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 News from Around the Americas | January 2008 
Members of Mexican Mafia Convicted on Racketeering Counts
 Greg Moran - San Diego Union-Tribune
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After a trial that lasted two months, a federal jury in San Diego Friday convicted seven members of the notorious Mexican Mafia prison gang on racketeering charges.
The verdict capped a lengthy investigation by federal and state police agencies in San Diego. The probe targeted Hispanic street gangs that have ties to the Mexican Mafia.
This was the first time that federal prosecutors in San Diego used the federal anti-racketeering act against a street gang. At the trial they alleged that the defendants engaged in numerous racketeering acts including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, drug sales and money laundering.
In September two leaders of the prison gang, Raul Leon and Salvador Perez, pleaded guilty to similar charges.
Convicted were Eduardo Gonzalez-Gallegos, George Fernandez, Thomas Durkin, Salvador Perez, Richard Valenzuela, Cesar Abarca, and Joshua Cruz. All face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Immigrant Jailed for U.S. Entry to Send Son Off to War
Louie Gilot - El Paso Times
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A Mexican man who crossed the border illegally to see his son, a U.S. soldier, before the young man left for Afghanistan, was sentenced to time served Friday in federal court in El Paso.
"I recognize that I made a mistake when I crossed to see my son who was leaving for Afghan istan," Marcos Antonio Hernandez Gonzalez, 40, shackled, told U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone.
Cardone said that she understood the unusual circumstances, but that the law still applied.
She sentenced Hernandez to the four months he had already served in jail since his arrest. Prosecutors did not object and even asked that a fine be waived.
Hernandez, who did not have a criminal past, according to his lawyer, was facing zero to six months in prison for illegal re-entry.
According to court documents, Hernandez was caught Aug. 16 by a Border Patrol agent, who followed his footprints seven miles east of the Zaragoza Bridge.
Hernandez was traveling with another man, and both migrants were muddy from the knees down, documents showed.
Hernandez had been previously removed from the United States in 2003 at Nogales, Ariz.
Rita Rodriguez, the public defender who represented Hernandez at his sentencing, told Judge Cardone that Hernandez did not intend to live in the United States and had, in fact, made a new life for himself in Mexico.
He just wanted to say goodbye to his son, she said.
Rodriguez said she was not allowed to give out more details about the family's story because she was not Hernandez's assigned lawyer.
"What's sad is that this type of cases used to be treated as misdemeanors, but now we treat them as felonies," she said.
Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot(at)elpasotimes.com |
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