Feds seek drug boss’ jewelry

McALLEN — An elaborate, jewel-inlaid religious icon has become the subject of a federal forfeiture suit against a convicted Reynosa drug boss.

Prosecutors allege that Carlos Landín-Martinez — a 52-year-old former Tamaulipas police officer turned second-in-command of Gulf Cartel operations in Reynosa — purchased the gold jewelry with proceeds from drug smuggling operations within the United States.

Landín-Martinez was wearing the piece when agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested him at a local H-E-B in July.

In the form of a pendant, it features the image of Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, inlaid with 128 diamonds, 36 emeralds and one ruby, according to an affidavit filed in the case. It is appraised at a value of more than $12,000.

“Persons who engage in large-scale drug trafficking tend to wear expensive gold jewelry as visible proof that they have been successful,” DEA agent Jaime A. Fernandez said in the document. They wear it “as evidence that they are criminals of consequence.”

Last month, a federal jury convicted Landín-Martinez on nine counts of drug trafficking, conspiracy and money laundering. He currently awaits sentencing in that case and a trial on five separate conspiracy and smuggling counts.During his tenure as one of the cartel’s top leaders in Reynosa, Landín-Martinez, also known as “El Puma,” collected el piso, or the tax, that smaller smuggling organizations paid the cartel to move contraband through the city.He is believed to have worked under Reynosa drug boss Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa and alleged cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who awaits a trial on drug trafficking and conspiracy charges in May.