Mariano Garcia, Execution-Style Murders, Michigan 2023

DETROIT, Michigan – Two Texas and Alabama men have been brought to justice for their roles in the execution-style murders of two men in Detroit. Mariano Garcia, 53, of Brownsville, Texas, and Michael Griffin, 40, of Birmingham, Alabama, pleaded guilty to charges related to the murders and conspiracy to distribute over 50 kilograms of cocaine.

In December 2016, Griffin and another individual traveled to Detroit to collect a drug debt from a Detroit-based member of the conspiracy. After coming to the conspirator’s home, Griffin and the other individual tied up and shot to death the Detroit-based co-conspirator and another man, using pillows to muffle the sounds of the gunshots.

Both Garcia and Griffin admitted to engaging in a long-term drug trafficking conspiracy involving cocaine supplied by Garcia in Texas and distributed by Griffin and others in Birmingham, Alabama, and Detroit, Michigan. At their plea hearings, they admitted to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin, interstate travel with the intent to kill or injure where death resulted, and interstate travel in aid of illegal activity where death resulted.

“These two men murdered two people in cold blood in Detroit to further their cocaine trafficking conspiracy,” U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison stated. “We will not stop fighting until this kind of senseless violence is ended.”

Sentencing for Griffin and Garcia is set for September 21, 2023. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Griffin faces a sentence of 30 years in prison. Garcia faces a sentence of 25 years.

The case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Detroit Police Department’s Homicide Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rajesh Prasad and Robert Moran.

Mandatory Facts: Defendant: Mariano Garcia, Mariano Garcia, 53, of Brownsville, Texas; Charges: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin, interstate travel with the intent to kill or injure where death resulted, and interstate travel in aid of illegal activity where death resulted; City and State: Detroit, Michigan; Date: December 2016; Sentence: 25 years; Amount: Over 50 kilograms of cocaine;

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/drug-traffickers-plead-guilty-execution-style-murders-two-men