Thread: CA: Human smuggling leader sentenced to 25 years in LA

Human smuggling leader sentenced to 25 years in LA

By Associated Press
Monday, March 21, 2011 - Added 4 hours ago



(3) Comments

LOS ANGELES — The leader of a human smuggling organization with ties to a notorious Los Angeles street gang has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after being convicted on conspiracy charges.

U.S. District Court Judge Philip S. Gutierrez noted while handing down his sentence Monday that Eduardo "Tito" Alvarez-Marquez had been responsible for a July 2009 incident in which 26 illegal immigrants were found locked in a truck in a Southern California desert.

Prosecutors say the 37-year-old’s organization smuggled at least 200 people into the United States each year, among them the matriarch of a clique within the Avenues gang.

A jury convicted Alvarez-Marquez in September of smuggling into the country aliens convicted of aggravated felonies and harboring an illegal alien.

Alvarez-Marquez’s lawyer Stephanie Ames had no comment after sentencing.

http://news.bostonherald.com

oh i like that long sentence.