RICO charges filed after cartel cocaine bust

It's being called one of the most significant drug ring busts in decades for Tampa Bay and the state of Florida Attorney General James Altmaier and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Galtieri held a joint news conference this morning where they discussed the takedown of a major drug syndicate connected to a Mexican cartel. And it involved a massive amount of cocaine. Fox 13's Erin Mesmer is live at the Attorney General's office in Tampa. So Erin, walk us through this investigation. Yeah, Linda and Haley, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Galtieri says this started with the single largest drug seizure in the last 40 years in his county. The sheriff initially made this announcement back in July, shortly after his detectives arrested 35-year-old Danny Daniel Pinellas. He's accused of being the head of a massive drug organization operating out of the county that had been distributing drugs throughout the region for the last five years. Over the summer, detectives first seized 132 pounds of cocaine. Today, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer said that investigation continued, leading to the arrests of 10 people. They are all now facing state charges. We're told the drug trafficking ring is connected to a major Mexican cartel. The criminals would sneak the drugs over the border in El Paso, Texas, and then they'd use tractor-trailer caps to haul the drugs to Florida and other states, and then the money back to the cartel. Galtieri believes the ring likely moved about 700 kilos of cocaine annually, And that's more than 1,500 pounds. I've been doing this for a long time, and I can't think of a more significant investigation in the Tampa Bay area. Significant because of the quantity of the drugs and because of the scope of the organization and the far-reaching nature of the organization back to Texas, but importantly, into the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico. We just have not seen that in the past. The sheriff says two of the tractors were inoperable and were actually props to hide cocaine and money while traveling between Texas and Florida. Pinellas, again, this is the accused leader of the ring. He's facing a potential life sentence in prison, and the sheriff says this drug ring was operating in other states like Illinois and Pennsylvania and other states in the Midwest and the Northeast. And he says it's really good to get those people off of the streets and also, of course, the drugs as well. Linda Haley, back to you. Absolutely. Erin Mesmer reporting live for us this evening. Thank you, Erin.