My Broad & Liberty Piece On The U.S. Treasury Department’s Report On Fentanyl-Related Threat Patterns

Broad & Liberty ran my piece on the Treasury Department’s report on drug trafficking.

You can read the piece via the link below or the text below:

 Paul Davis: The Treasury Department’s report on fentanyl-related threat patterns

I’ve covered the God-awful illegal drug centers in Kensington and South Philly here many times.

And as I’ve noted here before, I’ve toured the Kensington drug areas with a detective who has worked in the area for many years. The sad waste of life is apparent as one views the stooped, slouched and staggering drug addicts along the avenues. The drug-addled men and women, and sometimes just teenagers, are living in an unhealthy, filthy, and deadly existence on the city’s mean streets.      

The pathetic drug users in Philadelphia are supplied the drugs, including the deadly drug fentanyl, by local drug gangs. The drug gangs are in turn supplied the drugs by transnational drug cartels, who in turn are supplied the chemicals to make fentanyl by Communist China. 

Illegal drug trafficking, according to the Treasury Department, is big business.    

On April 9, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis focused on patterns and trends identified in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data linked to fentanyl-related illicit finance. 

According to the Treasury Department, between January and December 2024, financial institutions filed 1,246 BSA reports that identified suspected fentanyl-related activity amounting to approximately $1.4 billion in suspicious transactions.

“The reported financial activity highlighted various aspects of the illicit fentanyl supply chain — including precursor chemical procurement, fentanyl trafficking, and fentanyl-linked money laundering — that have touchpoints across the U.S. financial sector,” the Treasury report noted. 

“As Treasury continues to prioritize combating the illegal production and trafficking of fentanyl, our public-private partnerships are vital,” said Scott Bessent, the Secretary of the Treasury. “As today’s analysis shows, the information we receive from financial institutions is a critical element in our ability to more effectively investigate and disrupt the malicious actors that profit off this unprecedented epidemic, and ultimately aids in the effort to save American lives.”

The Treasury Department explained that illicit fentanyl is primarily synthesized, trafficked, and smuggled into the United States by Mexican cartels. 

“The Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion — which are Foreign Terrorist Organizations, Specially Designated Global Terrorists, and Drug Trafficking Organizations — largely control the fentanyl supply chain from Mexico and use precursor chemicals and manufacturing equipment primarily sourced from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to synthesize illicit fentanyl in clandestine laboratories. FinCEN analysis identified Mexico and the PRC as the top two foreign countries listed in subject address fields of fentanyl-related BSA reports filed in 2024.”

The Treasury Department offered additional findings of FinCEN’s analysis that include:

·     The cartels and associated chemical brokers use front companies, money mules, and U.S.-based intermediaries to procure fentanyl precursor chemicals from PRC-based suppliers.

·     PRC-based chemical suppliers accept a wide range of payment methods and often leverage public advertisements, including e-commerce platforms, to market fentanyl precursor chemicals.

·     Fentanyl-related financial activity in the United States primarily involves subjects in populous states with large urban areas that have established drug distribution networks and serve as collection points for illicit proceeds, including a substantial number of subjects in southwest border counties in California and Arizona.

·     Domestic sales of fentanyl appeared to be conducted primarily in cash and peer-to-peer transfers, which were referenced in 54 and 51 percent of BSA reports, respectively.

·     Methods to launder suspected fentanyl proceeds varied in sophistication. BSA filers identified complex schemes, including the use of suspected Chinese money laundering organizations potentially facilitating the movement of illicit fentanyl proceeds on behalf of the cartels.

On June 20, 2024, the Treasury Department issued a “Supplemental Advisory on the Procurement of Precursor Chemicals and Manufacturing Equipment Used for the Synthesis of Illicit Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids.”

“The opioid crisis continues to pose a significant threat to U.S. national security, economic prosperity, and communities, as illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids inflict an unprecedented epidemic of addiction and death across the nation,” the advisory explained. “According to provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in December 2023, with over 74,000 of those deaths involving synthetic opioids, principally illicitly manufactured fentanyl.

“Many of these overdose deaths are the result of fentanyl poisonings, where the victims were unaware that other illicit drugs or counterfeit prescription medications they used contained lethal doses of fentanyl. The social and economic costs from these deaths are sobering, far-reaching, and unprecedented, as American communities lose generations of parents, children, friends, and other loved ones to these deadly drugs.”

On February 20, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that President Trump was declaring the drug traffickers to be terrorists.

“Today, the State Department is fulfilling one of President Trump’s first promises since he took office. I’m pleased to announce the Department’s designation of eight organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs),” Rubio stated. “As President Trump said in Executive Order 14157, cartels and other transnational organizations “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.

“The State Department announces the designation of Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cártel de Golfo (Gulf Cartel), and Cárteles Unidos as FTOs and SDGTs. The intent of designating these cartels and transnational organizations as terrorists is to protect our nation, the American people, and our hemisphere. That means stopping the campaigns of violence and terror by these vicious groups both in the United States and internationally.  

“These designations provide law enforcement additional tools to stop these groups.” Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities. Today’s actions taken by the State Department demonstrate the Trump Administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests and dismantling these dangerous organizations.”

President Trump and others have suggested that we may use U.S. military special operators or deadly drones to take out the leaders of the Mexican drug cartels. 

We sent in Navy SEALs to take out Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and we have used drones, aircraft, and U.S. special operators to take out terrorist leaders in other Middle Eastern countries, so perhaps we need to engage the Mexican drug lords, now designated as leaders of foreign terrorist organizations, by using deadly American military action.

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes the “On Crime” column for the Washington Times. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.