U.S. ATTORNEY OUTLINES DECADE-LONG EXTORTION SCAM TO CONTROL TRANSMIGRANTE COMMERCE AT LOS INDIOS BRIDGE

By U.S. Attorney's Office
Special to El Rrun-Rrun

A 28-page indictment issued buy a federal grand jury charges that 12 defendants operated a nearly decade-long scheme to control and monopolize the transmigrante commerce through the Los Indios Bridge that the government charged included acts of extortion, threats of violence, and murder of non-complying transmigrante company owners and their personnel.

Filed in the Houston Division of the United States District Court of the Southern District of Texas November 9, the indictments charge Carlos Fabian Martinez (AKA "El Cuate"), Marco Antonio Medina, Roberto Brown, Pedro Antonio Calvillo Hernandez, Roberto Garcia Villarreal (AKA "El Betin"), Miguel Hipolito Caballero Aupart, Sandra Guerra Medina, Mireya Miranda, Diego Ceballos-Soto, Carlos Yzaguirre, Juan Hector Ramirez Avila (AKA "El Juanito"), and Jose de Jesus Tapia Fernandez with participating in the ongoing scheme to control transmigrante commerce between Mexico and the United States.

(Defendant Martinez, son-in-law of legendary Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, was arrested in his home in Mission November 17 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE], and the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] agents.)

Up until a week after his arrest, the indictment had remained sealed.

The unsealed indictment charges the defendants with 11 counts that include:

1. Conspiracy to fix prices charged by transmigrante companies at Los Indios,

2. Conspiracy to monopolize transmigrante commerce, 

3., 4. Conspiracy to extort

5. International money laundering conspiracy

6.-11.,  Money laundering

"During the course of the conspiracy, specifically between on or about January 1, 2014 through on or about April 5, 2022, transmigrante exports totaled approximately 675,000 exports resulting in the payment of at least approximately $27,000,000 in extortion fees," the indictment states.

The investigation was conducted by Jennifer B. Lowery, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, the Organized Crime and Gang Section, and the Antitrust Division.

The indictment alleges that over the time the conspiracy and extortion was in operation "the defendants  did take and obtain the property, U.S. currency and the right to pursue a lawful business including by freely soliciting business and customers...induced by the wrongful use of force, violence, and fear, including fear of economic loss." 

The government charges that the defendants "knowingly entered into and engaged in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing prices and allocating the market for transmigrante forwarding agency services in and around the Los Indios, Texas Port of Entry and the Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas metropolitan area that includes, among other places, Cameron and Hidalgo Counties and the cities and towns of San Benito and Los Indios."

In a press release, the U.S. Attorney charged that:

The government also charges that the defendants:

a. "forced rival, non-conspiring transmigrante agencies and transmigrante market participants to charge prices fixed and agreed upon by conspiring agencies;

b. Forced rival, non-conspiring transmigrante agencies and transmigrante market participants to participate in “The Pool,” where revenues were pooled together and divided pursuant to percentages agreed to by the conspiring agencies;

c. Forced rival, non-conspiring transmigrante agencies and transmigrante market participants to work on “commission” and access patente services only through defendants’ exclusive relationships;

d. Forced rival, non-conspiring transmigrante agencies and transmigrante market participants to pay, for safe passage through Mexico, a “piso” extortion fee of $40 per vehicle in or about 2013, which was later raised in or about 2017 or 2018 to $65 per vehicle and again, by 2019, to $80 per vehicle.

The indictment charges that some non-complying transmigrante companies and their personnel were subject to violence, including shootings in Mexico.

The indictment states that it is seeking forfeiture of properties allegedly purchased with money obtained from the extortion scheme and then sent from Mexico to banks in South Texas (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, International Bank of Commerce) to purchase properties in Mission and San Benito.

“Today’s actions are the result of the FBI’s continued collaborative efforts with our law enforcement partners in this important investigation,” said Special Agent in Charge Oliver E. Rich Jr. of the FBI San Antonio Division. “The FBI remains dedicated to protecting American communities from threats of violence and economic crime.”