Mexican drug cartels are increasingly replacing middle men in the drug supply chain, according to a story by the Albuquerque Journal’s investigative reporter Mike Gallagher that ran over the weekend.
The story says that cartels are drawn by ready American cash and increasingly use people from Mexico to staff their operations.

It’s part of what law enforcement says is a new trend: Mexican drug organizations replacing middlemen with their own soldiers at every link in the supply chain.
Drawn by demand and plenty of American cash, business has flourished. Prosecutors here estimate that 80 percent to 85 percent of the organized crime drug cases in New Mexico involve Mexican nationals.

The story tracks the story of one Mexican national and says the cartels rotate people in and out of cities to make it harder for authorities to track the operation.

The story also goes on to say:
 

There are no absolutes in the drug trade, only trends like the one Bobadilla is part of. One of those is the movement of Mexican drug trafficking groups into the retail market in the United States.
District Attorney Donald Gallegos of Taos has seen it firsthand.
"One guy comes in from Mexico and sets up shop, usually in a small business," Gallegos said. "He starts supplying our local drug dealers, but pretty soon his associates from down south show up."
Gallegos said the Mexican groups are difficult for local police to investigate.
"We know who the local drug dealers are, but these guys are difficult to get a handle on," he said.
Gallegos said other problems are associated with these Mexican dealers.
"They cause a lot of tension in the community," he said. "You wind up with incidents in local bars, assaults."