Two alleged members of the Barrio Azteca, a transnational criminal organization allied with the Juarez Cartel, were extradited from Mexico to the United States to face charges related to the March 2010 murders of U.S. Consulate employees in Juarez, Mexico.
Eduardo Ravelo, also known as Tablas, Tablero, and T-Blas, and Enrique Guajardo Lopez, also known as Kiki, arrived in the United States on February 20 and made their initial appearances Monday in the Western District of Texas.
Ravelo, a former FBI Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive, and Guajardo were charged in a 12-count third superseding indictment unsealed in March 2011.
“The defendants allegedly participated in the murder of three U.S. Consulate employees in Mexico in March 2010, along with many other acts of senseless violence,” said Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“These extraditions demonstrate the FBI’s commitment to holding violent criminals accountable, no matter where they flee,” said Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI and our partners will continue to aggressively pursue the Barrio Azteca and other transnational gangs wherever they operate and seek justice for the victims affected by their violent actions.”
A total of 35 BA members and associates based in the United States and Mexico were charged in the third superseding indictment for allegedly committing various criminal acts, including racketeering, narcotics distribution and importation, retaliation against persons providing information to U.S. law enforcement, extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and murder.
Of the 35 defendants, 10 Mexican nationals, including Ravelo and Guajardo, were charged with the March 13, 2010, murders in Juarez of U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton; her husband, Arthur Redelfs; and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee.
All the defendants have been apprehended, and 28 have pleaded guilty.
Three defendants have been convicted at trial, one committed suicide before the conclusion of his trial, and one is awaiting extradition from Mexico.
According to court documents and evidence presented at co-defendant trials, the BA is a violent street and prison gang that began in the late 1980s and expanded into a transnational criminal organization.
In the 2000s, the BA formed an alliance in Mexico with “La Linea,” which is part of the Juarez Drug Cartel (also known as the Vincente Carrillo Fuentes Drug Cartel or VCF).
The purpose of the BA-La Linea alliance was to battle the Chapo Guzman Cartel and its allies for control of the drug trafficking routes through Juarez and Chihuahua.
The drug routes through Juarez, known as the Juarez Plaza, are important to drug trafficking organizations because they are a principal illicit drug trafficking conduit into the United States.
The gang has a militaristic command structure and includes captains, lieutenants, sergeants, and soldiers — all with the purpose of maintaining power and enriching its members and associates through drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, intimidation, violence, threats of violence, and murder.
According to court documents, Ravelo and Guajardo participated in BA activities, including narcotics trafficking and acts of violence by BA members, both in Mexico and the United States.
If convicted, Ravelo and Guajardo each face a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
