Background:
A 23-year-old man was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in El Paso to nearly 22 years in federal prison for his role in the kidnappings and murders of a New Mexico bridegroom and his relatives by a drug cartel hit squad during a wedding in Juárez.
The wedding abduction in 2010 was one of the more shocking acts of violence during a war between the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartels.
District Judge David Briones sentenced Gonzalo Delgado Chavez to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison. Delgado was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and will be under supervision for five years after he is released from prison.
Delgado pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder on foreign soil in the deaths of bridegroom Rafael Morales Valencia, 29; his brother, Jaime Morales Valencia, 25; and their uncle, Guadalupe Morales Arreola, 51.
Rafael Morales was a U.S. citizen from La Mesa, N.M., whose family is originally from the city of Namiquipa in the central part of Chihuahua. The brothers grew up in the United States.
Family members had said the wedding took place in Juárez because that is where the bride was raised.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
On May 7, 2010, Sinaloa cartel gunmen kidnapped the three men and fatally shot another man in the parking lot after bursting into the wedding ceremony at Señor de la Misericordia Catholic Church.
Three days later, the bodies of the men were found in the bed of a truck. The men appeared to have been tortured.
According to a criminal complaint, Delgado, who is also from Namiquipa and was allegedly a smuggler for the Sinaloa cartel, was a family friend and was paid $1,000 to identify members of the Morales family to the hit squad.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said that Delgado was hired by Irvin Enriquez, whose father had been murdered by La Linea (the Juárez cartel) because he was associated with the rival Sinaloa cartel.
"Based on the false belief that the victims were part of La Linea and that Guadalupe Morales-Arreola worked for the person responsible for his father's death, Enriquez solicited the assistance of Jose Antonio Torres-Marrufo and his purported team of assassins to exact revenge," stated a news release by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Mexican authorities arrested Torres, a reputed Sinaloa cartel lieutenant known as "El Marrufo," "El 14" and "El Jaguar," last year in Leon, Guanajuato.
Torres is among several reputed Sinaloa cartel bosses indicted on multiple charges by the U.S. government.
Torres is among several reputed Sinaloa cartel bosses indicted on multiple charges by the U.S. government.
Follow him on Twitter @BorundaDaniel
This cross-national kind of violent criminality is likely to increase as the Mexican narco-Cartels continue to widen and deepen their evil roots everywhere in America.
ReplyDeleteI thinking that the "green light" is probably on this killer and that he won't live out his sentence.
Mexico-Watcher
Mexico-Watcher
22 years for premeditated murder? That is laughable. Not only that, but part of a much larger conspiracy to commit murder. Only a matter of time until those judges become targets of shitty sentencing guidelines.
ReplyDeleteToo bad it was feds and not the state of texas itself.he would have never come out of prison if it would have been
DeleteThanks for the update. He must of given up his amigos to get that sweet plea deal. No one gets a plea deal in federal court unless they talk. At least he's there 22+ years because no early release in federal prisons. Great news. Peace to all innocents, Texas Grandma.
ReplyDeletehope he rots in prison.
ReplyDeleteCali Grandpa
And they say CDS don't kill innocents?????
ReplyDeleteThat's bullshit, every cartel is the same. They claim they're not gonna kill innocents, extort, rob or murder but they do it either Way. If they Wanna sell drugs they can but leave the hard Working people out of it. All they Wanna do is support their families so they can have a good life.
ReplyDeleteMay he rot in hell.
ReplyDelete-California Kid
This guy deserves an awful lot worse than he got. But at least he did get a punishment. Thanks for bringing the story
DeleteThey've been spreading that line for so long, it never ceases to be incredulous! Anyway glad to see he got sentence that will deter his 'hands on" evil doings. Thank you! Hi Texas grandma. Ur my fave
ReplyDeleteWith a friend like Mr. Delgado, who needs enemies. Americans citizens should feel solace knowing that their govermemt will seek justice for them/us If they become victims of crimes overseas. This case testifies to the extent the F.B.I. will go to inorder to solve violent crimes. The FBI don't play!
ReplyDeleteThat's right peoples,plenty proof CDS murder innocents....and we get nutthugger's on here who wanna tell fairy tales of the great holy warrior Chapo Guzman...cough'cough'bllshit'.
ReplyDeleteHe's probably innocent , they always find someone to blame . All of these people were probably involved period . I hurt when children or pregnant women are killed , not other people involved in cartels period . If you want to play you have to pay. All cartels are bad but the government and police officials are far worse. They are the true scum of this drug war . They make deals with these animals and sometimes they are far more brutal and get away with so much killing .
ReplyDeleteTrue. True heard about this hit while back, people said it was Gabino's people that did it because of the "Alacran" stamps left on the body's. Anyone know the truth?
Deleteafirmativo era gente del inge salas. sigue vengando la muerte de sus hermanos. attn P@RR@ND3RO
Delete@ 11:28 AM
ReplyDeleteit's not pre-meditated murder because he didn't kill anyone.
he only conspired to have someone killed
~~~el spaceio~~~
Conspired,killed its all the same and hes just as guilty as the guy who pulled the trigger.birds of a feather flock together
ReplyDelete@ El Spaceio (2:28AM)
ReplyDeleteThen you clearly have no idea what "premeditated" means. He wasn't just driving around and said "hey look! A wedding! lets go kidnap and murder the groom and three others at random" They sought them out, hence premeditated and *conspiracy* which means there were plans involved.
I hope the $1,000 was worth it.
ReplyDelete@8:31
ReplyDeleteMurder I - Premeditated Murder - i know it well
you obviously don't know why they have conspiracy charges
you can't find someone guilty of a murder if they didn't kill the person. i copy/paste something from a site on conspiracy
Conspiracy murder charges may be used in cases when multiple people plan or act toward murdering another person. The person who actually causes the loss of life is generally charged with murder. Any others who are discovered to have helped to plan or aided the murderer can be charged with conspiracy. It is important to note that conspiracy to commit murder charges are often brought against individuals even when the victims do not die.
~~~el spaceio~~~