Inmate's Shock Claim: 'Very High-Ranking' Cartel Member Living 'Blue Collar' in U.S. City — but 'You Would Never Know It\

An admitted gang member currently serving time in the Lubbock County Detention Center in Lubbock County, Texas, recently claimed that there's a "very high-ranking" Cartel member living in Lubbock -- and "you would never know it."

The inmate spoke with KCBD-TV anonymously, saying that he once went to a party in a nearby neighborhood community and the owner of the house at the time was a "cartel member."

Image source: KCBD-TV

"You would never know it from seeing him. He's like the average blue collar guy, probably goes to work every day, got a son on the soccer team or the baseball team and he's a very high-ranking member in the cartel, and he lives right out there in Lake Ridge," the unidentified inmate said.

But while that homeowner has escaped the attention of gang intelligence officers, at least for now, one of his former gang members is speaking out, warning not to underestimate them.

"They're here. They exist. They're real. They are more powerful than you can ever imagine," the inmate told KCBD-TV.

But the problem runs much deeper than them just being here. Another issue is the number of them who are reportedly already here in the U.S.

"We are well outnumbered," a Lubbock County Sheriff's Department gang intelligence officer said.

He added that for every gang intelligence officer there are three gang members belonging to as many as 35 different gangs. And their numbers aren't getting any smaller with time, as they've already begun recruiting more members from the outside.

"Imagine going to a conference for your profession to network. Prison is kind of their conference. They get together, they talk about ways they've tried, ways to get better and they better themselves at their criminal activity," the gang enforcement officer said.

Despite the daunting task ahead, Lubbock County Sheriff Kelly Rowe plans to directly confront this issue.

“Something that we weren’t expecting and weren’t looking for was a massive explosion in narcotic trafficking here in Lubbock,” Rowe told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “This is an effort to get the necessary personnel to confront this problem head-on.”

Rowe's office is asking for an additional $1.1 million to hire 12 more people tasked with dealing with drug-related crimes.

According to Rowe, the county's narcotics division made 132 arrests in 2013 and seized 1,120 grams of cocaine along with 860 grams of methamphetamine. It seized $43,900 from those arrested that same year.

In 2014, the number of arrests made by the Lubbock County narcotics division rose to 147. It also seized 18,250 grams of cocaine, 6,925 grams of methamphetamine and a whopping $284,000.

(H/T: KCBD-TV)

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