September 13, 2024 - “And if you’re saying that the tribes are the gateway cities, that’s every city in the country. Because if you’re talking about cartels, they run the drug business. You can’t say it’s one area, not the other.” · Bob Ecoffey of Rapid City retired as the police chief of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in 2021 after more than four decades in tribal policing.

September 13, 2024 - “So far, inflation hasn’t impacted the price of drugs,” Hodges said. “They’ve gone the opposite direction, because of the supply. There’s more of it, so it’s cheaper.” · There’s also been a spike in the purity of seized narcotics. In the past, couriers would cut Mexican dope with other chemicals during stops in cities like Phoenix, Kansas City or Omaha as their product made its way to more rural states. Today, “when it gets to Sioux Falls or Rapids City, or Chamberlain, it’s 99% pure,” said John Haak, who leads federal drug prosecutions.

February 1, 2024 - “They have been successful in recruiting tribal members to join their criminal activity.” · She said the impact to the state’s reservations proves that “every state is now a border state.”

February 1, 2024 - Make no mistake, the cartels have a presence on several of South Dakota’s tribal reservations. Murders are being committed by cartel members on the Pine Ridge reservation and in Rapid City, and a gang called the Ghost Dancers are affiliated ...

April 24, 2025 - The U.S. Department of the Interior says Mexican drug cartels “target Indian Reservations and also use them as drug hubs and trafficking routes,” according to a 2021 press release about a major fentanyl seizure on tribal lands.

Hmm... It may or may not be related. It wouldn't be the first time I've heard of a big drug bust in Rapid City. Box Elder gets a lot of them too.

April 11, 2025 - Credit: Gov. Kristi Noem speaks on May 17 in Pierre, South Dakota, during a press conference regarding drug cartel presence on tribal land and her being banned from eight reservations. (Amelia Schafer, ICT + Rapid City Journal)

September 13, 2024 - Ace Crawford, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office, told South Dakota Searchlight that the kidnapping had “no clear connection” to cartels. Merrival had a jury trial for his federal drug charges in September, but it ended in a mistrial. His new trial is scheduled to begin on July 9, despite his recent efforts to delay it. Noem’s use of his photo has complicated the federal case, according to documents filed by Merrival’s lawyer, John Rusch of Rapid City.

December 4, 2024 - When contacted at the Pennington County Jail, Merrival said he hadn’t been to the reservation for years and that the photo Noem used was snapped inside a shopping mall in Rapid City. Shortly after the election of Donald Trump to a second presidential term last month, Noem was announced as Trump’s choice to direct the Department of Homeland Security. That position would put her in charge of the U.S. southern border, across which most of the illicit methamphetamine and fentanyl flow. Noem’s comments on drug cartel influence – which contributed to votes by leadership in all nine South Dakota tribal governments to ban her from their lands – pointed the finger at drugs brought to the U.S.

May 17, 2024 - Loading · Skip to page content

2 weeks ago - Rhoden served as lieutenant governor for Kristi Noem prior to her installment as Secretary for Homeland Security. In 2024, Noem was banned from entering nearly all tribal lands in South Dakota after allegations that tribal leaders were benefiting from Mexican Cartels.

April 11, 2025 - Nearly two months after Gov. Kristi Noem used a photo of him as alleged proof that cartels have overrun tribal communities, a Rapid City man accepted a plea deal this week to a drug conspiracy charge.

May 14, 2024 - Since the speech, delivered to a joint session of the South Dakota Legislature, the governor has written an op-ed column titled “banish the cartels” and claimed without offering evidence that tribal leadership is “personally benefitting” from the cartels. Noem also angered some tribal leaders during a meeting between the tribes and the federal government in early April in Rapid City.

May 17, 2024 - She said that some tribal leaders are personally benefiting from cartels, but she hasn't named any specifically. And she said she's trying to help, but tribal leaders won't work with her to fight drugs in the state. ... KRISTI NOEM: And it is impacting every single community in this state, and I'm hopeful that we can get new partnerships with tribal leaders that will want to work together to enforce tribal law and to bring law and order to areas in a way that we haven't done before.

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ARCHIVED To Contents To Next Page To Publications Page To Home Page National Drug Intelligence Center North Dakota Drug Threat Assessment May 2002 Overview · Note: This map displays features mentioned in the report

5 days ago - Cartel activities lead to the ... with cities like Ciudad Juárez experiencing high levels of violence, kidnappings, and public decapitations. The Sinaloa Cartel's operations extend beyond Mexico, with the organization involved in drug trafficking ...