69 drug traffickers arrested, time out for undocumented workers

FBI busts drug

dealers instead of

poor people

If the American people support comprehensive immigration reform ( CIR ) our border patrol can concentrate on catching drug dealers and terrorist instead of chasing poor people through the desert and shooting 14 year old boys.

The FBI announced the arrest of 69 people on Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Charges.  This has been a “Nationwide Crackdown on Members and Associates of Several Mexican-Based Drug Trafficking Organizations” in “Project Deliverance”.

They got 6,800 pounds of marijuana, over 520 kilograms of cocaine, approximately seven kilograms of methamphetamine and an estimated $2.37 million worth of alleged criminally derived assets.

The credit goes to United States Attorney John E. Murphy; Joseph M. Arabit, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, El Paso Field Division; David Cuthbertson, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, El Paso Division; Manuel Oyola-Torres, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Investigations in El Paso; James Maxwell, Supervisory Special Agent of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation in El Paso; Ana Hinojosa, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Director of Field Operations; Randy Hill, U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector Chief; Robert Champion, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, Dallas Field Division; El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen and El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles.  That is a lot of manpower that was not looking for the average poor guy and focused on the drug lords instead.

• The charges include operating a Continuing Criminal Enterprise (CCE), conspiracy to import controlled substances (marijuana, cocaine, heroin and/or methamphetamine), conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

• The Defendants include Juarez residents Jesus Rodrigo Fierro-Ramirez and Arturo Lozano-Mendez.  From January 2000 until June 2010, this organization was allegedly responsible for the smuggling of more than 150 kilograms of cocaine into the United States and attempting to transport back to Mexico from Chicago, Mississippi and Kansas more than $1.5 million in drug proceeds.

• Five defendants, including Reyes Lopez and Santiago Perez-Pinion, charged in a related indictment returned in El Paso with drug trafficking offenses. This group allegedly transported cocaine and hundreds of kilograms of marijuana to various cities in the United States. The indictment also seeks the criminal forfeiture of three properties in El Paso which were used to further the drug trafficking conspiracy.

• Eleven members of a Ciudad Juarez/El Paso-based drug trafficking organization led by Carlos Mario Gomez-Muro (aka Cacho) indicted in El Paso for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. The indictment also charges Mexican citizen Veronica Cortez-Cruz, a high-level associate of Gomez. Since March 2009, this organization was allegedly responsible for the smuggling and distribution of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.

• Multiple indictments returned in El Paso charging 11 defendants including Victor Vargas-Montes and his drug trafficking/money laundering network based in Ciudad Juarez/El Paso. For two months beginning in July 2007, this organization was allegedly responsible for the smuggling of more than 150 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. From July 2009 to February 2010, this organization was also responsible for the smuggling of more than 2,500 pounds of marijuana. During this time period, authorities also seized more than $800,000 in drug proceeds. The indictment also seeks the criminal forfeiture of two of Vargas-Montes’ homes in El Paso which he used to further his drug trafficking conspiracy.

• A nine-defendant indictment in El Paso charging Victor Hugo Porras Lara and his drug distribution network based in El Paso. Since April 2009, this organization was allegedly responsible for the distribution of more than 150 kilograms of cocaine and more than 150 kilograms of marijuana from El Paso to Phoenix, Detroit, Atlanta and Wichita, Kansas.

• A six-defendant indictment in El Paso charging Fernando Garcia-Baeza (aka El Ingeniero) and his drug distribution network based in Ciudad Juarez/El Paso. Since January 2009, this organization was allegedly responsible for the distribution of more than 20 kilograms of cocaine and approximately one pound of methamphetamine from El Paso to North Carolina and New York. The indictment also seeks the criminal forfeiture of $85,150 in drug proceeds.

• Eleven members of a Ciudad Juarez/El Paso-based drug trafficking organization, including Pedro Antonio Palma-Rios, indicted in El Paso for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Since March 2009, this organization was allegedly responsible for the transportation of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from El Paso to Kansas City, Memphis and Chicago. Authorities seized 14 kilograms of cocaine in Memphis in April 2009; 108 kilograms of cocaine in El Paso in August 2009; and, 15 kilograms of cocaine in Kansas City in October 2009.

• A four-defendant indictment returned in El Paso charging Roberto Uribe-Zubiate and his marijuana distribution network based in Ciudad Juarez/El Paso. The indictment also charges Mario Rigoberto Mireles-Zubiate, who allegedly coordinated the transportation of marijuana in the United States. During the course of this investigation, agents seized 2,200 pounds of marijuana from a tractor trailer in Sierra Blanca, Texas.

• An eight-defendant indictment returned in El Paso charging Arturo Herrera-Moreno and Edilberto Herrera-Moreno and their drug distribution network based in Ciudad Juarez/El Paso. From August 2009 until March 2010, this organization was allegedly responsible for the distribution of large quantities of cocaine from Mexico to Atlanta, New York and Chicago, and returning large amounts of currency to Mexico through El Paso.

• A nine-defendant indictment charging Raul Santos (aka Candelario or Pariente) and his drug distribution/money laundering network based in Ciudad Juarez. Since January 2005, this organization was allegedly responsible for the distribution of more than 100 kilograms of cocaine and more than 50 kilograms of marijuana from El Paso to Chicago, Illinois and California. Members of the organization also allegedly laundered over $1.8 million in drug proceeds during that same time period.

• A 16-defendant indictment returned in Midland charging a drug trafficking/money laundering network based out of Ciudad Juarez led by Luis Enrique Loya-Alcaraz (aka Guero) and Jorge Aguilar. The indictment alleges that from January 2006 until May 2010, this organization was allegedly responsible for the smuggling and distribution of more than 150 kilograms of cocaine to North Carolina, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Florida and South Carolina. This organization was also responsible for the attempted transportation of more than $3.5 million in drug proceeds back to Mexico.

The FBI wants you to remember an idictment is an allegation.  Until one is judged guilty in a court of law, each person has the right of the presumption of innocence.  Trust me, there will be a fair number of guilty pleas, although we can’t tell which one’s will be judged guilty and which will be judged not guilty.

I doubt these arrests will make any difference to Jan Brewer and her Republican cronies who passed SB 1070 in Arizona.  I don’t think the racial profiling law was passed in good faith.  Hence, good faith efforts on the part of Presidents Obama and Calderon won’t make much difference to the Arizona conservatives.  Fortunately, they are likely out of step with the rest of us!

Technorati Tags: fbi drug busts,fbi arrests 69,drug ring broken,sb 1070,jan brewer, methamphetamine arrests, project deliverance

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