Welfare drug king goes to trial

Valley Morning Star:

Despite receiving welfare checks, 26-year-old Efren Flores Jr. owned a BMW, a $190,000 home and a used car lot.

Federal prosecutors found his wealth suspicious. Such assets showed a “degree of sophistication beyond an average person of that age” and did not likely come “from legitimate efforts,” wrote one federal prosecutor in a court brief.

Flores, now 27, pleaded guilty Monday to his role in the Sanchez-Guerrero drug smuggling ring, a group tied to the Matamoros-based Gulf Cartel. Flores’ eight co-defendants are set to go to trial later this month, accused of shipping tons of marijuana and cocaine from the Rio Grande Valley to dozens of states since 1987.

The Sanchez-Guerrero drug ring moved drugs from ranches in Starr and Hidalgo counties to Willacy County and Houston, according to court documents. They then laundered the proceeds — an estimated $38 million — through grocery and convenience stores, transport companies, luxury homes and cars and other properties.

The case, which took years to build, includes more than 300 pieces of evidence and potential witnesses from at least half a dozen drug cases in recent years. The judge has set aside two months for the trial.

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In 2001, Immigration and Custom Enforcement agent Bill Vigorito got a tip about Gabriel Martinez. Martinez, who owned GM Transport, had been moving large quantities of cocaine and marijuana in his 18-wheelers to Georgia, Ohio, North Carolina and Illinois since 1997. He and his brother, David, among others, used a ranch in La Villa to load the drugs. They would pay the drivers as much as $100,000 to move the drugs.

In 2000, they consolidated family land in Willacy County. The large shipments of drugs would be split up in to more manageable sizes there. Illegal immigrants would often be used as slave labor to move and package the drugs.

Vigorito was able to confirm the Martinez clan’s activities by March 2002. He and other agents began focusing on Gabriel and Felix Hernandez, both of whom had left South Texas. Both have pleaded guilty in a separate case.

When officers raided the ranch in Willacy County they found the first link to the Sanchez-Guerrero ring: a black Cadillac DeVille, which the Martinez brothers had handed over to the Sanchez-Guerrero family to pay a 2001 cocaine debt.

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There is much more including a Houston connection and an attempt to buy heavy weapons. The case will give some insight into how the drug cartel works and who is working for it. If you have watched The Wire on HBO you an get some idea of the various twists and turns these organizations take.