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BA Gang Associate Gets 20 Years
Luis Humberto Hernandez Celis, aka Pac, 32, of El Paso, was sentenced to 240 months in prison for his participation in a racketeering conspiracy and drug trafficking offenses.
Hernandez Celis was convicted of racketeering conspiracy; conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances; and conspiracy to import heroin, cocaine and marijuana, according to court documents.
The Barrio Azteca (BA) gang, which Hernandez Celis was a part of, began operating in the late 1980s as a violent prison gang and has expanded into a transnational criminal organization based in West Texas; Juarez, Mexico; and throughout state and federal prisons in the United States and Mexico.
The gang relies on a militaristic command structure that includes “captains,” “lieutenants,” “sergeants” and “soldiers” to maintain power and enriches members and associates through drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, intimidation, violence, threats of violence and murder.
Since January 1, 2003, members and associates of the BA have engaged in a host of such criminal activity, including the March 13, 2010, murders in Juarez of U.S. consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. consulate employee.
Hernandez Celis admitted that gang members and associates also allegedly charge a “street tax” or “cuota” on businesses and criminals operating on their turf, and that the profits are used to support gang members in prison by funneling money into prison commissary accounts of gang leaders and to pay for defense lawyers or fines.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s El Paso Field Office and Albuquerque Field Office (Las Cruces Resident Agency); DEA Juarez; and DEA El Paso, and is part of a larger effort to take down the Barrio Azteca gang, which has 35 members and associates charged in a third superseding indictment with various counts of racketeering, murder, drug offenses, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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