise — organized retail crime," said Eric DeLaune, special agent in charge at the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, HSI, arm within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during an announcement this week of a public-private partnership between HSI; U.S. attorneys in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi; and industry leaders from Albertsons, Home Depot, and Walmart to create an Organized Retail Crime Alliance.
These organized theft rings are not merely shoplifters — they are part of a larger band of criminals that has infiltrated every state.