Once the drugs have arrived in the area where they will be distributed, the wholesaler will again use mules to deliver them to the retailing organizations which have purchased them. Importers bring large quantities of cocaine or heroin into the United States. The importer must employ highly skilled smugglers to transport the drugs and coordinate shipments. Most importing syndicates calculate a certain amount of loss of their inventory to law enforcement interdiction efforts. Once the drug arrives in the U.S. the importer's role is finished, and the wholesaler takes charge of the operation.
Wholesalers receive imported drugs of high degrees of purity.
This means that the drug is mixed with a variety of substances such as mannite, lactose, or quinine, often doubling, tripling, or quadrupling the actual volume and weight of the drug mixture. The cocaine and heroin wholesaler must go to great lengths to conceal his or her criminal activity. The organization must be highly mobile, often without a permanent business address. Communication must be in person or through pager systems which allow messages to be exchanged from public telephones. The organization must provide a buffer between those wholesaling large quantities of drugs and the highly visible street dealers.