THE FEDS UP TO THEIR EARS IN LOCAL POLITICS, DAMAGE CONTROL

Juan Montoya

As the defense attorneys for Ray Marchan set about their strategy for dealing with the government's charges against him in the Abel Limas racketeering trial, it has become apparent that the scope of the corruption investigation has spread far beyond the convicted District 404th judge and his family.

That came to light following the coverage of his trial by the Herald's Emma Perez-Treviño. Marchan's attorneys have provided the court a long list of witnesses they will put on the stand, including convicted attorney Joe Valle and even Rene Oliveira.

Valle's attorneys are saying their client – due to turn himself over to federal prison officials Thursday – say their client will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination because the issues in court may touch upon matters for which he did not get immunity in his plea bargain deal with the feds.

The agreement that Valle may have struck with the prosecution is, of course, of u

tmost importance to the Marchan defense since what he got in return fro his plea may touch on the ongoing investigation of others, including Marchan.

As the federal scope widens, it is getting difficult to find almost anyone in the local bar that did not – in one way or another – have some deal worked out with Limas' court or D.A. Armando Villlalobos' office.The picture that is emerging of Limas is that he was living way past his mean, even with the payments by local and outside attorneys allegedly in return for favorable rulings in their cases and lucrative ad litem appointments.

"Everybody is under the microscope," summed up a local attorney.

Marchan, who was dealing with the feds before the terms of the deal became untenable to his defense, now finds himself in the same predicament that former Cameron County Sheriff Conrado C

antu found himself in after his counsel convinced him to meet with federal prosecutors in exchange for a lessened sentence.

However, his counsel and Cantu himself later charged that even after he had reached a verbal agreement with local federal prosecutors and the federal probation department, the government reneged on the deal and did not speak out when he was assessed the maximum sentence.

It didn't matter that his counsel and Cantu himself submitted polygraph exams of their claims to the appropriate federal authorities backing their claims. Federal prosecutors and probation officers were mum at his sentencing.

According to affidavits submitted by his attorneys, local FBI and DEA agents were stunned at the federal prosecutors' tactics.

Now, the charge that the federal government has selectively targeted certain local elected officials in their zeal to purge the local political system may have become more believable since one of their targets – DA Armando Villalobos – is waiting in the wings to take his turn in federal court. Even the timing of Villalobos' indictment – exactly a week before early voting – smacks of political meddling in

the local political process. Villalobos was seen as the front runner for the Democratic nomination for the newly-created Congressional District 34. As Villalobos' fortunes plummeted as a result of Mando's fall from their grace, the son of a former law-and-order- federal judge, Filemon Vel

a Jr., reaps the benefits of the Villalobos scandal.

Someone has commented earier on this blog that

up to now the only attorneys and elected officials charged have been Hispanics, and Marc Rosenthal, a Jew. Add this to the fact that the Cantu prosecutor – Jodi Young – dressed up in a KKK hood and a Mexican peon sombrero before scores of astonished Customs and ICE agents and federal workers and the rumors running rife through this community that the feds want to control the political leadership of this community gather momentum.