PRISON GANG CALLS HIT ON DE FORD, MASSO BUSHWACKS HER IN P.I., SAENZ HOUNDED BY CHEEZMEH

By Juan Montoya

State and county law enforcement authorities are investigating an apparent call for a hit by a prison gang on an assistant Cameron County District Attorney and a Texas ranger investigator who they feel are responsible for convicting one of their leaders and putting him in the state penitentiary.

According to law enforcement sources, prison authorities in Hunstville intercepted a letter from a Mexican Mafia chieftain who was tried last year by Ass. D.A. Maria De Ford and an unnamed Texas Ranger that resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for the prison gang leader.

The letter sent by the Huntsville prisoner was written in code and the message was written in graffiti but authorities were able to identify the message that "Rinche and the ADA" must be "taught a lesson."

When prison authorities intercepted the letter, it was addressed to another gang member who had recently been released from jail after serving his sentence for unrelated offenses. Suspiciously, that same released gang member had reportedly attempted to reach De Ford by telephone, ostensibly to thank her in person for not demanding the court him a more lengthy sentence.

The payoff for the hit, according to sources, was to be some $250,000 for both De Ford and the Ranger.

Cameron County DA sources say that the gang member released called De Ford on her private cell phone and once at the courthouse office number on Harrison Street and actually got to talk to her telling her that he was at the time inside the courthouse and wanted to meet her personally and talk to her to express his gratitude.

"Maria immediately called the sheriff and the Rangers and they looked for the man," they said. "Eventually, when they found him, he said he knew nothing about the hit."

However, the Ranger in question who had been the investigator in the case traveled to Huntsville to interview some prisoners and learned that the going rate for a hit on a lawman by the gang was $250,000, too much of a coincidence for comfort.

However, even though the sheriff and the Ranger made the evidence available to Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos to see whether grounds existed to prosecute the conspirators and thwart the plot, the DA has declined so far to pursue the matter.

"I would think that if someone threatened to put a hit out on one of your assistants or on a Ranger, the DA wouldn't hesitate to act on it," said a law enforcement source. "Maybe Armando is too caught up with his own legal problems and didn't give this information the importance it deserved."

He would not say whether the sheriff's department had provided surveillance or other protection to De Ford, who is one of three Democratic candidates for D.A.

Contacted as she made the rounds of the courthouse during early voting, De Ford said she could neither confirm nor deny and directed questions to the sheriff's department. A spokesman said he could not comment on the status of any investigation.

Whether Villalobos or De Ford want it or not, voters in Port Isabel have told the Rrun-Rrun that Carlos Masso supporters are passing out fliers there indicating that De Ford has the endorsement of Judge Leonel Alejandron, Villalobos and Cameron County Democratic Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa.

Alejandro, a sitting judge, is prohibited by law from endorsing any candidate, and Hinojosa, the chairman of the party would not take sides with candidates from his own party for the same position. To have Villalobos openly endorsing a candidate for DA over the other two candidates – Masso and Luis Saenz, who were also on his staff – defies belief.

Meanwhile, streetwalkers for a group called Cheezmeh continues to paste fliers against Saenz on car windows warning voters to "Beware" of supporting the former DA. The group, which is openly supporting Masso in the race after veiling their preference for him over the other candidates, recently ran the same ad in the newspaper and in their Facebook page.

Recently, they sent campaign workers distributing the fliers in north Brownsville neighborhoods.

Saenz has not openly responded to the group's charges, though local blogs, including this one, have pointed out that the principals in the group have either been convicted of theft in the past are are currently being accused of deceiving people with immigration problems and filling out immigration forms for a fee when they are not certified to do so. Their accusers also charge them with violating RICO statues, the act which punishes the operation of a continuing criminal enterprise.