Mexican drug cartel targets six Native American reservations in Montana

The Blackfeet Reservation in northern Montana is beautiful and vast. It is also awash in fentanyl. It's as if fentanyl is raining on our reservation. That'll do anything to help. Marvin Weatherwax Jr. is a tribal leader here and says much of the drug activity on his reservation stems from Mexican cartels selling to community members and using their homes, often in remote areas, as distribution hubs. They've infiltrated our reservation. They've married in. They've basically set up shop. It's just a problem that won't go away. Tell me what happens at night. It's like a switch turns off and there's a whole different population takes over. Federal law enforcement officials tell NBC News one of the most dangerous Mexican drug cartels, Sinaloa, once run by the notorious El Chapo, now in part by his sons, is targeting Blackfeet and the state's six other reservations with a steady flow of drugs, including fentanyl. What brought you up here? This is a rare glimpse into that trade. A Sinaloa cartel member pulled over by police on one of the reservations during one of his many trips up from Mexico. Are you from around here? You got a passport? Mexico. Mexico? Mexico, yeah. Ultimately, he and two other Sinaloa cartel members were convicted of bringing drugs and cash into Montana, resulting in one of the biggest drug busts in the state's history. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. Over 700,000 fentanyl pills were seized as part of the case, according to Montana's U.S. attorney, Jesse Laskovich, who was in charge of the federal prosecution. Why Montana? Fundamentally, it's money. It's big business. These are transnational criminal organizations. They're sophisticated people who have a lot of resources and who are as dangerous as they come. They've taken advantage of the situation. Until a couple of months ago, Stacey Zinn ran the DEA here in Montana, working with Laskovich's office on federal drug crimes. She tells me on the reservations, the price of fentanyl is high and law enforcement is sparse, fertile ground for the cartel. Drugs in other cities are saturated. You have multiple cartels. Up here in Montana, it's pretty much wide open space and territory for them to be able to grab. Profit margins soar the further away from the Mexican border you go. A single fentanyl pill that costs between $0.04 and $0.25 to produce in Mexico can be sold for $0.50 or $1 in San Diego and over $100 on some reservations here in Montana. And then there is the lack of law enforcement. According to a former federal official, there are less than 20 DEA agents for the whole state. As for the reservations. These reservations don't have enough tribal police to protect them. Very, very few. And there's hundreds and hundreds of acres of land. And nefarious people, the ones that are committing crimes, know this. On the northern Cheyenne reservation, the boarded up meth houses bear witness to what community leaders say is a staggering drug problem. Two years ago, there were 19 police officers for the whole reservation. So they sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs asking for help. But no help arrived. They now say they're down to seven officers. A Bureau of Indian Affairs spokesperson says the agency does not comment on pending cases. Is the federal government doing everything it needs to do? We always can do more and need to do more to be candid. We're in the West. And unfortunately, when we don't have the boots on the ground and people aren't being held accountable, it really becomes the wild, wild West. And I think you see that in Indian country here in Montana more than we should. Tribal leaders say the effects are devastating. Have you seen a spike in other kinds of crime, sexual abuse and sexual assault? Human trafficking. Child abuse. Child neglect. Domestic violence. They say they also fear more fentanyl arriving on their reservation. That fear is already the reality for Weatherwax's community. The Blackfeet declared a state of emergency two years ago after 17 people overdosed, leaving four dead in just one week. The drug problem on our reservation, it's so serious that it's pretty much wiping out a generation. They're watching. They're observing. Zinn insists more resources are urgently needed. We are fighting this problem standing on one leg and half the time we're handcuffed. She says right now the cartels are winning. Cynthia McFadden, NBC News, Montana.