El Paso’s Samuel Velasco Gurrola Pleads Guilty to Racketeering

El Paso’s Samuel Velasco Gurrola, 41, has admitted his role in a sprawling, blood-soaked criminal enterprise that trafficked thousands of kilograms of drugs, orchestrated cross-border kidnappings, and carried out targeted assassinations — including the murders of his own in-laws and estranged wife. Gurrola pleaded guilty Friday, November 18, 2016, before U.S. District Judge David Briones to one count of conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, sealing his fate in a federal courtroom packed with the ghosts of his victims.

By entering his guilty plea, Gurrola admitted to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, conspiring to commit a kidnapping in a foreign country, and using a firearm to threaten a victim during a theft — placing them in fear of imminent bodily injury and death. The Velasco Criminal Enterprise (VCE), which Gurrola helped lead from its El Paso base, operated across the U.S. in Las Vegas, NV; New Mexico; North and South Carolina; California; and Texas, while extending its reach deep into Mexico. The organization specialized in large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, robbery, and car theft.

Narcotics shipments — including marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine — were routinely hauled from Mexico into El Paso, Deming, and Lordsburg, NM, before being funneled to major distribution hubs like Dallas, TX, and Las Vegas, NV. Drug proceeds were laundered both nationally and internationally through banks and shell operations. Court records show VCE orchestrated multiple kidnappings each month between 2008 and 2013, with plans drawn up in El Paso and victims seized in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Gurrola’s descent into calculated brutality reached its peak in a chilling campaign to silence his estranged wife, Ruth Sagredo Escobedo, who was set to testify against him in an aggravated sexual assault of a child case in El Paso County. In October 2016, a jury convicted Gurrola on three counts of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and four counts of conspiracy to cause foreign travel for murder for hire — charges tied directly to the assassinations of his in-laws and wife.

On October 3, 2008, Francisco Maria Sagredo Villarreal, Gurrola’s father-in-law, was executed in his Juarez home. On November 20, 2008, his daughter Cinthia Sagredo Escobedo was murdered in the same city. Two days later, Ruth Sagredo Escobedo was ambushed and killed while traveling to her sister’s funeral — all orchestrated by Gurrola to eliminate her testimony. The 2016 trial laid bare a trail of manipulation, violence, and cold-blooded vengeance that shocked even seasoned federal prosecutors.

Gurrola, who has remained in federal custody since his arrest in February 2015, now faces up to life in prison. Sentencing in both the racketeering and murder-for-hire cases is scheduled for March 24, 2017. The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations, with critical support from the El Paso Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.