Federal police detained nearly 50 suspected members of two major drug cartels, including suspects in a recent armed attack on a police helicopter.

The suspects include 36 members of La Familia cartel and 10 members of the Zetas drug gang, the federal police said in a statement.

La Familia gang members were detained in connection with the attack on a federal police helicopter Tuesday that wounded two officers, the statement said. It also said 11 other cartel members were killed during the operation Friday night in the Pacific Coast state of Jalisco.

Authorities added that the 10 Zeta members were detained Friday at a ranch in Cancun,where a kidnapped victim was found and released.

Police said that along with the 36 La Familia members, they seized more than 10 rifles, 20,000 weapons cartridges, three grenades and 14 handguns in an air and land raid that left two officers injured.

If you have been charged with murder, sex crime, fraud, assault, etc., please contact The Law Office of Hector Gonzalez III, P.C. at (210) 495-9999 for your free consultation.

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A former Rio Grande Valley police chief got a 10-year federal prison sentence for using his post to help Mexican drug cartels move more than a ton of marijuana, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Randy Crane in McAllen on Wednesday ordered Hernan Guerra, 44, the former Sullivan City police chief, to begin serving the sentence immediately.

Guerra and co-defendants agreed to a plea deal in January, after prosecutors revealed evidence, including wiretaps, proving he took money to alert drug traffickers to Border Patrol movements and to keep his own officers away from illicit shipments.

Guerra admitted to conspiracy to move more than 1,000 kilograms, or 2,200 pounds, of marijuana through his town between June 2009 and the June 2010 indictment.

He was one of more than 2,200 people arrested June 9 last year under Project Deliverance, a 22-month investigation targeting drug gang activity in 16 states and Mexico.

Federal law enforcement leaders said the multiagency sweep seized $5.8 million, 2,951 pounds of marijuana, about 250 pounds of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine, 141 weapons and 85 vehicles.

Seven others were sentenced along with Guerra for serving as drivers, road spike throwers, scouts, and lookouts for the conspiracy.

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The San Antonio lawyer for a Somali man accused of smuggling suspected terrorists into the United States disputed the government’s allegations Thursday, saying his client only sought a better life.

In earlier court filings, federal prosecutors alleged Ahmed Dhakane, 25, was a member of groups the government considers terrorist organizations.  They also claim he led a large-scale ring in Brazil that smuggled “violent jihadists” into country via Texas, by using a network of corrupt officials and teaching his clients to commit asylum fraud.

Prosecutors also contend Dhakane raped a woman who accompanied him as he tried to get asylum after crossing into Brownsville on March 28, 2008.  Prosecutors seek 20 years in prison for him.  A pre-sentence report recommends 27 years to nearly 34 years. 

But Dhakane’s lawyer, assistant federal public defender Alfredo Villarreal, filed a sentencing memorandum Thursday that paints Dhakane as one of millions of Somali refugees seeking better lives and seeks a sentence closer to 10 years because Dhakane’s only proven crimes are two counts of lying to try to get asylum.

Dhakane is set for sentencing on Thursday in a hearing in which counterterrorism agents are expected to testify about the organizations he was allegedly affiliated with-al-Barakaat and Al-Islami-and how he fit into them.  The government’s memo said the groups are affiliated with Somalia-based Al-Shabaab, which has aligned itself with alQaida and Osama bin Laden.

In his memo, Villarreal reminded U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez that Dhakane did not plead guilty to terrorism charges, and that Dhakane is Christian not Muslim.  It said Dhakane’s father was ordered executed in 2006 by an Islamic court because of his belief in secular rule for Somalia.  Villarreal’s memo asked why the woman is still in contact with Dhakane after raising the rape allegations.  It predicted some of Dhakane’s alleged smuggling clients, expected to testify at his sentencing, would say what they think the government wants to hear to improve their own chances of staying in the United States.

On November 2, Dhakane pleaded guilty to two false statement charges: He admitted he mischaracterized how he entered the United States, and that he falsely claimed a woman was his wife so she also could enter the United States.

“The government . . . seeks to have Dhakane sentenced not for the proved false statements on the asylum application, but for unsubstantiated claims of terrorism and rape it lodges against Dhakane,” Villarreal wrote.

The memo said Dhakane worked for al-Barakaat, a money remittance system used by Somali expatriates after the collapse of the central banking system in the 1990s.

In the wake of the 9-11 attacks, the U.S. government claimed al-Barakaat aided the financing of terrorists, but the system was also used by the United Nations to get money to Somalia in support of its missions there, the memo said, citing studies and the 9-11 Commissions Report.

The memo also said U.S. authorities misconstrued Dhakane’s association with members tied to groups seeking an Islamic state in Somalia, saying Dhakane was imprisoned and mistreated by some of the Islamists after he converted to Christianity in 2002.

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At the largest mass grave site ever found in Mexico, where 177 bodies have been pulled from deep pits, authorities have recovered few bullet casings and little evidence that the dead were killed with a gun.

Instead, most died of blunt force trauma to the head, and a sledgehammer found at the crime scene is believed to have been used in the executions, according to Mexican investigators and state officials.

As many as 122 of the victims were passengers dragged off buses at drug cartel roadblocks on the major highway to the United States.

The sadistic murders of hundreds at isolated ranches 90 minutes south of the Texas border mark a new level of barbarity in Mexico’s four-year U.S.-backed drug war.

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A Laredo lawyer who pleaded guilty earlier this month to a racketeering charge was sold out by a Houston-based drug trafficker with connections in Mexico and across the U.S., according to court documents.

Alonzo Ramos, a 40-year-old attorney from a politically connected Laredo family, pleaded guilty in a Dallas federal court to one count of interstate travel in aid of racketeering.

According to his plea agreement, Ramos acted as an intermediary between the Houston trafficker, who was facing charges in Louisiana, and other traffickers who wanted him to keep quiet.

Ramos gave the trafficker $48,500 in drug proceeds not to snitch, according to the plea agreement.

But the trafficker, Lizandro Tijerina, was already cooperating with authorities.

Tijerina testified in a 2008 trial in Louisiana that in the early 2000s he moved hundreds of pounds of cocaine a month to cities like Chicago, Atlanta and New Orleans and to states as far north as New York and New Jersey.  Tijerina testified that he purchased the cocaine from the Gulf Cartel in Mexico.

Tijerina allowed federal agents to record his conversations with Ramos, according to court records.

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Sec. 20A.01.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:

(1)  “Forced labor or services” means labor or services, including conduct that constitutes an offense under Section 43.02, that are performed or provided by another person and obtained through an actor’s:

(A)  causing or threatening to cause bodily injury to the person or another person or otherwise causing the person performing or providing labor or services to believe that the person or another person will suffer bodily injury;

(B)  restraining or threatening to restrain the person or another person in a manner described by Section 20.01(1) or causing the person performing or providing labor or services to believe that the person or another person will be restrained;

(C)  knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating, or withholding from the person or another person, or threatening to destroy, conceal, remove, confiscate, or withhold from the person or another person, the person’s actual or purported:

(i)  government records;

(ii)  identifying information; or

(iii)  personal property;

(D)  threatening the person with abuse of the law or the legal process in relation to the person or another person;

(E)  threatening to report the person or another person to immigration officials or other law enforcement officials or otherwise blackmailing or extorting the person or another person;

(F)  exerting financial control over the person or another person by placing the person or another person under the actor’s control as security for a debt to the extent that:

(i)  the value of the services provided by the person or another person as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt;

(ii)  the duration of the services provided by the person or another person is not limited and the nature of the services provided by the person or another person is not defined; or

(iii)  the principal amount of the debt does not reasonably reflect the value of the items or services for which the debt was incurred; or

(G)  using any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that the person or another person will be subjected to serious harm or restraint if the person does not perform or provide the labor or services.

(2)  “Traffic” means to transport, entice, recruit, harbor, provide, or otherwise obtain another person by any means.Seg 20A.01. DEFINICIONES. En este capítulo:
(1) “Forzado de la mano de obra o servicios” significa la mano de obra o de servicios, incluida la conducta que constituya un delito en virtud de la sección 43.02, que se realiza o proporcionados por otra persona y obtenida a través de un actor:
(A) causando o amenazan con causar lesiones corporales a la persona o de otra persona o lo contrario causando a la persona realizar o suministro de mano de obra o servicios a creer que la persona o otra persona va a sufrir lesiones corporales;
(B) de retención o amenaza con limitar la persona o a otra persona de una manera descrita por 20.01(1) de la sección o causando a la persona realizar o suministro de mano de obra o servicios a creer que la persona o otra persona será restringido;
(C) a sabiendas destruir, ocultar, eliminar, confiscación, retención de la persona o de otra persona o amenaza con destruir, oculta, quitar, confiscar o retener de la persona o de otra persona, la persona real o supuesta:
(i) el Gobierno registros;
(ii) la identificación de información; o
(iii) propiedad de personal;
(D) amenazando a la persona con el abuso de la ley o el proceso legal en relación con la persona o de otra persona;
(E) amenaza con informar a la persona o a otra persona a los funcionarios de inmigración o otros funcionarios encargados de hacer cumplir la ley o de lo contrario chantajear o extorsionar a la persona o otra persona;
(F) ejercer el control financiero de la persona o de otra persona mediante la colocación de la persona o otra persona bajo control del actor como garantía de una deuda en la medida en que:
(i) no se aplica el valor de los servicios prestados por la persona o de otra persona que razonablemente se evaluaron hacia la liquidación de la deuda;
(ii) la duración de los servicios proporcionados por la persona o de otra persona no es limitada y no se define la naturaleza de los servicios prestados por la persona o de otra persona; o
(iii) el monto de la deuda capital razonablemente no refleja el valor de los artículos o servicios para los que se efectuaron la deuda; o
(G) utilizando cualquier plan, plan o patrón destinadas a hacer que la persona a creer que la persona o otra persona se someterán a un daño grave o la moderación, si la persona no realizar o prestar el trabajo o los servicios.
(2) “Tráfico” significa para el transporte, atraer, reclutar, albergan, proporcionar o de lo contrario obtener a otra persona por cualquier medio.

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Sec. 20A.02.  TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS.  (a)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly:

(1)  traffics another person with the intent or knowledge that the trafficked person will engage in forced labor or services; or

(2)  benefits from participating in a venture that involves an activity described by Subdivision (1), including by receiving labor or services the person knows are forced labor or services.

(b)  Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an offense under this section is a felony of the second degree.  An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree if:

(1)  the applicable conduct constitutes an offense under Section 43.05 or 43.25 and the person who is trafficked is a child younger than 18 years of age at the time of the offense, regardless of whether the actor knows the age of the child at the time the actor commits the offense; or

(2)  the commission of the offense results in the death of the person who is trafficked.

(c)  If conduct constituting an offense under this section also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the actor may be prosecuted under either section or under both sections.Seg 20A.02. TRATA DE PERSONAS. una persona comete una ofensa si la persona a sabiendas:
(1) trafique a otra persona con la intención o el conocimiento de que la persona objeto de trata se involucrará en el trabajo forzado o servicios; o
(2) beneficios de participar en una empresa que implica una actividad descrita por la subdivisión (1), incluida la recepción de la mano de obra o servicios que la persona sabe son forzados o servicios.
(b) salvo que lo contrario en la presente subsección, una ofensa bajo esta sección es un delito mayor de segundo grado. Una ofensa bajo esta sección es un delito grave de primer grado si:
(1) la conducta aplicable constituye un delito en virtud de la sección 43.05 o 43.25 y la persona que es objeto de tráfico es un niño menor de 18 años de edad en el momento de la ofensa, independientemente de si el actor sabe la edad del niño en el momento en que el actor comete el delito; o
(2) la Comisión de los resultados de la ofensiva en la muerte de la persona que es objeto de trata.
(c) si la conducta que constituya una ofensa bajo esta sección también constituye una ofensa bajo otra sección de este código, el actor puede ser procesado en virtud de cualquier sección o de ambas secciones.

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Sec. 71.028.  GANG-FREE ZONES.  (a)  In this section:

(1)  “Institution of higher education,” “playground,” “premises,” “school,” “video arcade facility,” and “youth center” have the meanings assigned by Section 481.134, Health and Safety Code.

(2)  “Shopping mall” means an enclosed public walkway or hall area that connects retail, service, or professional establishments.

(b)  This section applies to an offense listed in Section 71.02(a)(1), (4), or (7), other than burglary, theft, burglary of a motor vehicle, or unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

(c)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), the punishment prescribed for an offense described by Subsection (b) is increased to the punishment prescribed for the next highest category of offense if the actor is 17 years of age or older and it is shown beyond a reasonable doubt on the trial of the offense that the actor committed the offense at a location that was:

(1)  in, on, or within 1,000 feet of any:

(A)  real property that is owned, rented, or leased by a school or school board;

(B)  premises owned, rented, or leased by an institution of higher education;

(C)  premises of a public or private youth center; or

(D)  playground;

(2)  in, on, or within 300 feet of any:

(A)  shopping mall;

(B)  movie theater;

(C)  premises of a public swimming pool; or

(D)  premises of a video arcade facility; or

(3)  on a school bus.

(d)  The punishment for an offense described by Subsection (b) may not be increased under this section if the offense is punishable under Section 71.02 as a felony of the first degree.Seg 71.029. PRUEBAS DE AS DE MAPAS DE UBICACIÓN O ÁREA. (a) en una acusación de un delito para que el castigo es mayor bajo la sección 71.028, un mapa producido o reproducido por un ingeniero de condado o municipal con el fin de que muestra la ubicación y los límites de zonas libres de pandillas es admisible en evidencia y pruebas prima facie de la ubicación o los límites de esas zonas si el órgano rector de la municipalidad o el condado adopta una resolución o una ordenanza que aprobar el mapa como una conclusión oficial y el registro de la ubicación o los límites de esas zonas.

(b) un ingeniero de condado o municipal puede, previa solicitud del órgano rector de la municipalidad o el Condado, revisar un mapa en el que ha sido aprobado por el órgano rector de la municipalidad o el condado conforme a lo dispuesto en la subsección (a).

(c) un ingeniero municipal o condado deberá presentar el original o una copia de cada mapa revisado o aprobado aprobado conforme a lo dispuesto en la subsección (a) con el Secretario del Condado de cada condado en el que se encuentra la zona.

(d) esta sección no impide que el enjuiciamiento de:
Introducción (1) o depender de otras pruebas o testimonio para establecer cualquier elemento de una ofensa para que el castigo es mayor bajo la sección 71.028; o

(2) utilizando o introducir cualquier otro mapa o diagrama de otro modo admisible en virtud de las reglas de evidencia de Texas.

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Sec. 71.023.  DIRECTING ACTIVITIES OF CERTAIN CRIMINAL STREET GANGS.  (a)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly initiates, organizes, plans, finances, directs, manages, or supervises a criminal street gang or members of a criminal street gang with the intent to benefit, promote, or further the interests of the criminal street gang or to increase the person’s standing, position, or status in the criminal street gang.

(b)  An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree.

(c)  Notwithstanding Section 71.01, in this section, “criminal street gang” means:

(1)  an organization that:

(A)  has more than 10 members whose names are included in an intelligence database under Chapter 61, Code of Criminal Procedure;

(B)  has a hierarchical structure that has been documented in an intelligence database under Chapter 61, Code of Criminal Procedure;

(C)  engages in profit-sharing among two or more members of the organization; and

(D)  in one or more regions of this state served by different regional councils of government, continuously or regularly engages in conduct:

(i)  that constitutes an offense listed in Section 3g(a)(1), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure;

(ii)  in which it is alleged that a deadly weapon is used or exhibited during the commission of or immediate flight from the commission of any felony offense; or

(iii)  that is punishable as a felony of the first or second degree under Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code; or

(2)  an organization that, in collaboration with an organization described by Subdivision (1), engages in conduct or commits an offense or conspires to engage in conduct or commit an offense described by Subdivision (1)(D).Seg 71.023. LA DIRECCIÓN DE LAS ACTIVIDADES DE CIERTAS PANDILLAS DE CALLE DE PENAL. una persona comete una ofensa si la persona a sabiendas inicia, organiza, planes, las finanzas, dirige, administra o supervisa una pandilla criminal o miembros de una pandilla criminal con la intención de beneficiarse, promover o fomentar a los intereses de la pandilla criminal o aumentar la persona permanente, posición o estado en la pandilla criminal.

(b) una ofensa bajo esta sección es un delito grave de primer grado.

(c) a pesar de la sección 71.01, en esta sección, se entenderá por “pandilla criminal”:

(1) una organización que:

(A) tiene más de 10 miembros, cuyos nombres se incluyen en una base de datos de inteligencia en virtud del capítulo 61, código de procedimiento penal;

(B) tiene una estructura jerárquica que se ha documentado en una base de datos de inteligencia en virtud del capítulo 61, código de procedimiento penal;

(C) se involucra en beneficios entre dos o más miembros de la organización; y

(D) en una o más regiones de este estado servida por diferentes consejos regionales de Gobierno, de forma continua o regularmente se involucra en la conducta:

(i) que constituye una ofensa que se enumeran en la sección 3g(a)(1), artículo 42.12, código de procedimiento penal;

(ii) en el que se afirma que un arma mortal es utilizado o exhibido durante el vuelo inmediata de la Comisión de cualquier infracción de delito grave; o la Comisión de o

(iii) que es punible como delito grave del primer o segundo grado en virtud del capítulo 481, la salud y la seguridad del código; o

(2) una organización que, en colaboración con una organización descrita por la subdivisión (1), participa en la conducta o comete un delito o que conspira para participar en conducta o cometer un delito descrito por la subdivisión (125.

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Sec. 71.022.  COERCING, INDUCING, OR SOLICITING MEMBERSHIP IN A CRIMINAL STREET GANG.  (a)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly causes, enables, encourages, recruits, or solicits another person to become a member of a criminal street gang which, as a condition of initiation, admission, membership, or continued membership, requires the commission of any conduct which constitutes an offense punishable as a Class A misdemeanor or a felony.

(a-1)  A person commits an offense if, with intent to coerce, induce, or solicit a child to actively participate in the activities of a criminal street gang, the person:

(1)  threatens the child or a member of the child’s family with imminent bodily injury; or

(2)  causes bodily injury to the child or a member of the child’s family.

(b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), an offense under this section is a felony of the third degree.

(c)  A second or subsequent offense under this section is a felony of the second degree.

(d)  In this section:

(1)  “Child” means an individual younger than 17 years of age.

(2)  “Family” has the meaning assigned by Section 71.003, Family Code.Seg 71.022. COACCIONAR, INDUCIR O SOLICITAR LA MEMBRESÍA EN UNA PANDILLA DE LA CALLE DE PENAL. una persona comete una ofensa si la persona a sabiendas provoca, permite, alienta, recluta o solicita a otra persona para convertirse en un miembro de una pandilla criminal que, como una condición de iniciación, admisión, membresía o pertenencia continuada, exige que la Comisión de cualquier conducta que constituye una ofensa punible como un delito menor de clase a o de un delito grave.
(a-1) Una persona comete un delito si, con el propósito de coaccionar, inducir o solicitar un niño a participar activamente en las actividades de una pandilla criminal, la persona:
(1) amenaza con el niño o un miembro de la familia del niño con una lesión corporal inminente; o
(2) causa lesiones corporales a un niño o un miembro de la familia del niño.
b salvo lo dispuesto en la subsección (c), un delito en virtud de esta sección es un delito grave de tercer grado.
(c) una ofensa de segunda o posterior en virtud de esta sección es un delito mayor de segundo grado.
(d) de esta sección:
(1) “Niño” significa una persona menor de 17 años de edad.
(2) “Familia” tiene el significado asignado por la sección 71.003, código de la familia.

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