WASHINGTON (October 22, 2009)—U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls the arrests of more than 300 people in a series of drug raids in Texas and across the country the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel operating here.

In Texas, 81 arrests were made as warrants were executed in cities from Dallas to Houston including Round Rock and Pflugerville in Central Texas.

Authorities in Texas seized 220 pounds of methamphetamine, 23 pounds of cocaine, a gallon of liquid methamphetamine, $960,000 in cash, 54 guns, 53 vehicles, a personal watercraft, an RV and two ATVs.

Holder said at a news conference Thursday that the arrests over the past two days were aimed at the U.S. operations of the La Familia cartel, which he said is the newest and most violent of Mexico's five drug cartels.

"We will not allow these cartels to operate unfettered in our country, and with the increases in cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities in recent years, we are taking the fight to our adversaries,” Holder said Thursday.

“We will continue to stand strong with our partners in Mexico as we work to disrupt and dismantle cartel operations on both sides of the border."

More than 3,000 federal agents and police officers made the arrests in more than a dozen states.

Arrests were also made in California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington.

The raids are part of a long-running anti-drug operation that has led to nearly 1,200 arrests over almost four years.

A New York grand jury has indicted alleged cartel leader Servando Gomez-Martinez.