In the narco Rosario, practically everything works by zones and territories. Depending on the streets where you want to sell cocaine or marijuana, the dealer must pay a fee to the owner of the neighborhood: they can be Los Monos (southern zone), the Clan Alvarado (north and west zone) or some smaller groups. The other option is to receive the drugs from these gangs on consignment, sell and pay. Anyone who refuses will receive a first warning: a shooting in front of his house.
In the jargon, the former are called "subscribers". While saying "so-and-so sells for me" to refer to those who prefer the other option.
But in Rosario there is another narco market that escapes the logic imposed by the gangs. It is that of synthetic drugs. "It's like the narcos of ecstasy pills are from another environment that they (for Los Monos and the Alvarado Clan) do not reach. They move in the neighborhoods of high purchasing power of the city. It's like they're not convinced to extort them," says a person who knows the day-to-day narco phenomenon in the city.
An investigator from the Naval Prefecture, who participated in the last two operations against these synthetic drug gangs, confirms this in a coffee with Clarín: "From what we observe, neither Los Monos nor Alvarado have the desire to get into the business. At least for now." And he develops: "That means that there are no shots or disputes. The kids sell in the clubs and there is no competition, no matter how much they cross and recognize each other in the same place. They are middle-class people and some are in a higher economic position. Most have a formal job or are pursuing a university degree."
The peak season of electronic music parties begins in November, with the heat. To the fixed agenda of the nightclubs, which starts on Thursdays and closes in the early hours of Monday, are added the events in yachts and inns of the island, plus the large festivals, in which international DJs are presented and young people from neighboring cities attend.
"Summer boosts consumption," says the researcher in a bar in Puerto Norte, the "Puerto Madero de Rosario", the area of his last procedures. "By April, the low season begins and several of those who sold throughout the summer travel on vacation to Patagonia, Brazil and Europe."
But the festivities go on. In the early hours of Thursday, May 25, during the show of Israeli DJ Guy J in Salón Metropolitano, a 19-year-old from Cordoba decomposed and died. So far, the causes of his death are being investigated.
The Route of Ecstasy
In the narco environment they are called "cloners" and most would live in Buenos Aires. They are the ones who buy the substances (the highest quality kilo would arrive from China) and manufacture the pills in informal laboratories. They sell wholesale: a hundred or a thousand and deliver them in ziploc bags. In the jargon, each order was baptized as "team". "I order you three sets of one hundred pills." These "cloners" would be responsible for supplying distributors throughout the country. Some are chemists, or former students of the subject.
"The route we have detected is Buenos Aires-Rosario," clarifies the detective consulted. He gives details: "The last two groups we stopped were traveling to Buenos Aires and could return with 15,<> pills. That, in a small purchase."
These pills, wholesale, and without intermediaries, are sold at dollar prices. The "medium load" can cost 2.80. But the consumer pays them at 5 thousand pesos. Between one step and another, the pills can pass through several hands (since not all sellers have reached the "cloners"). "We had to stop a group of three people who were traveling to buy in Buenos Aires and then they themselves sold in nightclubs. In a single night a seller can place 200 pills. They sold very naturally, as if they were not doing anything wrong," adds the prefect who for months listened and followed, in civilian clothes, the accused.
Buenos Aires is the most common route. Although not the only one. Another that was detected in recent times would be born on the Paraguayan side. There is talk of Ciudad del Este. From there they would supply Argentina and Brazil. On February 9, members of the Gendarmerie of Formosa province detected 256 pills hidden in a parcel that had left from Corrientes. Judge Pablo Morán, in charge of Federal Court 1 of Formosa, ordered a "controlled delivery." The final destination was Rosario, where the woman who showed up to pick up the package was arrested.
"Here there was a dealer who sold 30,30 pills per month," recalls the person with access to the city's narco plot, while having breakfast in a café on Pellegrini Avenue. "He earned a dollar on every pill. He bought in Buenos Aires and sold them to resellers. I was making $<>,<> every month." It refers in the past tense because that dealer is one of the three arrested in an operation last December, in charge of the Prefecture.
The procedures were carried out in six homes in the city. One of them, in the exclusive Maui Tower of North Port, and in a gastronomic place that was about to inaugurate the dealer of the 30 thousand pills per month. 4,3 pills, 5.20 million pesos, $<>,<> and weapons were seized. "We believe they had them more for fear of robberies or possible extortion from large organizations in the city," says the prefect.
In recent years, police officers who participate in raids on homes in Rosario have found themselves in a situation that is already normal for them: detainees who start crying or who are completely desperate and nervous. With handcuffs on and their voices trembling, they admit to the police that the discomfort is not due to the arrest itself, or to the time they will spend behind bars.
"They tell us that the drugs we kidnapped them are merchandise that they did not pay for. That they had to sell and then pay for it. The crisis is not knowing how they will pay for the drugs while imprisoned. Because if they don't pay it, the owners are going to threaten their families," concludes the detective. Which refers to cocaine and marijuana narcos, linked to the organizations. Sellers of ecstasy pills, he acknowledges, also cried. But of fear for everything that was coming to them in prison.
Rosary. Special Envoy
ACE
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