Story Created:
Oct 15, 2009 at 11:23 AM PST
Story Updated:
Oct 15, 2009 at 11:23 AM PST
Three of eight people allegedly linked to a drug and human trafficking ring associated with the notorious Drew Street clique of the Avenues gang were arrested Tuesday night and early Wednesday as immigration agents raided addresses in Imperial Valley and an alleged “drop house” in Northeast Los Angeles.
A ninth suspect charged in the case remains at large.
At the Northeast Los Angeles address, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Teodoro Alvarez-Estrada and his wife, Aquilina Alvarez, seizing three guns.
According to an affidavit for a search warrant, the ring smuggled more than 200 illegal aliens a year, many of them with ties to the Drew Street gang.
Federal investigators said Drew Street gang members contacted the “coyotes” — slang for cross-border people smugglers — about bringing the gang’s infamous matriarch, Maria Leon, into the United States from Mexico.
Though the “coyotes” did not end up taking the job, Leon somehow made it across the border and was arrested. She is now serving a 100-month federal prison sentence for racketeering crimes related to the Avenues street gang.
Prosecutors allege the ring charged people $2,500 to $4,500 to be smuggled into the United States. Their methods included concealing people in trucks and custom-built secret compartments, as well as supplying clients with fake or counterfeit immigration documents.
The ring is also suspected of trafficking in methamphetamine.
Federal agents started the probe in August 2008, based on information developed in earlier investigations targeting the Drew Street clique and the larger Avenues gang, both of which are believed to answer to the prison-based Mexican Mafia.
Authorities suspect the human smuggling ring helped several criminals with ties to the gang get back into the country.
“This case illustrates the disturbing ties we’re increasingly finding between local street gangs and criminal organizations,” ICE Deputy Agent Kevin Kozak said.
“ICE is working not only to target and dismantle violent street gangs, but also the criminal organizations that support the gangs’ illegal activities.”
The nine defendants were named in a five-count indictment handed down Oct. 1 by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, charging them with smuggling and harboring illegal aliens for financial gain and conspiracy.
The eight arrested include Teodoro Alvarez-Estrada, 56, of Los Angeles; his wife, Aquilina Alvarez, 56, of Los Angeles; their son, Eduardo Alvarez-Marquez, 35, of Los Angeles; Martina Araceli Carreon, 44, of Holtville; Jose Carreon, 47, of Holtville; Ruben Servin-Mejia, 37, of Calexico; Maria Toledo-Fierros, 49, of Calexico; and Yesenia Rubi Mendoza-Gonzalez, age unknown, of Mexicali, Mexico.
The ninth defendant, Rosario Maria Rodriguez-Ortiz, 26, of Los Angeles, is at large and being sought, according to ICE.
A conviction for human smuggling for financial gain carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Alvarez-Estrada and his wife are additionally charged with re-entering the country after being deported, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, ICE agents said.
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