Posted on 06/19/2006 6:38:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Mexican authorities have arrested the leader of a wide-reaching organization that allegedly made and distributed forged immigration and identification documents in numerous U.S. cities, U.S. officials said Monday.
Pedro Castorena, 42, was arrested Saturday in the western city of Guadalajara while carrying two counterfeit Mexican identification documents that bore his photograph but an assumed name, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said in a statement.
Castorena's arrest "deals a serious blow to one of the largest fraudulent document organizations in the United States," said Julie Myers, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Castorena, one of ICE's most wanted fugitives, allegedly heads a large criminal organization involved in making and distributing counterfeit documents, including resident alien cards, social security cards, Mexican Matricula Consular ID Cards, driver's licenses and identity documents from various states of Mexico and the United States.
The documents were distributed in several U.S. states, including California, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, Nebraska, Iowa, New Mexico and Colorado, ICE said.
Castorena was indicted in Denver in July on charges of conspiracy, fraud, misuse of visas and money laundering. In May, ICE agents in Mexico located Castorena with the help of Mexican federal agents and state police in Jalisco, where Guadalajara is located.
U.S. authorities say Castorena ran his organization like a franchise-style company with cells in more than a dozen cities across the United States and with cell leaders paying a "franchise fee" to operate the business.
The investigation that led to Castorena's capture began in 2000 when U.S. federal officials began looking into the sale and distribution of counterfeit identity documents in Denver.
In 2004, a former member of the organization who had served a three-year federal prison sentence agreed to work with U.S. investigators as an informant. The man was accepted back into the organization and returned to Denver, where he recorded numerous telephone conversations with Castorena and others as they went about setting up a new cell in Glendale, Colorado, ICE said.
Since the investigation began, U.S. authorities have arrested several people linked to Castorena and seized counterfeit identity document laboratories and tens of thousands of blank counterfeit identity documents, ICE said.
Castorena's organization was also investigated in the late 1980s in Los Angeles and other cities and in 1994 Castorena and several of his family members, including his brothers Alfonso and Francisco Castorena, were indicted in San Antonio for making and selling false resident alien and social security cards throughout the United States, ICE said.
Castorena fled to Mexico and avoided arrest on that indictment, which was dismissed in October. His brothers, however, were arrested in Los Angeles and pleaded guilty to a felony offense. They served a short prison sentence and were eventually deported to Mexico.
Mexican authorities took Castorena to Mexico City, where he's waiting extradition to the United States.
I wonder why they did that?
Looks like someone didn't have enough money on him to bribe his captors.
Lucky for us.
I thought it was about Dan Rather.
Was he actually arrested.
Or just drafted into a Mexican Governmental Agency to produce fake ID's to be issued by the Mexican Government to people heading 'El Norte' at a lower cost????
How do they know they got the right guy?
How do they know they got the right guy?
Probably because the US requested it. A few years ago, Bush and Fox signed a reciprocal fugitive return deal. The US can request Mexico arrest someone wanted here and vice versa. I heard a US marshal discussing this on a radio show in Albuquerque. He said that they had got over 250 people from Mexico in the first few weeks. The idea is to deny criminals the ability to use to border as a safety barrier. Small agreements like this are probably more important than some of the more spectacular agreements.
I wonder why they did that?
Rope-a dope...
Make us think they are doing something.
Neither side wants to fix this
Looks like someone didn't have enough money on him to bribe his captors.
&&
Don't count your coyotes before they hatch. This guy is not in US custody yet. From the article:
Mexican authorities took Castorena to Mexico City, where he's waiting extradition to the United States.
It's quite possible that the perp will mysteriously manage to escape -- right after one of his underlings makes a money transfer to one of the Mexican cops.
The same reason Bush agreed to put the Guard on the border for one year. Token temporary law enforcement to lull the public until they can get amnesty passed.
I think he's reaching for that penny devolve!!
now that's a mexican Hat Dance.
"The same reason Bush agreed to put the Guard on the border for one year."
2 to 3 week summer training, then they go home just like they've done for years. Up to 6,000 troops my asno!
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