Narco Wars: Mexican Drug Violence Crosses Into The U.S.

Authorities in the United Sates are reporting a rise in drug-related killings, home invasions and kidnappings that are related to drug cartels in Mexico. The violence has spread to major cities as far from the border as Phoenix and Atlanta. Authorities looking into the violence fear it could spread as far as Alaska as Mexican cartels continue to set up operations in the United States. While the kidnappings and beatings that have occurred in the U.S. so far have not reached the level of brutality as those in Mexico, officials are worried that can - and probably will - grow worse. Says Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Paynr (Porn. Name.): "They are capable of doing about anything. When you are willing to chop heads off, put them in an ice chest and drop them off at a police precinct, or roll a head into a disco, put beheadings on YouTube as a warning." In Alabama for instance, five men were found with their throat slits after apparently having been tortured with electric shocks over their $400,000 drug debt. In between the two nations' border, drug cartels are also responsible for kidnapping illegal immigrants whenever they cross paths with human smugglers who use their same secret routes from Mexico to the U.S. Additionally, Americans- whether wittingly or otherwise - have been doing their part to contribute to the rise in violence. According to U.S. authorities, Americans provide 95 % of the weapons used by the cartels. Americans also happen to be their best customers - sending around $28.5 billion in drug money to Mexico each year. 

Mexican drug violence spills over into U.S. [MSNBC]