United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LAREDO, Texas – A 37-year-old Mexican national is set to appear in federal court for a large-scale international marijuana and cocaine trafficking conspiracy, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge of the Houston Division Jonathan C. Pullen and U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. 

Juan Carlos Sanchez Gaytan has now landed on American soil and made his initial appearance in Arizona. He is expected to be transferred to the Southern District of Texas where he will appear in the near future. He is one of 26 people transferred to U.S authorities Aug. 12, pursuant to Mexico’s National Security Law, who were fugitives from Mexico facing a range of federal and state criminal charges from around the country. 

"DEA agents in Laredo worked tirelessly to ensure the bloodshed from two competing cartels across the border didn't spill into our neighborhoods and devastate our communities," said Special Agent in Charge of the Houston Division Jonathan C. Pullen. Their day in court has arrived, and those responsible will have to answer for their heinous crimes. DEA remains committed to its mission in shielding our communities from harm and ensuring the safety and protection of citizens." 

“The Southern District of Texas has been waiting 15 long years for Mr. Sanchez Gaytan to accept our invitation to come pay us a visit in Laredo. That day, at long last, has finally arrived,” said Ganjei. “We look forward to laying out the evidence of Mr. Sanchez Gaytan’s alleged criminal activities to 12 men and women of South Texas, who will decide whether or not to extend his stay.”  

A federal grand jury returned the 47-count superseding indictment in February 2010, charging Sanchez Gaytan and others with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances including marijuana and cocaine. 

Sanchez Gaytan is one of 34 individuals named in the indictment spanning from 2001 through 2008. At that time, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales aka Z40 was a leader in the Gulf Cartel and its enforcement arm, the Zetas, according to the charges. The Gulf Cartel was allegedly in conflict and competition with the Sinaloa Cartel for control of the United States-Mexico border in and around Laredo known as the “Nuevo Laredo Plaza.” 

The charges allege members and associates of the Zetas would transport firearms for use in this conflict with the Sinaloa Cartel, among other acts.

On Feb. 27, Mexican authorities transferred Trevino Morales, 52, and others to the United States. He is in U.S. custody on related charges of allegedly engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise that involved multiple murder conspiracies, conspiring to manufacture and distribute large quantities of cocaine and marijuana destined for the United States, using firearms - including a machinegun - during and in relation to drug trafficking crimes and conspiring to launder monetary instruments. 

If convicted, Sanchez Gaytan and Trevino Morales both face up to life in federal prison. 

Several others have already been convicted in the case and have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, including Wenslaco Tovar aka Wency, Ivan Caballero-Velasquez aka Talivan, Jaime Miguel Diaz DeLeon aka Michael and Eduardo Carreon Ibarra aka Negro who received 340 months and 30, 40 and 45 years, respectively. Gabriel Cardona Ramirez aka Pelon was ordered to serve the rest of his life in federal prison in March 2009.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and Laredo Police Department conducted the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation dubbed Operation Prophecy with assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S. Marshals Service, Webb County District Attorney's Office and Webb County Sheriff’s Office. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs has also provided assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany Jensen is prosecuting the case.

The effort is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s OCDETFand Project Safe Neighborhood.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

###