When I go to a new Mexican restaurant, I sometimes like to point at the menu and pick something new at random. This is how I recently found the intoxicating treasure that is chicken flautas, but apparently being a culinary adventurer can also lead one down the jagged and toothless path of methamphetamine addiction if they aren’t careful. That was the case at one allegedly sinister Denver area taco stand where, according to The Denver Post, State Attorney General John Suthers said that customers could “order a side of meth with their taco.”
A joint federal and local law enforcement drug operation has resulted in the indictment of 17 people and the seizure of 55 pounds of methamphetamine in an alleged international drug ring that authorities say sold the drug out of a taco truck.
I am resisting the obvious Los Pollos Hermanos joke and holding out for something better. Here’s more details.
Juan Carlos Gonzalez, 37, is accused of being the leader of the ring, called the Gonzalez Drug Trafficking Organization. The indictment alleges that he ran the criminal operation from his BMW, organizing drug dealers, drug storage and money laundering.
“Gonzalez coordinated with others to primarily import meth as well as cocaine from Mexico into California for delivery into Mexico,” the office said in a news release. Authorities said Gonzalez primarily used his aunts to distribute drugs.
Authorities followed those indicted over several weeks, discovering a complex array of stash houses and at least one storage unit used to allegedly peddle drugs. Maria Arellano is accused of selling meth out of her food truck near 8th Avenue and Federal Boulevard in Denver, according to court papers.
The indictment says the organization used coded language to make deals.
One man drove a Mini Cooper into Colorado with 40 pounds of meth allegedly stashed under the car’s floor.
Guns and money were also seized as part of the operation, which has led to charges of Colorado Organized Crime Act violations, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, conspiracy, money laundering and tax evasion.
How about we add a charge of “violating the public trust” to the pile as well? Because while taco trucks give our lives flavor and the occasional bout of intestinal distress, we give them our faith that they are only bringing happiness to our neighborhoods, not meth.
In all seriousness, these folks had a taco truck in Colorado, a place where pot is legal. People who are on the pot like to eat the tacos. They like to eat them a lot. This fact is indisputable and it is carved into our mind bedrocks by science. So with that established and a legitimate and non-methy empire right at the fingertips of anyone fortunate enough to own a taco truck in Colorado, I have to quote Skylar White here and ask the question: “How much is enough? How big does this pile (of money) have to be?”
Source: The Denver Post