CULTURAL ENRICHMENT: Crime Spike in St. Louis Traced to Cheap Heroin and Mexican Cartels. [archive]

Besides St. Louis — where the problem is particularly acute — Chicago, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Philadelphia have attributed recent spikes in homicides in part to an increase in the trafficking of low-cost heroin by Mexican cartels working with local gangs. . . .

Federal officials say that the Sinaloa cartel manufactures the heroin in the mountains of northwestern Mexico and transports it across the border, where operatives like Mr. Velasquez are responsible for ensuring it gets to St. Louis.

Chief Dotson said the local gang had been responsible for so much violence in the city that the arrests might lead to a significant reduction in violent crime, which rose by 7.8 percent in 2015, including an 18.2 percent increase in homicides. . . .

Despite the indictments, heroin continues to be sold openly in the mainly African-American neighborhoods of North St. Louis once dominated by the group.