KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Lorenzo Castro-Manzanarez, 43, a Mexican national, confessed in federal court yesterday to running a wide-ranging racketeering conspiracy centered around the exploitation of undocumented immigrants. The scheme, spanning from January 1, 2018, to August 10, 2021, involved transporting, harboring, and illegally employing aliens across the Midwest, all to pad the profits of his restaurant empire.
Castro-Manzanarez, residing in Springfield, Mo., admitted to actively encouraging and inducing aliens to remain in the United States illegally. He provided them with jobs and facilitated the use of fraudulent identification – including counterfeit Social Security cards – to bypass legal employment requirements. The motivation? Simple: keep his restaurants staffed and rake in the cash, gaining an unfair advantage over legitimate businesses.
The Department of Justice indictment revealed Castro-Manzanarez didn’t stop at simply exploiting undocumented workers. He brazenly falsified his own Form I-9, claiming U.S. citizenship while utilizing a bogus Social Security card. But the deception didn’t end there. Even *after* being indicted, while released on bond, Castro-Manzanarez continued his criminal enterprise, providing housing and employment to aliens at his restaurants in Springfield, Columbia, and Jefferson City, Mo.
Investigators detailed a systematic pattern of abuse, designed to maximize profits at any cost. Castro-Manzanarez’s actions weren’t just about cheap labor; they were a calculated attempt to undermine the law and exploit vulnerable individuals. He’s now facing the consequences, taken into custody immediately following his guilty plea and held pending sentencing.
Under federal law, Castro-Manzanarez could receive up to 20 years in federal prison, with no chance of parole. While the maximum sentence is determined by Congress, the final judgment will be decided by the court, considering advisory sentencing guidelines and other relevant factors. The U.S. Probation Office will conduct a presentence investigation before a sentencing hearing is scheduled.
This case is being spearheaded by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rudolph R. Rhodes IV, Nicholas P. Heberle, David Wagner, and Leigh Farmakidis. The investigation was a collaborative effort, involving Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations division, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies including the Kansas and Missouri Highway Patrols, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Butler Police Department, and the Missouri Department of Labor. This is part of “Operation Take Back America,” a nationwide crackdown aimed at dismantling criminal organizations and combating illegal immigration.
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Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime|Human Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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