February 24, 2011

Members of Violent Mexican-Based Fraudulant Document Ring Busted

(ICE RELEASE)

RICHMOND, Va. – A federal grand jury in Richmond has indicted 22 members of an allegedly highly sophisticated and violent fraudulent document trafficking organization based in Mexico with cells in 19 cities and 11 states, including three cells in Virginia. Discovered through an ongoing investigation dubbed "Operation Phalanx," the organization is accused of kidnapping, beating and – at least on one occasion – murdering competitors and using violence to discipline its own members. The indictment is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

ICE Director John Morton, along with U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride, made the announcement after a superseding indictment was made public.

"Document fraud doesn't just involve paperwork. The business of document fraud, which can be ugly and involve violence and the use of deadly weapons warrants the attention of Homeland Security Investigations," said Director Morton. "Fraudulent documents give people the appearance of lawful status and provide them a ticket to access and opportunities to which they are not entitled."

"The indictment portrays a deadly criminal organization that uses brutal violence to eliminate rivals, protect its turf and enforce discipline against its own members," said U.S. Attorney MacBride. "Thanks to the tremendous effort of ICE agents here in our District and throughout the country, we were able to bring these charges, expose the brutality behind this document cartel, and dismantle the organization."

According to the 12-count indictment, Israel Cruz Millan, a/k/a "El Muerto," 28, of Raleigh, N.C., managed the organization’s operations in the United States, overseeing cells in nearly a dozen states that produced high-quality false identification cards to illegal aliens. He allegedly placed a manager in each city, each of whom supervised a number of “runnersâ€