LESTER HOLT, anchor:
his continuing series of reports about
THE WAR NEXT DOOR
,
NBC
's
Mark Potter
has the story of an American city that finds itself under siege as a crossroads in this bloody
drug trade
.
MARK POTTER reporting:
A few weeks ago when Mexican authorities arrested "La Barbie," the reputed drug kingpin feared for his viciousness, right away officials in
Atlanta
said they wanted the first crack at putting him on trial because
Atlanta
is where
La Barbie
is already charged with distributing tons of cocaine.
Mr. DANNY PORTER (Gwinnett County District Attorney):
It's possible that there are more drugs that have come through
Gwinnett County
and
Atlanta
than ever came through
Miami
during the -- during the '80s, during the time of the "
Miami Vice
" idea.
POTTER:
Drug agents say Mexican cartels, which are fighting a brutal war
south of the border
, have now penetrated 270
US cities
. But it is
Atlanta
that is their major smuggling hub, with hundreds of Mexican traffickers operating there. In this neighborhood near
Atlanta
with its well-kept homes and quiet streets, US drug agents make a shocking discovery. In a basement, a kidnapped
drug dealer
chained and beaten by members of a Mexican
drug cartel
.
Mr. RODNEY BENSON (Atlanta DEA Special Agent in Charge):
Look around. Quiet, tree-lined street, you know, hardworking people here going to work every day, raising families, and next door you have members of the
Gulf Cartel
torturing somebody for not paying on a drug shipment.
POTTER:
Hardest hit is
Gwinnett County
, northeast of
Atlanta
. Because of its large
Hispanic
population, authorities say, Mexican traffickers easily blend in. The reason the Mexican traffickers are so attracted to the
Atlanta area
is the same reason many legitimate corporations are here. The web of interstate highways going in and out makes
Atlanta
the
Southeast
's most important
transportation hub
. Mexicans
smuggling drugs
across the US border truck their loads to
Atlanta
for repackaging before driving them north to cities along the
Eastern Seaboard
.
Mr. BENSON:
We'll see that load of drugs in a tractor trailer arrive at the truck stop, be escorted typically to a warehouse. As you can see, there's a sea of warehouses out there.
POTTER:
Authorities first realized they had a big problem nine years ago when a
George state
patrol car was rammed by Mexican smugglers guarding a drug shipment. In this
Gwinnett County
home, agents found a huge Mexican methamphetamine lab. And down this dirt road, hidden from the street, they found another house with millions of dollars in Mexican drug cash. But it's the soaring amount of Mexican heroin and other drugs flooding the streets that has
Mary Rieser
, director of
Georgia
's
Narconon Treatment Center
, fearing what she calls death by injection.
Ms. MARY RIESER:
There's a syringe instead of a gun, but people are definitely dying at this
end of the war
on drugs or the Mexican cartel.
POTTER:
Mexican traffickers now firmly entrenched across
America
among unsuspecting neighbors.
“ ”