CAF/CDS: "El Marquitos" Arraigned in San Diego

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat from Zeta Tijuana

Israel Vergara, a member of organized crime in Tijuana, achieved impunity in Mexico. In 2018 he was exonerated on charges of kidnapping and organized crime, and nine weeks later he was captured by US authorities, who had issued an arrest warrant against him since September 2013 for drug trafficking.

On January 16, 2015, when prosecutor Laura Duffy - on behalf of 16 US investigative agencies - announced at a press conference that they were unsealing the indictment of 14 charges against 117 members of the Sinaloa Cartel, Israel Vergara Galindo aka "Marquitos" or" Frank "-whose name was included in the list- was imprisoned in Mexico.

He had been arrested two years and three months earlier (October 2013) during an operation in the Federal District, as a result of an arrest warrant for the aggravated kidnapping of a 42-year-old seafood merchant from Tijuana and organized crime. The folder had begun with the preliminary inquiry 74/10/201, in which he was accused of being head of a cell of kidnappers with twelve members

Just over a week before his capture in Mexico, the United States Government had issued an arrest warrant against "El Marquitos." It is a sealed document dated September 30, 2013.

The charges at that time were for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, and the warrant warned that it was subject to confiscation of property.

Five years and two months after his arrest in Mexico, despite the fact that his criminal career with the Arellano Félix (CAF) and De Sinaloa (CDS) cartels is public, the lax arm of the law released him on December 20. same year. Free of charges, according to the judge, the Public Ministry did not present sufficient elements to establish responsibility, and even less after some of its criminal employees gave up their confessions. He was released while some of his criminal partners who accused him were sentenced to dozens of years of prison for the same crime.

THE FILE 13-CR-3574 -DMS

The office that requested the arrest of "El Marquitos" is that of Clerk in the Southern District of California. In the file, Vergara shares charges with Óscar Peña Flores "Changa" and / or "Uvas". They accuse them of knowingly and intentionally conspiring with others, known and unknown by the Grand Jury, to distribute 500 grams and other mixtures and substances containing methamphetamine, as well as five kilograms or more of cocaine.

The co-defendant Peña Flores remains a fugitive since September 2013, in Tijuana he uses the names of Óscar Alberto and Ócar Carlos, with the aforementioned names. It has an accredited residence in the El Rubí subdivision, and in the public registers it has a Volkswagen Jetta car , whose last license plates were revalidated in 2012. To date it has 36 years of age.

In 2015, the intelligence areas of the State Security Council learned that he had contacts with Víctor Hugo Meza López "El  Griego ", leader of hitmen of the CDS in the wing of the brothers René and Alfonso Arzate García.

Among the antecedents, the file against Vergara indicates: “At the end of 2011, the Drug Control Administration (DEA) began the 'Narco Polo' investigation focused on the activities of a cell dedicated to the distribution of narcotics based in National City and Chula Vista. The agents realized that the group imported cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana from Tijuana, Baja California and that distributed in southern California and several places on the East Coast of the United States. The investigation resulted in the indictment in November 2012 against the head of this cell José Luis Iglesias, alias José Bautista Sámano who remains a fugitive while several of his criminal partners have been sentenced . They were 90 and 188 months in prison.

The investigation that began on a criminal cell of National City, California, became a long-term transnational investigation that continues against the Sinaloa Cartel.

The operation "Narco Polo" had as its main objective the capture of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García and the dismantling of his criminal organization in the United States.

It began eight years ago as a local investigation to dismember a trafficker's cell that distributed drugs in the areas of Chula Vista, Oceanside and National City in the United States. The group was headed by José Luis Iglesias and his drug suppliers arrived from Tijuana.

 

Click to enlarge

Between 2011 and 2015, the preparation of the allegations required the work of more than one hundred elements from 16 investigative agencies, including DEA, FBI, Interpol, ICE, Border Patrol, and the San Bernardino Police Department, National City, Chula Vista, San Diego, Kentucky, South Carolina, Chicago and Illinois. In addition to the collaboration of countries such as Mexico, China, the Philippines, Great Britain and Colombia.

The outstanding captures that strengthened the case were those of the children and primary partners of "El Mayo" Zambada: Alfonso Limón Sánchez, Rafael Félix Núñez, Ismael "Mayito Gordo" Zambada Imperial, Ismael "Mayito Flaco" Zambada Sicairos, José "El Chino Anthrax "Aréchiga Gamboa, Serafín Zambada Ortiz and Vicente Zambada Niebla (who is still in process).

Indictment below click on hyperlink to enlarge

   el Marquitos Indictment [CAF/CDS] by Chivis Martinez on Scribd