LAREDO, TX-- A hitman for the Zetas who
was linked to the Gulf Cartel was sentenced to life in prison in federal court
last week, according to the U.S.
Attorney's Office.
Gerardo
Castillo-Chavez, whose moniker is "Cachetes" or Armando Garcia, was sentenced
to life in prison plus 40 years following multiple convictions, federal
authorities stated.
The
26-year-old Castillo-Chavez, who hails from Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, Mexico,
was convicted in January, federal authorities stated.
Eduardo Carreon-Ibarra,
a co-defendant whose Spanish moniker is "Negro," is a Laredo native and was sentenced last week to 25 years in federal prison after pleading guilty in
June, say federal officials.
During the
Castillo-Chavez's week-long trial, jurors heard testimony from several Zeta
hitmen who committed murders in Laredo, Texas, as well as Nuevo Laredo,
Tamaulipas, and Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, say federal authorities.
Jurors also
heard testimony outlining murders and links to the Gulf Cartel and Zetas.
In addition,
several defendants testified as witnesses at Castillo-Chavez's trial for the
government and detailed cocaine and marijuana trafficking from Mexico to
Dallas, Texas, and New York City.
Further
testimony outlined murders and attempted murders committed by "sicario"
(assassin) cells in Laredo between June 2005 and April 2006.
According to
federal officials, testimony included that of three co-defendants, tied
Castillo-Chavez to the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas between November 2005 and May
2009. Their testimony implicated "Cachetes" in the double murder of two males
on April 2, 2006, the attempted murders of two others in March 2006 and in the
grenade attack of a nightclub in Monterrey, Mexico, where four people were
killed.
Carreon-Ibarra was identified as one of two sicario who were about
to carry out the assassination of an unknown victim at a local nightclub in
February of 2006.
Carreon-Ibarra
and his partner were found in possession of semi-automatic pistols and two
assault rifles, one fully automatic. Carreon-Ibarra was awaiting the delivery
of grenades to be used during the assault at the nightclub when officers moved
in to arrest the pair at a local hotel.
The federal authorities also presented telephone interceptions that
described in detail the gruesome murders and disposal of the bodies of two U.S.
citizens kidnapped and killed in Nuevo Laredo.
Castillo-Chavez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent
to distribute controlled substances, interstate travel in aid of racketeering,
and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime or a
crime of violence.
Carreon-Ibarra
pleaded guilty to interstate travel in aid of racketeering and possession of a
firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime or a crime of violence.
The case against Castillo-Chavez and Carreon-Ibarra was a result
of a federal investigation dubbed Operation Prophecy spearheaded by the Drug
Enforcement Administration and Laredo Police Department with the assistance of
Homeland Security Investigations; FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,
and Explosives; Border Patrol; U.S. Marshals Service; Webb County Sheriff's
Office; and the Webb County District Attorney's Office.
The
investigation targeted various cells of the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas, with a
primary focus on the sicario cells that carried out executions of targeted
rival drug members on both sides of the border.