Private investigator, who works on kidnappings around the world, talks about evolution of US tourist kidnappings in Mexico.
Jay Armes III said from the '80s to the mid 2000s, there was a "code" among kidnappers who saw it as a business. Now, he said, it's a free-for-all similar to American "jugging."
Two Sinaloa cartel members are going to prison for trafficking more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine, 130 kilograms of heroin and 300 pounds of methamphetamine into the U.S. in a year while bragging about murdering "snitches" in intercepted messages.
Cornelio Cazarez Madrid and Sinohe Antonio Arajuo Meza, both 42, were sentenced Monday to 38 and 30 years in federal prison, respectively, after they pleaded guilty in 2019 to peddling drugs between 2015 and 2016.
Federal investigators intercepted messages that showed two victims "partially clothed on the ground with their hands bound behind their backs, and then photographs (of the victims) shot dead, in a pool of blood, with a sign taped to Victim1’s back that read, in Spanish, ‘This is what happens to scum/snitches,’" according to court documents.
Another message Madrid sent in August 2016 included a photo of what appeared to be a dead Mexican police officer to prove he "keeps his word."
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Federal agents seized $259,890 in cash and 28 kilograms of heroin in Chicago on Sept. 27, 2015. (U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York)
A convicted Sinaloa cartel member tried to sell this gun in July 2015. (U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York)
The victim was "the brother of the one who screwed me too many times," Madrid wrote in the message, according to court documents.
Another message – this one sent by Meza – talked about someone who was killed in the Mexican state of Chiapas and described the murder "as his Christmas present."
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Images of the messages and graphic photos were redacted in court filings and sealed to protect the victims' identities.
"Madrid and Meza were two prolific drug traffickers who worked with the Sinaloa cartel to import thousands of kilograms of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine into this country and who relied on brutal violence to protect their drug organization," federal prosecutor Damian Williams said.
Federal agents seized $950,000 in Chicago on Aug. 13, 2015. (U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York)
In January 2016, a message was sent to a Sinaloa cartel member saying 50 kilos of drugs and this gun were delivered. (U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York)
"Today’s sentence sends a message that anyone who participates in the Sinaloa cartel’s assault on Americans by flooding our communities with poison will be held accountable and will face significant consequences," Williams added.
"This Office is committed to addressing the ongoing threat posed to the health and safety of all Americans by the Sinaloa cartel and every partner in its distribution chain."
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Their operation ran from 2015 to 2016, and included at least 20 seizures throughout California, Chicago, the Bronx and Costa Rica.
In total, the DEA seized about 675 kilograms of cocaine, 70 kilograms of heroin and 26 kilograms of meth, as well as $3.4 million and seven guns in connection with Madrid's and Meza's trafficking ring, the prosecutor's office said.
Federal agents seized two kilograms of cocaine, one gun and $329,000 in the Bronx. (U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York)
Federal agents seized 20 kilos of heroin on Oct. 28, 2015, in Chicago. (U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York)
Prosecutors argued Madrid was in a position of power with the cartel and used and authorized violence while trafficking drugs, which was why his prison sentence was eight years longer.
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"This sprawling drug trafficking operation was not only dangerous in its importation of thousands of kilograms of poison into the United States but also in its use of firearms and violence, including murder, to protect the operation," the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York's Southern District said in a press release.
As part of their sentences, each cartel member will be subject to five years of supervised release after their prison sentence.
