"The drug-trafficking organizations based in this region are ripping a trail right through the center of the country."

The Times has published reports connecting Mr. Rodríguez to a drug-trafficking organization and to violent threats against his son.

More than half of the 173 banks involved are in New York and Florida, where many of the nation's largest drug-trafficking organizations are based.

Some of the general's subordinates testifed that they were bewildered by their commander's new alliance with a drug-trafficking organization.

About the time the mayor said he quit using cocaine, federal prosecutors began wiretapping two brothers who have since been charged with running a drug-trafficking organization.

The bureau preempted the posses' effort to gain primacy among drug-trafficking organizations in the United States.

Colombia's Medellín and Cali cartels were the first drug-trafficking organizations to vertically integrate.

Among Mexico's drug-trafficking organizations, La Familia is the big new kid on the block.

"The outlook is very bleak for the incapacitation or disruption of major drug-trafficking organizations within these countries," Mr. Thornburgh said at a news conference.

The title refers to a drug-trafficking organization Tibbs is pursuing.