The Cruz organization utilized both drivers in vehicles and backpackers to transport drug loads through remote desert areas near San Simon and Willcox, Arizona, and then to Tucson and Phoenix for further distribution.

"[1] On the evening of December 13, 2013, police in Phoenix and Willcox conducted arrests and search warrants and raided stash houses believed to be used by the Cruz organization, arresting eleven individuals and seizing "1,400 pounds of marijuana, seven rifles, two handguns, a shotgun, two homes, nine vehicles, an ATV quad and a bank account."

Furthermore, since the beginning of the operation in December 2012, Kruz Control investigators seized $200,000, 27,000 pounds of marijuana, six vehicles and a King Quad ATV in other actions.

[1][2] The following were arrested in police raids on December 13, 2013: Luis Armando Cruz, 39; Carlos Antonio Garcia, 31; Sergio Garcia-Morales, 32; Alma Dolores Escalante-Figueroa (wife of Cruz), 39; Felipe Escalante-Reyes, 22; Carime Itsel Reyes-Escalante, 19; Carlos Ramirez, 42; Sergio Robert Ramos-Moreno, 19; Trevon Xavier Marcus-Bondae, 18; Maxine Carter, 25; and Jeremiah Steven Woolsey, 24.

[1][2] The following agencies participated in Operation Kruz Control: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Border Patrol and its Tactical Unit (BORTAC), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the U.S.