El Paso trial of reputed Sinaloa members focuses on drug cartel's operations, methods
The Sinaloa drug cartel’s leadership, operations and methods were the focus in the first two days of the trial of two alleged members arrested in connection with the “Wedding Murders" of a U.S. citizen.
Reputed Sinaloa cartel members Arturo Shows Urquidi and Mario “Grim Reaper” Iglesias-Villegas face several charges over their alleged roles in trafficking drugs and the murder of a U.S. citizen kidnapped May 7, 2010, at a wedding in Juárez.
Several former members of the Sinaloa drug cartel and federal law enforcement officers have testified since the trial began Tuesday. Jury selection was held Monday.
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent testified the investigation into the cartel began in 2007-08 due to an “extreme spike” in violence during a war between the Sinaloa and the Juárez drug cartels.
The drug war left more than 10,000 people dead.
The investigation led to the arrests of high-ranking officials in the Sinaloa cartel, including 24 alleged members indicted in 2012. Iglesias-Villegas and Shows Urquidi were among those indicted.
Others included Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the reputed head of the cartel, and Ismael Zambada Garcia, who allegedly took over the drug cartel after Guzman was arrested in Mexico in 2016.
'Wedding murders' by alleged Sinaloa Cartel members
Law enforcement learned of the conspiracy to commit the murders through over-the-air communications used by cartel members to talk to each other at different stash houses or offices, the agent testified.
The “Wedding Murders” refers to the May 7, 2010, kidnapping of a groom, Rafael Morales Valencia, who was from Columbus, New Mexico, his brother, Jaime Morales Valencia, and their uncle, Guadalupe Morales Arreola.
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The men were abducted, interrogated and later killed. The men's bodies were discovered by Juárez police a few days later in the bed of an abandoned pickup
Iglesias-Villegas, also known as “Delta,” “Grim Reaper” and “El Dos,” allegedly was one of the drivers of the vehicles used during the kidnapping of the victims, the affidavit states.
Sinaloa cartel members testify at trial
Several Sinaloa cartel members currently in prison testified at the trial.
The men identified several key members of the cartel, including Iglesias-Villegas and Shows Urquidi.
Shows Urquidi, also known as “Chous,” was a “core member” of the cartel’s Juárez operation, according to the federal indictment.
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The men also detailed the cartel’s trafficking of illegal drugs and the role Mexican law enforcement played in cartel activities.
One of the men, who formerly was a police officer in Mexico, testified that he “indirectly” killed people by bringing weapons into Mexico and acting as a lookout when members killed people.
A Homeland Security Investigations agent testified about bundles of cocaine smuggled into the U.S. that had stickers of Memín Pinguín, a Mexican cartoon character of a black boy that has been criticized as a racial stereotype.
According to testimony, the sticker was used by the "Garduño cell," allegedly run by Sergio Garduño Escobedo, to mark their bundles of illegal drugs.
Garduño, who also is indicted in the case, is a former station commander for the Chihuahua state police and is known as "Coma" or "Comandante."
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Ricardo “Yogi” Rodriguez Cordova, a former Sinaloa cartel member currently serving 35 years in prison on drug charges, testified Mexican law enforcement protected the cartel and aided in the trafficking of drugs.
He added that members of the Juárez municipal police and the Chihuahua state police were on the cartel's payroll.
Rodriguez Cordova said cartel members were “pretty much untouchable” when it came to municipal police and Chihuahua state police.
Some federal law enforcement officers also were being paid by the cartel, he testified.
Rodriguez Cordova testified that a Sinaloa cartel party he went to in 2005 was mostly attended by Mexican police officers.
The officers would work as bodyguards or make sure the cartel was not bothered by other law enforcement in transporting drugs, he testified.
Rodriguez Cordova said some cartel members acted as liaisons between the cartel and law enforcement.
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He said law enforcement officers who did not help the cartel would have their lives threatened.
Rodriguez Cordova testified a common phrase used to threaten officers was "Plata o Plomo" (silver or lead) — take the bribe or get the bullet.
He added that the cartel would make law enforcement officers who challenged the cartel “disappear.”
When asked by prosecutors what he meant by disappear, Rodriguez Cordova said cartel members would kill the officers.
He claimed he smuggled massive amounts of cocaine into the U.S. and shipped it to buyers in Miami.
Rodriguez Cordova said they were trafficking hundreds of kilograms of cocaine worth about $2 million every 10 days.
What we know about the Sinaloa cartel trial
The trial is expected to last at least two weeks. It is scheduled until Oct. 14, according to the Western District of Texas judge’s calendars.
The trial is being held in the Albert Armendariz Sr. Federal Courthouse in Downtown El Paso. Security at the court is heightened for the trial, with extra metal detectors placed at the doors of the courtroom.
Shows Urquidi faces five federal charges: continuing criminal enterprise; conspiracy to possess narcotics; attempt and conspiracy to import and export narcotics; laundering of monetary instruments; and conspiracy to possess firearm/drug traffickers and aiding and abetting.
Iglesias-Villegas faces 12 federal charges, including the same five charges as Urquidi.
He also faces charges of conspiracy to kill in a foreign country; kidnapping aiding and abetting; and five charges of racketeering activity involving violent crimes and aiding and abetting.
Aaron Martinez may be reached at 915-546-6249; aamartinez@elpasotimes.com; @AMartinezEPT on Twitter.