U.S. Treasury Secretary announces sanctions against cartel operating here in Atlanta

ATLANTA — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was in Atlanta on Thursday to announce new sanctions against a major Mexican drug cartel -- one she says also operates in metro Atlanta.

Yellen toured Grady Memorial Hospital and spoke exclusively with Channel 2′s Richard Elliot.

Her Treasury department is partnering with law enforcement to go after La Nueva Familia, a major Mexican drug cartel.

“This is a horrible national crisis,” Yellen told Elliot.

She went to Grady to learn more about the fentanyl crisis but was also in Atlanta to announce what she’s doing to fight it.

“This is going to deal a fatal blow to this cartel’s organization here not only in Atlanta but in the United States,” said Robert Murphy with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A few hours earlier, Channel 2 Action News was there as Yellen joined the Department of Justice, the DEA, and the IRS to announce new efforts to halt La Nueva Familia.

Law enforcement says the cartel is responsible for bringing fentanyl into Georgia along with heroin and cocaine.

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With the Treasury’s authority, the U.S. will now sanction the leaders of that cartel so it can now not only go after those leaders but go after their money, too.

Yellen told Elliot that those cartels are in essence just businesses that like to deal in American dollars.

“And businesses need to make payments, to receive payments when they earn income. They need places to store their funds and all that goes through the banking system,” Yellen said.

By cutting them off from American banks and American dollars, Yellen and U.S. law enforcement hope the La Nueva Familia cartel will wither on the vine and die.

“Our sanctions will cut off the cartel leaders from their ill-gotten money and make it harder for them to bring deadly fentanyl to our streets,” Yellen said.

Yellen announced treasury was sanctioning eight leaders of that cartel.

They’re also sending advisories to banks across the country to teach them what suspicious activity to be on the lookout for.

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Treasury secretary announces new sanctions against major Mexican drug cartel

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