DEA News: Treasury Takes Additional Action Against Sinaloa Cartel

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced the designation of Victor Manuel Felix Felix, a close associate of fugitive drug lord Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman Loera, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.  Felix Felix plays a key role in Chapo Guzman’s drug trafficking organization and is the father-in-law of Guzman Loera’s son.  OFAC also designated four other individuals collaborating with Felix Felix and the Sinaloa Cartel.  Today’s action, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act), prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals and freezes any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

“By exposing additional family members and other affiliates of the Sinaloa Cartel, this action builds on the Treasury Department’s consistent efforts to disrupt Chapo Guzman’s drug trafficking activities,” said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin.  “Treasury applauds the work that U.S. and foreign law enforcement authorities have already taken against the Felix Felix drug trafficking and money laundering organization.”

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Chief of Financial Operations John Arvanitis also stated, “DEA and its partners continue to expose facilitators of Chapo Guzman’s drug and money laundering empire.  Getting to the heart of the Sinaloa Cartel and other drug networks requires an aggressive, sustained attack by law enforcement.  These designations are examples of this effort and we will continue to target Chapo Guzman’s family members and business associates in order to inhibit their criminal operations that have impacted Mexico and other parts of the world.”

Victor Manuel Felix Felix is the head of a narcotics distribution and money laundering organization based in Guadalajara and Mexico City, Mexico.  OFAC is designating Victor Manuel Felix Felix, Jorge Guillermo Gonzalez Cardenas, Oscar Dominguez Villa Diaz, Rigoberto Dias Paniagua, and Gabriela Vazquez Villavicencio for their role in the operations of this criminal organization and material support they provide to Guzman Loera and the Sinaloa Cartel.  In May 2011, a Federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California returned an indictment charging Felix Felix and members of his organization with drug trafficking and money laundering offenses.  The indictment arose out of a DEA investigation linking the Felix Felix organization to the movement of ton quantities of cocaine in Ecuador and Mexico and the laundering of millions of U.S. and Canadian dollars through the international financial system.  In March 2011, law enforcement in Mexico and Ecuador arrested several members of this organization, including Felix Felix, and seized four tons of cocaine.  In July 2011, other members of the Felix Felix organization were arrested in law enforcement actions in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Colombia.  The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Felix Felix and other members of his organization. 

Felix Felix is the father-in law of Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, who is the son of Guzman Loera and Maria Alejandrina Salazar Hernandez.  OFAC designated Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar and his mother, Maria Alejandrina Salazar Hernandez, as specially designated narcotics traffickers in June 2012 for their support to Guzman Loera’s illicit activities.  The President identified Guzman Loera as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker pursuant to the Kingpin Act in 2001. 

 

Today’s action would not have been possible without the key support of the DEA.

Internationally, OFAC has designated more than 1,100 businesses and individuals linked to 97 drug kingpins since June 2000.  Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties.  Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million.  Other individuals could face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.

Eduardo Arellano-Felix Extradited from Mexico to the United States to Face Charges

Key Advisor to the Arellano-Felix Organization’s Leadership

WASHINGTON—Eduardo Arellano-Felix, 55, one of the alleged members of the Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO), was extradited today by the government of Mexico to the United States to face racketeering, money laundering, and narcotics trafficking charges in the Southern District of California.

The extradition was announced by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura E. Duffy and Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Arellano-Felix was arrested by Mexican authorities in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, on October 25, 2008, following a gun battle with a Mexican Special Tactical Team. A final order of extradition to the United States was granted in 2010. After two years of unsuccessful appeals, Arellano-Felix arrived in the United States this afternoon. He is scheduled to make his initial appearance on Tuesday, September 4, 2012, in U.S. District Court in San Diego before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Lynn Major.

U.S. Attorney Duffy, whose office secured the indictment against Arellano-Felix, said, “This extradition is a significant step in our effort to bring another key figure in the Arellano-Felix Organization to answer, in an American court of law, to very serious charges. We are grateful to the government of Mexico for its assistance in the extradition.”

“Today’s extradition is a milestone in our fight against the Mexican drug cartels. I want to thank the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs for its tireless work in helping to ensure that Eduardo Arellano-Felix and numerous of his alleged co-conspirators face justice in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.

“The extradition of Eduardo Arellano-Felix today marks the end of a 20-year DEA investigation into this vicious drug cartel,” said William R . Sherman, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “This extradition illustrates that DEA and all its law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue these drug traffickers until they are brought to justice.”

San Diego FBI Special Agent in Charge Daphne Hearn said, “The FBI is pleased with Mexico’s efforts to bring to justice a leader from one of the most violent criminal enterprises in our history. The spirit of cooperation between our two countries is a powerful force in disrupting the criminal activities of these groups that instill fear and threaten the safety of our citizens in the border regions of the United States.”

Long-reputed to be one of the most notorious multi-national drug trafficking organizations, the AFO controlled the flow of cocaine, marijuana, and other drugs through the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali into the United States. Its operations also extended into southern Mexico as well as Colombia.

The seventh superseding indictment charges Arellano-Felix with conducting the affairs of an illegal enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity (RICO), conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana, as well as money laundering. The indictment alleges that the leadership of the AFO negotiated directly with Colombian cocaine-trafficking organizations for the purchase of multi-ton shipments of cocaine, received those shipments by sea and by air, in Mexico, and then arranged for the smuggling of the cocaine into the United States and its further distribution throughout the U.S. The indictment also alleges that the proceeds of the AFO’s drug trafficking, estimated by law enforcement to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, were then smuggled back into Mexico.

Brothers and former leaders of the AFO, Benjamin Arellano-Felix and Francisco Javier Arellano‑Felix, are currently serving sentences in the United States following their convictions for racketeering, drug trafficking, and money laundering charges.

This case is being investigated by agents from the DEA, the FBI, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and prosecuted in the Southern District of California by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Green, James Melendres and Dan Zipp. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in the extradition. The investigation of Arellano-Felix was coordinated by an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF program was created to consolidate and coordinate all law enforcement resources in this country’s battle against major drug trafficking rings, drug kingpins, and money launderers.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence that the defendant committed the crimes charged. The defendant is presumed innocent until the government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Two Leaders of Baltimore Drug Ring Exiled to 45 Years in Prison

Cocaine Supplied By Los Zetas Mexican Drug Cartel

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced Wade Coats, age 47, of Baltimore, and Jose Cavazos, age 44, of Midlothian, Texas, today each to 45 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. Coats was also sentenced for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

The sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Ava Cooper-Davis of the Drug Enforcement Administration-Washington Field Division; Acting Special Agent in Charge Timothy P. Groh of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; and Acting Police Commissioner Anthony Barksdale of the Baltimore City Police Department.

“A substantial portion of the illegal drugs distributed in Maryland are imported from the Mexican border,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “This case demonstrates the international ties of a local drug dealer.”

According to evidence presented at the five-day jury trial, from 2005 to February 2010, Coats and his co-defendant James Bostic, age 41, of Baltimore, Maryland, received cocaine and marijuana from the Los Zetas Mexican Drug Cartel, which he and other conspirators distributed. From 2005 to April 28, 2009 Cavazos would receive 20-25 kilograms of cocaine from the cartel twice a month for delivery to Coats. Cavazos or his employees would drive the cocaine to Baltimore.

On April 27, 2009, law enforcement saw Coats and co-defendant Ronald Brown conduct what appeared to be a drug transaction. Brown had received approximately five to 10 kilograms of cocaine from Coats over the previous six months. Agents followed Coats to a Baltimore hotel where Coats removed several bags from his trunk, entered the hotel, and returned to his car shortly thereafter without the bags. Later that evening, law enforcement saw Coats exit a business located on North Duncan Street in Baltimore with bags that he placed in his trunk. Agents stopped Coats outside his car and Coats became nervous. After Coats denied visiting the hotel earlier that day, agents searched Coats and seized a gun and $7,000 in cash. Coats was arrested.

Agents executed a search warrant at Coats’ hotel room and found Cavazos inside. Agents seized several cell phones and a suitcase containing $275,000 in heat-sealed bricks of cash wrapped in aluminum foil from the hotel room. They arrested Cavazos and seized another suitcase containing $335,000 in heat-sealed bricks of cash from Cavazos’ car parked in the hotel’s garage.

Trial evidence established that Coats and Cavazos were both organizers and leaders of an extensive cocaine trafficking enterprise. Coats and Cavazos had multiple employees transporting drugs and money, and both defendants had other business partners and customers with whom they dealt. Coats and Cavazos were responsible for the distribution of between 1,500 kilograms of cocaine and 7,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Co-defendant James Bostic, age 41, of Baltimore, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to his participation in the drug distribution scheme and was sentenced to 210 months in prison. Co-defendant Ronald Brown, age 45, of Baltimore also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the DEA, FBI, Maryland State Police, Baltimore Police Department, and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in this investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys James T. Wallner and Peter M. Nothstein, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.

Fourteen Indicted for Trafficking Narcotics Received from Mexico and Laundering Drug Proceeds

$1.6 Million and Multiple Kilos of Cocaine and Crystal Methamphetamine Seized During Course of Year-Long Investigation

ATLANTA—Fourteen defendants have been indicted for drug trafficking and money laundering crimes after a multi-agency investigation, announced United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, and the David G. Wilhelm Organized Crime Drug Enforcement (OCDETF) Strike Force. On July 25, 2012, a federal grand jury returned two indictments charging a total of 14 defendants. The indictments were unsealed on Wednesday, August 1, 2012, in conjunction with a sweep aimed at arresting those charged. Today, United States Magistrate Judge Alan J. Baverman conducted a detention hearing for one group of defendants and ordered that each defendant be detained.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said of the takedown and the case, “This office and the Wilhelm Strike Force target the most significant drug trafficking organizations in the district with the goal of reducing drug trafficking not only in the state of Georgia but the other parts of the country that these organizations touch. The indictment of these 14 defendants is a step toward making Atlanta a safer community.”

DEA Special Agent in Charge Harry S. Sommers said, “This investigation is a true example of the multi-agency Strike Force concept working as it was designed and demonstrates the effectiveness of working together to achieve the ultimate goal of bringing the members of a major drug trafficking organization operating in the Atlanta area to justice.”

Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated, “The Southeastern region of the U.S. and the metropolitan Atlanta area in particular continue to serve as a destination and distribution point for the international based drug trafficking organizations. The FBI continues to dedicate numerous investigative resources to the Wilhelm Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force in an effort to aggressively pursue these criminal enterprises who prey on our communities and to identify, apprehend, prosecute, and dismantle them so that they are no longer a threat.”

“IRS-Criminal Investigation is proud to be an integral part of the David G. Wilhelm OCDETF Strike Force,” stated Donald B. Yaden, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. “It is our goal as financial investigators to assist our law enforcement partners in dismantling drug trafficking organizations at every level.”

“The Wilhem Strike Force provides for a highly resourced, team-centered approach that allows participating agencies to focus on the large-scale, transnational criminal organizations responsible for moving commercial quantities of narcotics across the United States,” said Brock D. Nicholson, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Atlanta. “This case is a prime example of how effective federal law enforcement agencies can be when we work together to share our investigative expertise, tools and experience.”

“Firearms are a tool of the trade that enable drug traffickers to perpetuate their criminal activity. ATF works with its law enforcement partners at every level to sever the linkage between guns and drug organizations,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Scott Sweetow. “This indictment reiterates our combined dedication to stamping out violent criminals and drug traffickers through aggressive federal investigations and prosecutions.”

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: In January 2011, federal law enforcement officers began investigating a Mexican cocaine and marijuana drug trafficking organization operating in the metro Atlanta area. The organization allegedly used several distributors, brokers, and couriers to distribute wholesale quantities of cocaine and marijuana onto the streets of Atlanta and elsewhere, including defendants Nicholas Jackson and his “right-hand-man” Darren Dunlap. During the course of the investigation, approximately eight kilograms of cocaine, 75.6 kilograms of marijuana, and $800,000 in cash were seized.

As a result of this investigation, the following individuals were charged with offenses including conspiracy to traffic cocaine and marijuana and launder drug money:

■Alejandro Maldonado, a/k/a “Patino,”41, of Mableton, Georgia;

■Eduardo Renteria-Maldonado, a/k/a “Quinni,” 26, residence unknown;

■Jay Hernandez-Santana, a/k/a “Borrego,” 32, of Mableton, Georgia;

■Jose Luis Cano-Pacheco, age unknown, of Conyers, Georgia;

■Aly Lozano, a/k/a “Yanez,” 40, of Alpharetta, Georgia;

■David Gomez, a/k/a “Marcos,” 37, of Atlanta, Georgia;

■Nicholas Jackson, 38, of Norcross, Georgia;

■Darren Dunlap, 45, of Decatur, Georgia; and

■Jesus Uriel Celis-Pineda, a/k/a “Eustorgio Echeverria-Sanchez,” 50, residence unknown.

Defendant Darren Dunlap has not yet been arrested and remains at large. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should contact the U.S. Marshals Service 24-hour number 1-877-WANTED2 (1-877-926-8332) or the DEA Atlanta Field Division at 404-893-7000.

With regard to the second indictment, during the investigation of the group charged in the first indictment, OCDETF agents and prosecutors began to follow evidence of a related Mexican crystal methamphetamine drug trafficking criminal organization also operating in the metro Atlanta area. The following individuals were charged with offenses including conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine and launder drug money:

■Ivan Najera-Suazo, 30, of Mexico;

■Domingo Najera-Perez, 60, of Mableton, Georgia;

■Rogelio Benetiz, a/k/a “Roy,” 26, place of residence unknown;

■Alejandro Santana, 45, of Mableton, Georgia; and

■Luis Santabanas, a/k/a “Neco,” age unknown, of Austell, Georgia.

A detention hearing for the defendants arrested in this case will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 8, 2012, before United States Magistrate Judge Alan J. Baverman.

Defendants Ivan Najera-Suazo and Alejandro Santana have not yet been arrested and are believed to be in Mexico. Anyone with information about their whereabouts should contact U.S. Marshals Service 24-hour number 1-877-WANTED2 (1-877-926-8332) or the DEA Atlanta Field Division at 404-893-7000.

The investigation and prosecution of this case is a coordinated effort through the David G. Wilhelm OCDETF Strike Force, which is composed of special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); and the United States Marshals Service (USMS), working with other state and local law enforcement agencies.

Assistant United States Attorney Skye Davis is prosecuting the case.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following website: www.justthinktwice.com.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Information Office at USAGAN.Pressemails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan.

U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted Fugitive Captured in Mexico

Washington – U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted fugitive Vincent Legrend Walters, age 45, has been captured in Cancun, Mexico, after nearly 24 years on the run.

Deputy U.S. Marshals in San Diego recently developed information which indicated that Walters was residing in Cancun, Mexico.

Further investigation revealed that Walters was using the alias of Oscar Rivera and working at the Cancun International Airport. Marshals Service investigators also learned that Walters had boasted to people that he was a fugitive from San Diego and wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Deputies in the Southern District of California continued to investigate the information and coordinated the international effort with the U.S. Marshals Service’s Mexico City Foreign Field Office. Working closely with Mexican law enforcement authorities, Walters was located and apprehended early this morning. He was taken into custody based upon the issuance of a Provisional Arrest Warrant which seeks his extradition to the United States.

“The U.S. Marshals are thrilled with the capture of this violent fugitive,” said Steven Stafford, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of California. “This is a prime example of the sheer determination and persistence we have when tracking down a wanted criminal.”

Walters will be transported to Mexico City where he will face extradition proceedings to bring him back to San Diego, where he will face murder and drug charges. He is wanted in San Diego for the kidnapping and murder of Kristine Reyes, who was killed in September 1988. Walters was also indicted by a federal grand jury in 1989 on conspiracy to manufacture, possess and distribute crystal methamphetamine, carrying firearms during a drug trafficking crime and possession of unregistered firearms and explosives.

Walters was snared by an undercover Drug Enforcement Agency operation in 1988 after allegedly purchasing $20,000 worth of chemicals to make methamphetamine and negotiating an additional $200,000 deal with the undercover agents. When one of his associates became paranoid holding onto the finished methamphetamine, he handed it off to a local drug dealer, who in turn gave it to his friend Jay Bareno.

Wanting their drugs back, Walters tracked down the local dealer, who no longer had the drugs, and kidnapped him, along with his friend and his friend’s girlfriend to trade them to Bareno for the drugs. Bareno agreed to exchange the drugs for the hostages. After returning the drugs, two of the hostages were released, but Christina Reyes died when she was gagged with a chemically saturated rag that killed her almost instantaneously.

Martin Walters, Vincent’s brother, was caught soon after the crime and has since been convicted of Reyes’ kidnapping and murder. He is serving 25 years to life in prison.

“Vincent Walters is accused of committing a number of crimes that landed him on our most wanted fugitive list,” said David Harlow, Assistant Director of the U.S. Marshals Investigative Operations Division. “Thanks to the hard work of our Deputy U.S. Marshals, local law enforcement and Mexican law enforcement partners, we were able to bring Walters in to face the consequences for his laundry list of accused crimes.”

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov