A manhunt turned into a conviction for Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, also known as ‘Benny,’ ‘Farmero,’ ’51,’ ‘Guero,’ ‘Pecas,’ ‘Tury,’ ’86,’ and ’51.’
The 35-year-old Barrio Azteca Lieutenant was found guilty on all counts by a jury in the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division.
The charges include five counts of racketeering, narcotics trafficking, narcotics importation, murder in a foreign country, and money laundering conspiracies, as well as six counts of murder.
The defendant was formally extradited to the United States from Mexico on June 28, 2012, and was tried before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone. The jury delivered their verdict on March 13, 2014, with the defendant being found guilty on all counts.
Prosecutors presented evidence that the defendant was a leader in the Barrio Azteca, a violent street and prison gang that began in the late 1980s and expanded into a transnational criminal organization. The gang formed an alliance with ‘La Linea,’ which is part of the Juarez Drug Cartel, to battle the Chapo Guzman Cartel and its allies for control of the drug trafficking routes through Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.
The purpose of the BA-La Linea alliance was to assert control over the drug routes through Juarez, which is known as the Juarez Plaza, and is an important route for illicit drug trafficking into the United States. The defendant was in charge of Barrio Azteca teams of assassins, which he helped create and supervised between 2008 and 2010.
Testimony and other evidence at trial established that his teams killed up to 800 persons between January and August 2010, reaching a total of nearly 1600 in a multi-year period. The defendant also ordered the triple homicide in Juarez, Mexico, of U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Enriquez, her husband Arthur Redelfs, and Jorge Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee, on March 13, 2010.
A total of 35 defendants were charged in the Third Superseding Indictment, with 26 having been convicted, one committing suicide before the conclusion of his trial, and six awaiting extradition. U.S. law enforcement officials are actively seeking to apprehend the two remaining fugitives in this case, including Eduardo Ravelo, an FBI Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Joseph A. Cooley of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, Trial Attorney Brian Skaret of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, and AUSA John Gibson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas – El Paso Division. Valuable assistance was provided by the Criminal Division’s Offices of International Affairs and Enforcement Operations.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s El Paso Field Office, Albuquerque Field Office (Las Cruces Resident Agency), DEA Juarez, and DEA El Paso. Special assistance was provided by the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Violent Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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