Thread: N.Y.: 41 Arrested In Massive Identity-Theft Sting

41 Arrested In Massive Identity-Theft Sting

POSTED: 1:20 pm EDT October 16, 2007
UPDATED: 6:30 pm EDT October 16, 2007


NEW YORK -- Tens of thousands of fake documents were sold along Roosevelt Avenue for years by two criminal organizations, authorities said Tuesday. Two major identity theft "mills" were shut down as a result of the raids.


Forty-one people were arrested on charges they sold fake social security cards, driver’s licenses and other documents often used in identity-theft scams. Some of those arrested are gang members, police said.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown displayed hundreds of fake documents as well as the computers used to make them at his morning press conference.

"These documents allow individuals to live, work, operate motor vehicles, open lines of credit and even obtain government benefits - under assumed names or by using identity of others," Brown said.

Federal Secret Service agents joined the NYPD and State Police in helping take down the operation. Among the alleged ringleaders, a husband and wife team from Los Angeles who, police said, provided the raw materials to help make the fake documents.

Police said some gang members in Jackson Heights helped produce and sell the fake cards at $50 each. Police said money raised was used to support other gang activities.

Prosecutors said the document rings consist of a boss, a cutter, runners and street sellers. Sellers get photos and information from customers and pass it on to runners who go to "the mill" to have the needed fake document made.

Among those charged, Edgar Cardenas of 95th Street in Queens. Prosecutors said he headed one of the major rings.

Other high-ranking suspects named include Lauro Benitez, Geraldo Lima and Miguel Ramirez Rivera.

Investigators said as they pore through seized documents, they would notify the Federal Trade Commission if they find victims whose identities and personal information had been stolen.

Officials have also notified the Joint Terrorism Task Force to try to make sure none of the fake documents were being used for terror-related matters.

Officials stressed there is no link to terrorism at this time.

Authorities said the overall investigation continues and they expect to make additional arrests.

http://www.wnbc.com/investigations/14351857/detail.html

This is the reality that we deal with every day. We should use this and similar stories to counter Durbin's and the OBL's emotional sob stories of the "poor immigrant."

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Call the Senate: NO Dream Act Amnesty !

Just think, someone could buy your identity.........your life for a measly $50.00. It is no wonder that illegals are getting more brave. With an identity to flash around why not make yourself public.

So why isn't our congress working on some type of help for those whose ID's have been stolen and why are these criminals not made to repay those who they have stolen from ? Seize their assets,their homes and give the procedes to the victims.

Oh I forgot our congress is to busy getting PERKs for the crimanals !!!!!!!!

Feds: Raided Operation Made Up To 100 Fake IDs Daily
Angry Protesters March Through Night After Fake ID Raid

POSTED: 4:21 pm CDT April 24, 2007
UPDATED: 7:44 pm CDT April 25, 2007


CHICAGO -- Dozens of people were arrested Tuesday night during a raid in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, but it was how the raid was carried out that's got residents fuming.

Images: March Through Little Village
Discuss: What Do You Think?
Video: Feds Respond
Video: Protesters March
Read: Criminal Complaint
Read: Immigration Raid News Release


The U.S. attorney said the raid was not about making immigrants fearful, but instead to arrest a group of people who run a lucrative fake-ID business that puts the security of our country at risk.


Police said the bustling counterfeit identification document business generated profits in the millions each year in and around the Little Village Discount Mall at 26th and Albany, saying it had become "competitive and violent."

Police said the organization made and sold as many as 50 to 100 fake IDs every day, and federal officials said the ringleader has already killed one person and was planning more slayings.

But it was the show of force that has immigrant rights groups upset.

Police raided the mall on Tuesday, sparking an impromptu protest that went well into the night. And on Wednesday, protesters planned another rally downtown as a precursor to a larger immigration march next Tuesday. U.S. attorney's office spokesman Randall Samborn said agents made arrests and conducted searches in the neighborhood.

Witnesses said dozens of undocumented immigrants were apprehended.

Federal authorities said Wednesday that 22 people have been charged with participating in a conspiracy to make false identification documents.

The organization allegedly recruits illegal aliens to come to Chicago and sell false documents on street corners in the Little Village neighborhood, where individuals solicit business for the organization overtly, a U.S. Attorney's Office release said. These individuals sell all sorts of false identification documents -– such as driver’s licenses purportedly issued by a variety of states, immigration documents such as Resident Alien Cards (Green Cards), and other purportedly government-issued documents, the complaint alleges.

In just one location in the area of Albany and 26th Street, there are as many as 15 to 20 illegal aliens at any one time selling false documents, according to charges. When these sellers locate a customer, they allegedly obtain a photo and personal information and send that information to a document production facility where the false documents are made.

The release said approximately eight to 10 street vendors are employed per shift in the parking lot of and inside the Discount Mall, with two shifts per day.


Feds Make 'Significant' Arrest


On Tuesday, federal agents led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Oak Lawn resident Julio Leija-Sanchez, 31, the alleged Chicago cell leader of the organization in Little Village, on federal charges for allegedly paying $3,000 and conspiring with, among others, fugitive co-defendant Gerardo Salazar-Rodriguez, to kill two of the fledgling competitors of their business, known as Montes and Bruno, according to the release.

Salazar-Rodriguez allegedly discussed the execution of Montes in Mexico between March 31 and April 3, a complaint alleging Sanchez said, “You know what would be good, to catch him around where you got Montes, kidnap him, and take him over by Pachuca, far away ... And then you take him to Nabor, so that he can cut him up in pieces.â€

I the superior Commandante Hier Presidente Boosh of the Bean Picker Nation denounce this and says it is a lie..... my people was set up by the White Trash Middle Americans....

These are honerable people that are just doing the jobs that fat lazy Americans just will not do

I will now wipe the record clean and they are once again honerable citizens..

As punishment to the white trash I will now extend Ramos and compeans sentance by 10 years because I know they are bad, bad people and must be vigilantes