SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Federal prosecutors announced the results of four landmark federal investigations that have dismantled major drug trafficking organizations connected to Mexican cartels responsible for flooding South Dakota communities with methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Through coordinated, long-term investigations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota has secured federal convictions against 54 members of four separate organizations. Conservative estimates indicate these four drug trafficking operations combined to smuggle more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine and multiple kilograms of fentanyl into the state.
The illicit operations stretched across the state, with local distributors operating from short-term rental properties, hotels, and private residences in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, the Pine Ridge Reservation, and surrounding areas…