A violent franchise of the Barrio Azteca gang seeking to dominate the drug trade in Midland was taken down this summer in a federal anti-racketeering case, DEA officials said.
The case highlights the spread of a prison-born gang originating in the El Paso-Juárez area whose members serve as foot soldiers for the notorious Juárez drug cartel.
Midland may be 300 miles from El Paso but the crew was "definitely linked" to their gangster colleagues on the border, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official said.
"They were trying to set up a stronghold in Midland and they were reporting back to El Paso," said Dante Sorianello, resident agent in charge of the DEA office in Midland.
On June 22, a federal grand jury indicted 11 reputed gang members and associates in Midland on drug conspiracy charges. The three-count indictment also accuses the reputed leaders of the Midland-Odessa Barrio Azteca of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
RICO was created to take down the Mafia and the law has been used in El Paso to send Azteca bosses and soldiers to prison for life.
"It hurts them. It hurts them badly," Sorianello said about the crackdown. "On the proactive side, it shuts them down. It is a RICO case. These type of indictments send a strong message -- some of these people can serve life in prison" if convicted.
The arrests on June 28 were the culmination of a 1å-year-long investigation by the DEA and the Midland Police Department.
Since 2006, Aztecas were involved in trafficking marijuana and cocaine as well as robberies, extortion and intimidation in an organized effort to fortify the gang's power in Midland, authorities said.
Midland, located at the midpoint between El Paso and Fort Worth, is known as "The Tall City" for its skyscrapers built during the oil boom. The combined population of Midland-Odessa is about 203,000.
Investigators have said that Barrio Azteca cells in different cities operate independently but within the framework of the military-style organization.
DEA officials alleged the shot-callers of the Midland crew were Santos Almanza, 32, also known as "Guero," Frederico Duran Jr., 27, aka "Stone," and Ramon Morales, 36, who is known as "Big Pun" and sports a 915 (the area code for El Paso) tattoo on the back of his head. Authorities also arrested Carlos Hernandez, 40, a reputed gang lieutenant known as "Guero Pirata" (the blond pirate).
"They were trying to establish a little bit more of a powerbase in Midland," Sorianello said. "They were using a lot of home invasion robberies on drug dealers because the drug dealers were not paying taxes to them."
The Midland crew was attempting to replicate the gang's scheme in El Paso where street-level drug dealers are forced to pay taxes or quotas.
The case blasted into the open on the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2009, when Robert Yorkman was shot at his business, Yorkman's Car Wash and Detail Shop in Midland. But Yorkman was not a regular businessman.
Yorkman was "a significant marijuana and cocaine player in Midland, a kilogram cocaine trafficker," Sorianello said. "Some BAs were hired to rough him up because he wasn't paying taxes but instead of roughing him up they ended up shooting him."
After leaving the hospital, DEA agents arrested Yorkman, who was accused of leading a cocaine distribution ring.
Last August, Yorkman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiring to distribute more than 330 pounds of cocaine in Midland since 2006. He was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $350,000, the amount of his drug proceeds.
The attempted murder of Yorkman is mentioned in the federal indictment along with several robberies and a conspiracy to distribute marijuana and 11 pounds of cocaine.
The Barrio Azteca, which was formed in the mid-1980s by El Pasoans in prison, has included members from other parts of West Texas.
A law-enforcement sensitive bulletin issued last year by the federal El Paso Intelligence Center estimated the Barrio Azteca has 3,500 members inside and outside prison. Members have been reported throughout the Southwest and as far away as New York, Idaho and Washington.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.
