Phoenix Bars a Recruiting Ground for Drug Cartels

PHOENIX - Mexican drug cartels -- recruiting in the valley? It's true. Law enforcement officials say they're finding new hires in local bars.

Arizona's high unemployment rate and proximity to the border is making the state a fertile recruiting ground for drug and human smuggling cartels. And investigators say these dangerous gangs are doing their hiring in valley bars, looking for people desperate for money and employment.

Cpt. Kevin Zumbo with IMPACT Task Force, admits it’s a tough pill to swallow, but it is occurring in the Phoenix metro-area.

"Whether they meet someone in a bar or restaurant they will recruit anyone," says Cpt. Zumbo. "Right now, as we speak, it's happening every day."

Recruiters will flash money at people and offer them cash to bring drugs, guns, or even people to various locations in the U.S. or across the border.

The cartels are looking for U.S. citizens who can blend in with society and won't raise suspicion.

"Citizens know how to blend in... they know if they are stopped they won't be detained."

Zumbo says that cartels have also learned that violence attracts law enforcement, so they are treating illegal immigrants better inside drop houses. But he points out that violence across the border is exploding.

Just this week, 72 innocent men and women were slaughtered at a ranch just 100 miles from the U.S. border. They were south and central American migrants -- and investigators think they were massacred at the hands of the Zetas drug cartel.

"This is an escalation of the violence. It's getting more and more violent in Mexico. It should be a wake up call to the Mexican government," says Zumbo.

Smuggling is a business for cartels -- if there isn't money involved in drug and human smuggling, the cartels would not want to get involved. That's why this massacre is so puzzling for law enforcement officials -- their killing was senseless and no money was involved.