U.S. Attorney Charges 12 In NY With Colombian Terrorism Link

Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michele M. Leonhart, the Acting Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Michael J. Folmar, the Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Miami Division of the FBI, announced today the unsealing of two indictments charging a total of 12 members and associates of the 57th Front of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a Colombian terrorist group, with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and taking a U.S. citizen hostage.

The first indictment unsealed today (the “material support indictment”) charges Luis Fernando Mora-Pestana, aka “Virgilio Antonio Vidal Mora,” aka “Silver” and Julio Enrique Lemos-Moreno, aka “Andres,” who are leaders of the FARC’s 57(th) Front, along with Front associates Harold Ruben Segura Alvarez, aka “John Jairo,” aka “Cientifico;” Juanito Cordoba-Bermudez, aka “Juanito,” aka “Chechere;” and Cecilio Costa, aka “Cesar Perea,” aka “Costa;” with conspiracy to provide material support to the FARC. Juanito Cordoba-Bermudez is in custody in the Southern District of New York. The material support indictment has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Denny Chin.

The second indictment (the “hostage-taking indictment”) charges Mora-Pestana, Lemos-Moreno; Carlitos Lnu; Alexis Lnu, aka “Alexi;” Fnu Lnu, aka “El Indio;” Roque Orobio Lobon, aka “Roque Orobio Tobon;” aka “Mello,” aka “Tachuela;” Edilberto Berrio Ortiz, aka “El Gavilan;” Alejandro Palacios Rengifo, aka “El Gato,” aka “Yimi;” and Anderson Chamapuro Dogirama, aka “El Tigre,” aka “Dairon;” for their roles in the kidnapping of an American citizen for ransom in April 2008. Roque Orobio Lobon is currently being held by Colombian authorities. The hostage-taking indictment has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff. Mora-Pestana and Lemos-Moreno are the only defendants charged in both indictments.

The remaining defendants in the material support and hostage-taking indictments are at large.

As alleged in the indictments, which were unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:

The FARC was formed in 1964 and is structured as a military organization, with approximately 10,000 armed guerillas organized into seven “blocs;” 68 numbered “Fronts” (including the 57th Front); nine named “Fronts” and four urban “militias.” The FARC is dedicated to the violent overthrow of Colombia’s democratically elected government and has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State. The 57th Front operates in the territory within Colombia’s Choco Department, which borders Panama. The 57th Front supports the FARC’s terrorist activities through narcotics trafficking and kidnapping for ransom, including the kidnapping of Americans and other foreign nationals.

The hostage-taking indictment relates specifically to the 57th Front’s April 4, 2008, kidnapping of an American citizen. Mora-Pestana authorized financing for the kidnapping, and Orobio-Lobon and others carried out the kidnapping in the Costa del Este neighborhood of Panama City. The defendants held the victim for ransom, which they demanded from the victim’s relatives, informing the relatives that they would never see the victim alive again if the ransom was not paid. The victim was released in February 2009, after a member of the victim’s family paid the ransom.

The material support indictment recounts multiple discussions among the defendants regarding FARC logistics, supplies and weapons, as well as the seizures by authorities of a variety of weapons and material during February through September 2008. The material support indictment also covers the aftermath of a Feb. 22, 2008, attack by five FARC guerillas on a Panamanian police patrol boat and their subsequent capture in possession of substantial FARC weaponry and material. Mora-Pestana and Cordoba-Bermudez in particular discussed the FARC’s response to the event, and on Feb. 27, 2008, a communique, purporting to be issued by a FARC element warned the government of Panama of consequences from its capture of the five attackers and that the 57th Front had been ordered to kidnap Panamanian officials to force an exchange of captives with the prisoners, if the prisoners were not released. Other defendants discussed plans to engineer the five guerillas’ escape from a Panamanian prison. (Three of the guerrillas involved in the attack on the Panamanian police boat are now in custody in the Southern District of New York on charges relating to that event. Their case is pending before U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley, III). The material support indictment also recounts discussions concerning the April 4, 2008, kidnapping in Panama and efforts to impede that investigation.

Each of the defendants in the material support indictment is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Each of the defendants in the hostage-taking indictment is charged with two counts of hostage taking, each of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

“As alleged in the indictments, the 57th Front is one of the most violent elements of the FARC. This group of guerrillas kidnapped a United States citizen, procured weapons and explosives, and trafficked cocaine to fuel the FARC’s terrorist activities,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “The charges unsealed today mark another important step in our efforts to combat international narco-terrorism.”

“The increased cooperation between the United States, Panama and Colombia that resulted in today’s indictments signal our shared, unrelenting commitment to combat drug traffickers and those who support them,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “No country can tolerate vicious terrorist organizations such as the FARC. We and our partners in Panama and Colombia will continue to pursue the remnants of FARC’s 57th Front until its members have surrendered or are captured.”

Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Michael J. Folmar stated: “The FARC is a terrorist organization that for decades has waged a brutal and inhuman campaign for its selfish aims. This case demonstrates the FBI’s firm commitment to bringing hostage takers to justice.”

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the DEA’s New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, the Narco-Terrorism Group of the DEA’s Bogota Country Office, the DEA’s Panama City Country Office, the FBI’s Extraterritorial Hostage Taking Squad in Miami, and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs. Mr. Bharara also thanked the Colombian Navy, the Colombian National Police, the Colombia Attorney General’s Office and the Panamanian National Police for their assistance in the investigation.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics Trafficking Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Rebecca M. Ricigliano and Jeffrey A. Brown are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the indictments are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

US Indicts Ten Alleged Mexican Drug Cartel Leaders

Forty-three defendants in the United States and Mexico, including 10 alleged Mexican drug cartel leaders, have been charged in 12 indictments unsealed yesterday and today in U.S. federal courts in Brooklyn and Chicago, the Department of Justice, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced. The alleged leaders and other high-ranking members of several of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels are charged with operating continuing criminal enterprises or participating in international drug trafficking conspiracies.

“Breaking up these dangerous cartels and stemming the flow of drugs, weapons and cash across the Southwest border is a top priority for this Justice Department,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “The cartels whose alleged leaders are charged today constitute multi-billion dollar networks that funnel drugs onto our streets and what invariably follows is more crime and violence in our communities. Today’s indictments demonstrate our unwavering commitment to root out the leaders of these criminal enterprises wherever they may be found. We will continue to stand with our partners in Mexico to dismantle the cartels’ insidious operations.”

“Realizing that neither of our two countries can win over drug traffickers on its own, we have built up the bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico to allow us to combine our investigative and legal resources to dismantle these transnational drug organizations and bring the leaders to justice,” said Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora. “We can only protect the right of our societies to live in peace and harmony through our governments’ mutual trust and shared responsibility.”

Three of the suspected leaders were charged in both Brooklyn and Chicago. Joaquin “el Chapo” Guzman-Loera, Ismael “el Mayo” Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva, who are allegedly among the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexico, are alleged to be present and former heads of an organized crime syndicate known as the “Sinaloa Cartel” and “the Federation.” Each of these three is designated as a Consolidated Priority Organization Target or CPOT by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

Also charged in the Brooklyn indictments were seven other cartel leaders, including CPOT Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal, Hector Beltran-Leyva (Arturo’s brother) and Jesus Zambada-Garcia (Ismael’s brother), each alleged leaders within the Federation; CPOT Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the alleged head of the Juarez Cartel; CPOT Luis and Esteban Rodriguez-Olivera, alleged leaders of Los Gueros; and CPOT Tirso Martinez-Sanchez, the alleged head of his own international drug trafficking organization.

Together, the four Brooklyn and eight Chicago indictments charge that between 1990 and December 2008, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia, Arturo Beltran-Leyva and others were responsible for importing into the United States and distributing nearly 200 metric tons of cocaine, additional large quantities of heroin, and the bulk smuggling from the United States to Mexico of more than $5.8 billion in cash proceeds from narcotics sales throughout the United States and Canada.

The indictments unsealed today collectively seek forfeiture of more than $5.8 billion in drug proceeds. Also, more than 32,500 kilograms of cocaine have been seized, including approximately 3,000 kilograms seized during the Chicago investigation, approximately 7,500 kilograms seized during the New York investigation and 22,500 kilograms seized previously that were later linked to the activities of the Federation. The indictments also detail seizures of 64 kilograms of heroin and more than $22.6 million in cash during the course of the investigation.

As part of the coordinated actions, eight defendants have been arrested in the Chicago and Atlanta areas in the last week.  Earlier this year, 10 additional defendants, all customers of or couriers for the organizations, were charged separately in Chicago. Five defendants, all New York-based wholesale distributors or logistics coordinators for the cartels, were charged separately in Brooklyn. In all, 58 individuals have been charged in the investigation coordinated between the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in Brooklyn and Chicago. All but one of the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the charges against them.

“The indictments announced today are the result of a sweeping national and international effort to stem the flow of drugs across the U.S./Mexico border and into our communities,” said Benton J. Campbell, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “We will apply all available resources to win this battle.” Mr. Campbell extended his grateful appreciation to ICE and the DEA Task Force in New York, the agencies responsible for leading the Eastern District’s investigation, and to the assistance provided by ICE and DEA in Miami, Houston, Mexico and Colombia.

“These indictments are among the most significant drug conspiracy charges ever returned in Chicago,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “They charge two major international supply organizations with importing many tons of cocaine and large quantities of heroin into the United States, often to wholesale distribution customers in Chicago, as well as to customers in other major cities. The defendants allegedly used practically every means of transportation imaginable to move these large amounts of drugs and to funnel massive amounts of money back to Mexico. I applaud the efforts of the DEA investigators who worked hard to put these cases together.” Mr. Fitzgerald also thanked the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division agents in Chicago and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for their assistance.

“Today’s indictments are yet another strike against the leadership of the Mexican drug cartels,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “Our relentless investigations penetrated deep into these pervasive criminal organizations, connecting street operations in U.S. communities like Chicago and New York to the top drug kingpins calling the shots in Mexico.  Make no mistake; along with our courageous partners in Mexico, we will break these cartels and pursue their leaders.”

“Law enforcement agencies in the Americas are working closer than ever before and setting up a united, borderless offense against drug cartels,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE John Morton.  “This is a significant step in breaking down the infrastructure of these criminal organizations.”

According to one of the Brooklyn indictments, between 1990 and 2005, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva, together with Hector Beltran-Leyva, Jesus Zambada-Garcia and Villareal as leaders of the Federation, conspired to import more than 120 metric tons (264,000 pounds) of cocaine into the United States through the cooperative arrangements and coordination that the Federation provided. Members of the Federation shared drug transportation routes and obtained their drugs from various Colombian drug organizations, in particular, the Colombian Norte Valle Cartel. For example, in 2004, two shipments totaling 22,500 kilograms of cocaine were seized by the U.S. Coast Guard off the coast of Mexico. The indictment alleges that the defendants employed “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out hundreds of acts of violence in Mexico, including murders, kidnappings, tortures and violent collections of drug debts, at their direction.

The indictments in Chicago allege that in approximately early 2008 Arturo Beltran-Leyva split his alliance with Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the Federation due to various issues, including control of lucrative narcotics trafficking routes into the United States and the loyalty of wholesale narcotics customers, including the alleged leaders of a Chicago distribution cell. The indictments charge that Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia, together with seven other high-ranking associates, including two of their sons, Alfredo Guzman-Salazar (Guzman-Loera’s son) and Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla (Ismael Zamada-Garcia’s son, who is in custody in Mexico), coordinated their narcotics trafficking activities to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Central and South American countries, through Mexico, and into the United States using various means of transportation, including Boeing 747 cargo aircraft; submarines and other submersible and semi-submersible vessels; container ships; go-fast boats; fishing vessels; buses; rail cars; tractor trailers; and automobiles

Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia allegedly coordinated their cocaine and heroin smuggling activities to wholesale distributors throughout the United States, including a large distribution cell in Chicago of which 16 individuals were charged in an indictment unsealed today. On average, the Chicago cell allegedly received 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms of cocaine per month, at times obtaining all or a large portion of that quantity from Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the factions of the Sinaloa Cartel they controlled, while also obtaining a substantial portion of that quantity from the Arturo Beltran-Leyva Cartel. From Chicago, the indictments allege that large quantities of cocaine and heroin were further distributed to customers in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Milwaukee; New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Vancouver, British Columbia; and elsewhere.

Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the factions of the Sinaloa Cartel they controlled allegedly used various means to evade law enforcement and protect their narcotics distribution activities, including obtaining guns and other weapons; bribes; engaging in violence and threats of violence; and intimidating with threats of violence members of law enforcement, rival narcotics traffickers and members of their own drug trafficking organizations. According to the indictment, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and his son, Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, discussed obtaining weapons from the United States and using violence against American and/or Mexican government buildings in retaliation for each country’s enforcement of its narcotics laws and to perpetuate their narcotics trafficking activities.

In one of the indictments unsealed today in Brooklyn, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes is alleged to be the leader of the Juarez Cartel, which operates in the Juarez-El Paso corridor, one of the primary drug smuggling routes along the border between the United States and Mexico running from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas. The DEA estimates that approximately 90 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States comes through Mexico. The Juarez Cartel allegedly received multi-ton cocaine shipments in Mexico from the Colombian Norte Valle Cartel and from the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a Colombian paramilitary organization and a major drug trafficking organization. According to the indictment, the Juarez Cartel maintained its power through the payment of bribes and through numerous acts of violence, including murder.

In another Brooklyn indictment, brothers Luis and Esteban Rodriguez-Olivera are charged with leading Los Gueros, a drug trafficking organization that rose to prominence within the Federation. According to court documents, Los Gueros operated a narcotics supply route that originated in Mexico, stretched into Texas and then branched off to various points, including the New York metropolitan area. Between 1996 and 2008, Los Gueros allegedly imported more than 100,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. The DEA estimates that between 2004 and 2006, the organization was responsible for shipping more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine to New York City alone. In January 2006, Mexican authorities seized approximately 5,200 kilograms of the organization’s cocaine destined for the United States.

Tirso Martinez-Sanchez is alleged in one of the Brooklyn indictments to be an organizer and leader of an extensive international narcotics importation, distribution and transportation organization that is responsible for the distribution of multiple tons of cocaine in the United States. Martinez-Sanchez’s organization allegedly imported cocaine into the United States from Mexico through California and Texas, and then transported the cocaine overland to large distribution centers, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. In addition to coordinating the distribution of his own organization’s cocaine, Martinez-Sanchez also allegedly transported and distributed narcotics for members of the Juarez Cartel and the Federation.

The cases in the Eastern District of New York are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Goldbarg, Claire Kedeshian, Bonnie Klapper, Stephen Meyer, Walter Norkin, Patricia Notopoulos and Carolyn Pokorny.

The cases in the Northern District of Illinois are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Shakeshaft, Michael Ferrara, Greg Deis, Lindsay Jenkins, Renai Rodney, Angel Krull and Halley Guren.

The cases were investigated by the DEA, ICE and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, in cooperation with Mexican and Colombian law enforcement authorities. Additional assistance was provided by U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Milwaukee, Miami and Houston. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance in these cases. The investigative efforts were coordinated with the Special Operations Division, comprised of agents, analysts and attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS); DEA; FBI; ICE; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; and Internal Revenue Service. Certain individuals named in indictments unsealed today have also been charged by other U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country and by NDDS.

An indictment is a formal charging document notifying the defendant of the charges. All persons charged in an indictment are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Copies of indictments can be found at: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/cartel-indictments.htm