US Indicts Ten Alleged Mexican Drug Cartel Leaders
Posted: 20 Aug 2009 07:04 PM PDT
Forty-three defendants in the United States and Mexico,
including 10 alleged Mexican drug cartel leaders, have been charged in 12
indictments unsealed yesterday and today in U.S. federal courts in
Brooklyn and Chicago, the Department of Justice, U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
announced. The alleged leaders and other high-ranking members of several
of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels are charged with operating
continuing criminal enterprises or participating in international drug
trafficking conspiracies.
“Breaking up these dangerous cartels and stemming the flow of
drugs, weapons and cash across the Southwest border is a top
priority for this Justice Department,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.
“The cartels whose alleged leaders are charged today constitute
multi-billion dollar networks that funnel drugs onto our streets and what
invariably follows is more crime and violence in our communities. Today’s
indictments demonstrate our unwavering commitment to root out the leaders
of these criminal enterprises wherever they may be found. We will continue
to stand with our partners in Mexico to dismantle the cartels’ insidious
operations.”
“Realizing that neither of our two countries can win over drug
traffickers on its own, we have built up the bilateral cooperation between
the United States and Mexico to allow us to combine our investigative and
legal resources to dismantle these transnational drug organizations and
bring the leaders to justice,” said Mexican Attorney General Eduardo
Medina Mora. “We can only protect the right of our societies to live in
peace and harmony through our governments’ mutual trust and shared
responsibility.”
Three of the suspected leaders were charged in both Brooklyn
and Chicago. Joaquin “el Chapo” Guzman-Loera, Ismael “el Mayo”
Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva, who are allegedly among the most
powerful drug traffickers in Mexico, are alleged to be present and former
heads of an organized crime syndicate known as the “Sinaloa Cartel” and
“the Federation.” Each of these three is designated as a Consolidated
Priority Organization Target or CPOT by the Organized Crime Drug
Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).
Also charged in the Brooklyn indictments were seven other
cartel leaders, including CPOT Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal, Hector
Beltran-Leyva (Arturo’s brother) and Jesus Zambada-Garcia (Ismael’s
brother), each alleged leaders within the Federation; CPOT Vicente
Carrillo Fuentes, the alleged head of the Juarez Cartel; CPOT Luis and
Esteban Rodriguez-Olivera, alleged leaders of Los Gueros; and CPOT Tirso
Martinez-Sanchez, the alleged head of his own international drug
trafficking organization.
Together, the four Brooklyn and eight Chicago indictments
charge that between 1990 and December 2008, Guzman-Loera, Ismael
Zambada-Garcia, Arturo Beltran-Leyva and others were responsible for
importing into the United States and distributing nearly 200 metric tons
of cocaine, additional large quantities of heroin, and the bulk smuggling
from the United States to Mexico of more than $5.8 billion in cash
proceeds from narcotics sales throughout the United States and Canada.
The indictments unsealed today collectively seek forfeiture of
more than $5.8 billion in drug proceeds. Also, more than 32,500 kilograms
of cocaine have been seized, including approximately 3,000 kilograms
seized during the Chicago investigation, approximately 7,500 kilograms
seized during the New York investigation and 22,500 kilograms seized
previously that were later linked to the activities of the Federation. The
indictments also detail seizures of 64 kilograms of heroin and more than
$22.6 million in cash during the course of the investigation.
As part of the coordinated actions, eight defendants have been
arrested in the Chicago and Atlanta areas in the last week. Earlier
this year, 10 additional defendants, all customers of or couriers for the
organizations, were charged separately in Chicago. Five defendants, all
New York-based wholesale distributors or logistics coordinators for the
cartels, were charged separately in Brooklyn. In all, 58 individuals have
been charged in the investigation coordinated between the U.S. Attorneys’
Offices in Brooklyn and Chicago. All but one of the defendants face a
maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the charges against
them.
“The indictments announced today are the result of a sweeping
national and international effort to stem the flow of drugs across the
U.S./Mexico border and into our communities,” said Benton J. Campbell,
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “We will apply all
available resources to win this battle.” Mr. Campbell extended his
grateful appreciation to ICE and the DEA Task Force in New York, the
agencies responsible for leading the Eastern District’s investigation, and
to the assistance provided by ICE and DEA in Miami, Houston, Mexico and
Colombia.
“These indictments are among the most significant drug
conspiracy charges ever returned in Chicago,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald,
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “They charge two
major international supply organizations with importing many tons of
cocaine and large quantities of heroin into the United States, often to
wholesale distribution customers in Chicago, as well as to customers in
other major cities. The defendants allegedly used practically every means
of transportation imaginable to move these large amounts of drugs and to
funnel massive amounts of money back to Mexico. I applaud the efforts of
the DEA investigators who worked hard to put these cases together.” Mr.
Fitzgerald also thanked the Internal Revenue Service Criminal
Investigation Division agents in Chicago and the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for their
assistance.
“Today’s indictments are yet
another strike against the leadership of the Mexican drug
cartels,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “Our
relentless investigations penetrated deep into these pervasive criminal
organizations, connecting street operations in U.S. communities like
Chicago and New York to the top drug kingpins calling the shots in
Mexico. Make no mistake; along with our courageous partners in
Mexico, we will break these cartels and pursue their leaders.”
“Law enforcement agencies in the Americas are working closer
than ever before and setting up a united, borderless offense against drug
cartels,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE John
Morton. “This is a significant step in breaking down the
infrastructure of these criminal organizations.”
According to one of the Brooklyn indictments, between 1990 and
2005, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva,
together with Hector Beltran-Leyva, Jesus Zambada-Garcia and Villareal as
leaders of the Federation, conspired to import more than 120 metric tons
(264,000 pounds) of cocaine into the United States through the cooperative
arrangements and coordination that the Federation provided. Members of the
Federation shared drug transportation routes and obtained their drugs from
various Colombian drug organizations, in particular, the Colombian Norte
Valle Cartel. For example, in 2004, two shipments totaling 22,500
kilograms of cocaine were seized by the U.S. Coast Guard off the coast of
Mexico. The indictment alleges that the defendants employed “sicarios,” or
hitmen, who carried out hundreds of acts of violence in Mexico, including
murders, kidnappings, tortures and violent collections of drug debts, at
their direction.
The indictments in Chicago allege that in approximately early
2008 Arturo Beltran-Leyva split his alliance with Guzman-Loera, Ismael
Zambada-Garcia and the Federation due to various issues, including control
of lucrative narcotics trafficking routes into the United States and the
loyalty of wholesale narcotics customers, including the alleged leaders of
a Chicago distribution cell. The indictments charge that Guzman-Loera and
Ismael Zambada-Garcia, together with seven other high-ranking associates,
including two of their sons, Alfredo Guzman-Salazar (Guzman-Loera’s son)
and Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla (Ismael Zamada-Garcia’s son, who is in
custody in Mexico), coordinated their narcotics trafficking activities to
import multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Central and South American
countries, through Mexico, and into the United States using various means
of transportation, including Boeing 747 cargo aircraft; submarines and
other submersible and semi-submersible vessels; container ships; go-fast
boats; fishing vessels; buses; rail cars; tractor trailers; and
automobiles
Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia allegedly coordinated
their cocaine and heroin smuggling activities to wholesale distributors
throughout the United States, including a large distribution cell in
Chicago of which 16 individuals were charged in an indictment unsealed
today. On average, the Chicago cell allegedly received 1,500 to 2,000
kilograms of cocaine per month, at times obtaining all or a large portion
of that quantity from Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the
factions of the Sinaloa Cartel they controlled, while also obtaining a
substantial portion of that quantity from the Arturo Beltran-Leyva Cartel.
From Chicago, the indictments allege that large quantities of cocaine and
heroin were further distributed to customers in Cincinnati and Columbus,
Ohio; Detroit; Milwaukee; New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.;
Vancouver, British Columbia; and elsewhere.
Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the factions of the
Sinaloa Cartel they controlled allegedly used various means to evade law
enforcement and protect their narcotics distribution activities, including
obtaining guns and other weapons; bribes; engaging in violence and threats
of violence; and intimidating with threats of violence members of law
enforcement, rival narcotics traffickers and members of their own drug
trafficking organizations. According to the indictment, Guzman-Loera,
Ismael Zambada-Garcia and his son, Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, discussed
obtaining weapons from the United States and using violence against
American and/or Mexican government buildings in retaliation for each
country’s enforcement of its narcotics laws and to perpetuate their
narcotics trafficking activities.
In one of the indictments unsealed today in Brooklyn, Vicente
Carrillo Fuentes is alleged to be the leader of the Juarez Cartel, which
operates in the Juarez-El Paso corridor, one of the primary drug smuggling
routes along the border between the United States and Mexico running from
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas. The DEA estimates that
approximately 90 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States
comes through Mexico. The Juarez Cartel allegedly received multi-ton
cocaine shipments in Mexico from the Colombian Norte Valle Cartel and from
the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a Colombian paramilitary
organization and a major drug trafficking organization. According to the
indictment, the Juarez Cartel maintained its power through the payment of
bribes and through numerous acts of violence, including murder.
In another Brooklyn indictment, brothers Luis and Esteban
Rodriguez-Olivera are charged with leading Los Gueros, a drug trafficking
organization that rose to prominence within the Federation. According to
court documents, Los Gueros operated a narcotics supply route that
originated in Mexico, stretched into Texas and then branched off to
various points, including the New York metropolitan area. Between 1996 and
2008, Los Gueros allegedly imported more than 100,000 kilograms of cocaine
into the United States. The DEA estimates that between 2004 and 2006, the
organization was responsible for shipping more than 2,000 kilograms of
cocaine to New York City alone. In January 2006, Mexican authorities
seized approximately 5,200 kilograms of the organization’s cocaine
destined for the United States.
Tirso Martinez-Sanchez is alleged in one of the Brooklyn
indictments to be an organizer and leader of an extensive international
narcotics importation, distribution and transportation organization that
is responsible for the distribution of multiple tons of cocaine in the
United States. Martinez-Sanchez’s organization allegedly imported cocaine
into the United States from Mexico through California and Texas, and then
transported the cocaine overland to large distribution centers, including
Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. In addition to coordinating the
distribution of his own organization’s cocaine, Martinez-Sanchez also
allegedly transported and distributed narcotics for members of the Juarez
Cartel and the Federation.
The cases in the Eastern District of New York are being
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Goldbarg, Claire Kedeshian,
Bonnie Klapper, Stephen Meyer, Walter Norkin, Patricia Notopoulos and
Carolyn Pokorny.
The cases in the Northern District of Illinois are being
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Shakeshaft, Michael Ferrara,
Greg Deis, Lindsay Jenkins, Renai Rodney, Angel Krull and Halley
Guren.
The cases were investigated by the DEA, ICE and Internal
Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, in cooperation with Mexican and
Colombian law enforcement authorities. Additional assistance was provided
by U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Milwaukee, Miami and Houston. The Criminal
Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance in these
cases. The investigative efforts were coordinated with the Special
Operations Division, comprised of agents, analysts and attorneys from the
Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS); DEA; FBI;
ICE; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S.
Marshals Service; and Internal Revenue Service. Certain individuals named
in indictments unsealed today have also been charged by other U.S.
Attorneys’ Offices around the country and by NDDS.
An indictment is a formal charging document notifying the
defendant of the charges. All persons charged in an indictment are
presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Copies of indictments can be found at: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/cartel-indictments.htm
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US Indicts Ten Alleged Mexican Drug Cartel Leaders
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