Jerry Idrogo, Murder, Texas 2015

San Antonio, TX - A Texas Mexican Mafia Member's Descent into Violence

In a shocking turn of events, 35-year-old Jerry Idrogo, alias 'Spooks,' a high-ranking member of the Texas Mexican Mafia (TMM), has pleaded guilty to a federal charge related to the murder of Balcones Heights Police Officer Julian Pesina in May 2014.

Idrogo, a TMM Northside Sergeant, appeared before United States District Judge Xavier Rodriguez and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to participate in a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO). This guilty plea comes with a severe consequence: Idrogo faces up to life in federal prison.

The court records reveal that Idrogo admitted to two murders. Firstly, he killed TMM member Billy Padilla in San Antonio on August 26, 2013, for failing to turn over drug proceeds to the organization. Secondly, he participated in the murder of Officer Pesina outside his 'Notorious Ink Tattoo and Piercing Studio' on May 4, 2014.

The factual basis filed in this case states that despite being a police officer, Pesina was simultaneously claiming membership in the TMM, had tattoos consistent with such membership, and was selling drugs to TMM members. Idrogo, acting upon the orders of a superior, TMM member Ruben 'Menace' Reyes, drove his co-defendants, 38-year-old TMM prospect Alfredo Cardona and 27-year-old TMM-member-in-bad-standing Jesse Santibanez, to Pesina's business where Cardona and Santibanez shot and killed Pesina.

By pleading guilty, Idrogo also admitted to conspiring with others to interfere with Commerce by extortion and to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin in furtherance of the Texas Mexican Mafia's criminal enterprise. Idrogo admittedly collected the 'dime,' a 10 percent tax imposed by the TMM on individuals who sell narcotics in their territory for assistance in collecting drug debts as well as a degree of protection from robbery and competing drug dealers.

Idrogo remains in federal custody awaiting sentencing, scheduled for November 16, 2015. Cardona and Santibanez, who remain in federal custody, await jury selection and trial scheduled for October 17, 2016. Reyes, who faces life imprisonment, is awaiting sentencing in September after pleading guilty last month to five counts of aiding and abetting the using and discharging of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and, five counts of violent crime (murder) in aid of racketeering (VICAR).

This investigation was a collaborative effort between the FBI, the San Antonio Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division, the Bexar County Sheriff's Department, the Frio County Sheriff's Department, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/san-antonio-texas-mexican-mafia-member-admits-role-death-balcones-heights-police