Thread: TX:Azteca gang crackdown

Azteca gang crackdown
5 arrested on organized crime charges
By Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 01/11/2008 12:00:00 AM MST


FBI Special Agent in Charge David Cuthbertson talked on Thursday about five arrests earlier in the day of alleged members of the violent street gang Barrio Azteca. The five were charged with various crimes, including extortion, murder and drug trafficking. (Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)
A Beretta pistol confiscated after the arrests of five members of Barrio Azteca was shown, as was a photograph of the head of a member, tattooed with "EPT" to represent the Barrio Azteca gang. Related: Arrests expected to put dent in leadership



Five El Paso members of the Barrio Azteca prison and street gang, including one of its lieutenants, were arrested Thursday and charged with committing various crimes, including murder, assault, extortion, drug trafficking and money laundering, federal, state and local officials said.

The arrests, which all occurred without incident, were made at 6 a.m. Thursday, officials said, and came the day after a federal grand jury issued an 11-count indictment against Barrio Azteca members.

"This is a major blow to their organization," El Paso Police Interim Chief Greg Allen said. "It's always a blow when we take them off the streets, and it sends a message that they are being watched."

Barrio Azteca is a prison-based gang with a military-style hierarchy that allegedly provides protection for drug cartels and collects "taxes" from other street-level drug dealers in the El Paso area, officials said.

The gang has about 2,000 members, including 1,000 in El Paso, officials said.

Arrested Thursday were:


Eugene Mona, called a lieutenant in the gang.

Jose Martin Garcia, a sergeant.

Said Francisco Herrera, another sergeant.

Johnny Michelletti, a soldier.

Danny Tarin, an associate.
All five remained in custody Thursday night and will have their initial court appearance this

afternoon at the U.S. Courthouse.
Officials said several other gang members also were named in the indictment but have not been arrested.

"The purpose of the gang is to enrich its members through criminal activity," Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman said. "They used violence and intimidation against anyone who tried to get in their way."

The details of the 11 charges will not be available until the sealed federal indictment is opened today.

However, the murder charge against the members is connected to the 2006 shooting death of Jose Luis Oviedo, federal officials said.

According to court documents, Oviedo and his roommates were allegedly selling cocaine out of their apartment in the 3000 block of Frutas. Dec. 6, 2006, he was shot multiple times in his apartment, stated a complaint affidavit filed by an El Paso police detective.

An alleged Azteca gang member was arrested on charges of murder and engaging in organized criminal activity.

According to the detective's affidavit, witnesses told detectives that Azteca gang members confronted Oviedo and his roommates in late October and demanded a share in drug sale profits as a "quota" to being allowed to operate in the gang's area.

No other details were made available Thursday.

District Attorney Jaime Esparza, who joined federal officials for the announcement of the arrests, said Thursday's action was significant because the gang is well organized and well planned.

"Today, you can be assured that as law enforcement agencies, we are as organized," Esparza said. "This is giant step forward in the pursuit of Barrio Azteca and in making our streets safer."

The arrests and indictments were a cooperative effort by the FBI, the U.S. attorney's office, the El Paso Police Department, the district attorney's office, the U.S. Marshals Service and Texas Department of Public Safety.

Ramon Bracamontes may be reached at rbracamontes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6142.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_7938238

Related:

Arrests expected to put dent in Barrio Azteca leadership
By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 01/11/2008 12:00:00 AM MST


The arrest of some of the Barrio Azteca gang leadership in El Paso on federal racketeering charges is expected to strike a blow against one of the largest criminal organizations in the region, law enforcement officials said.
Murder, extortion, drug dealing and an alliance with the Juárez drug cartel has allowed the prison-spawned gang to grow since it was created in 1986 by gang members from El Paso imprisoned in east Texas.

"These gangs are fueled by the cash generated from the narcotics trade," said David Cuthbertson, special agent in charge of the FBI office in El Paso.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman said the Barrio Azteca assists the Juárez drug cartel in the importation of drugs and "enforcement operations" in exchange for narcotics at discounted prices.

Barrio Azteca, initially known as La Familia Azteca, was formed under a set of "sacred rules" in order to unite members in Texas prisons from El Paso and West Texas, Leachman said.

The gang began with about 35 members and has grown to about 2,000 members across the Southwest, including about 1,000 in El Paso County, El Paso Times archives show.

Barrio Azteca has a paramilitary structure with captains, lieutenants, sergeants and street soldiers known as "indios." The group recruits heavily from street gangs.

The group uses the emblems "BA" meaning Barrio Azteca, "EPT" for El Paso, Texas, "XXI" and "21," numbers that refer to the letters B and A because of their order in the alphabet.

Members are recruited in prison and are required to remain in the gang when released from prison. Once freed, gang members deal drugs and forcefully collect "taxes" or "rentas" from street-level drug dealers. Money is sent to fellow members who are incarcerated.
"The gang protects its power and protects its territory and profit through violent criminal activity," Leachman said. "Since 1986, the Barrio Azteca gang has expanded its sphere of influence to the Federal Bureau of Prisons as well as various cities along the Texas-Mexico border."

According to Times archives and materials provided by law enforcement, several murders in jail in the 1990s were linked to a war between the Barrio Azteca and the rival Texas Syndicate prison gang.

The Aztecas signed an armistice with another prison gang, the Mexikanemi (Texas Mexican Mafia), in 1997.

The BA eventually would grab the attention of the FBI and DEA, leading to a 2001 indictment of 59 men and women, including several capos, or captains, arrested on federal racketeering charges in the multi-agency Operation Carnalitos. The gang's "capo mayor," or godfather, Benjamin "T-Top" Alvarez was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

Aztecas had claimed the Segundo Barrio as their home turf, leading to El Paso's first civil gang injunction against identified Azteca gang members in the historic neighborhood in 2003. The injunction expired in 2005.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_7938239

Five El Paso members of the Barrio Azteca prison and street gang, including one of its lieutenants, were arrested Thursday and charged with committing various crimes, including murder, assault, extortion, drug trafficking and money laundering, federal, state and local officials said...
Barrio Azteca is a prison-based gang with a military-style hierarchy that allegedly provides protection for drug cartels and collects "taxes" from other street-level drug dealers in the El Paso area, officials said.
The gang has about 2,000 members, including 1,000 in El Paso, officials said.

If prison based, those members in prison should be in isolation so they can't direct operations on the outside. Gang members are terrorists. We are engaged in a war on terror--should, at least the military-style hierarchy, be incarcerated in military facilities like Guantanamo Bay to stop their ability to run gang activities while imprisoned?????

5 arrested, 1,995 to go.

"Evil unchecked grows. Evil tolerated poisons the whole system."
Jawaharlal Nehru