Nationwide Raids Nab 300 Mexican Drug Cartel Suspects

The largest single raid on Mexican drug operations in the United States led to the arrest of more than 300 members associated with "La Familia," the newest and most violent drug cartel, the Washington Post reported Thursday. The raid stretched across 19 American cities from Seattle to Boston to Tampa. In Dallas, 77 people were charged with various local and federal drug-related crimes. The effort was the work of 3,000 federal agents and police officers and part of a program that has thus far hauled in around 1,200 cartel criminals.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder took an aggressive stance against the cartel in a press conference following the arrests on Thursday. "To the extent that they do grow back, we have to work with our Mexican counterparts to cut off the heads of these snakes, to get at the heads of the cartels, indict them, try them, if they're in Mexico, extradite them to the United States," Holder said.

La Familia is the dominant force in methamphetamine trafficking from Mexico to the U.S. and is known for for its brutal violence, including beheadings. Run by Nazario Moreno Gonzales (known as "The Craziest One"), La Familia is a psuedo-evangelical cult whose members believe in the group's divine right to kill enemies, and whose leader carries a bible of his own sayings. The Drug Enforcement Administration says La Familia's religious component has contributed to its rapid growth, along with its "Robin Hood" style of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.