The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NRA’s cartel-gang connection claim hard to quantify
“On the outside, gangs are committing more and more cross-border crimes. According to the FBI, Mexican drug cartels are working with 100,000 street gang members in Chicago alone. Think about that.” — Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, Feb. 24 at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Echoing President Donald Trump’s views on criminal activity in the United States, the top executive with the National Rifle Association recently said crime is going up in many American cities and raised concerns about the role Mexican criminal organizations play.
“According to the FBI, drug gangs are expanding their networks all across the country. The FBI also says gang members are infiltrating law enforcement and even the military,” Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, said Feb. 24 at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
He continued: “On the outside, gangs are committing more and more cross-border crimes. According to the FBI, Mexican drug cartels are working with 100,000 street gang members in Chicago alone. Think about that.”
We were intrigued by LaPierre’s claim of Mexican drug cartels working with thousands of Chicago street gangs.
An FBI report does offer this number, citing a media interview with a Drug Enforcement Agency special agent. But experts are skeptical about linking cartels to an estimated 100,000 street gang members in the city.
Our ruling
LaPierre cites data in a 2013 national gang report produced by the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence Center. But it’s hard to gauge how solid that figure is, and experts question its veracity. The figure tracks back to a 2012 interview of a DEA special agent in The Blaze.
The DEA told PolitiFact there’s an estimated 100,000 gang members in Chicago heavily involved in drug trafficking. It’s hard to quantify exactly how many of them are working with cartels, though cartels are the source for the drugs distributed by street gangs in Chicago, the DEA said.
Independent experts, meanwhile, are skeptical about generalizing that all 100,000 street gang members — Latino and non-Latino — are collaborating with cartels, since the cartels mainly collaborate with Latino street gangs.
We rate LaPierre’s statement Half True.