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 News from Around the Americas | January 2008 
23 'Mexican Mafia' Gang Members Indicted on Racketeering in Texas slayings, Feds Say
 Michelle Roberts - Associated Press
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| | (NBC San Diego) | | |
San Antonio Twenty-three suspected members of a Texas prison gang were accused of racketeering in connection with the slayings of 22 people, according to a federal indictment released Wednesday.
The victims were mostly fellow members of the Texas Mexican Mafia or rival gangs. In some cases, they were suspected drug dealers indebted to the gang, which authorities say enforces a street tax on drug dealers who work on gang turf.
The slayings occurred between 2000 and 2005, according to the indictment.
The defendants were not charged with murder, in part because tying them to a specific crime is harder than proving they ran an operation that committed murder and dealt drugs, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said.
Most of the defendants were already in custody on lesser charges. By Wednesday, 18 people were in custody. Another five were still being sought. None had attorneys listed in U.S. District Court filings.
The Mexican Mafia is a violent criminal gang. They deal in intimidation. They deal in drugs heroin and cocaine. They deal in violence, and in this case, they dealt in murder, Sutton said at a news conference.
The slayings occurred in San Antonio, Austin and rural Atascosa County south of San Antonio.
The investigation that led to charges issued Tuesday included informants and undercover officers over a three-year period, said Sutton, declining to release details. More charges were possible, he said.
FBI agent Ralph Diaz said the defendants include alleged generals and lieutenants in the gang. The indictment, he said, is a very significant hit to the organization.
The Texas Mexican Mafia, allegedly founded by San Antonio native Heriberto Huerta in 1984, is the largest gang in the state prison system, but it's not directly related to a California gang of the same name. Huerta and other gang members were later convicted on drug charges.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice tracks the number of Mexican Mafia members in the prison system but doesn't release the numbers because of concerns that it will exacerbate problems with rival gangs in the system, said department spokesman Jason Clark.
Gangs like the Mexican Mafia recruit members inside the prison system as a way to ensure protection, but membership continues even when an inmate is released, said FBI spokesman Eric Vasys. Some members are also recruited among family or friends who are not incarcerated. |
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