Cartel suspects' lives vary

Some are business owners, prosperous and well-connected across the Rio Grande Valley.

Others have a spattering of previous arrests for drug possession and money laundering.

Others appeared completely ordinary.

The 18 men and women from the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico who were arrested this week as part of a federal crackdown on the Gulf Cartel live very different lives.

Some are connected by family and school ties, but according to the U.S. government they are all woven into the multi-billion-dollar drug trafficking network.

Mario Mascorro and Jesus Fabiel Mendoza are two of the men listed on the same indictment, which was filed in McAllen.

Mascorro, 33, owns multiple businesses in Roma and Rio Grande City, including a Quiznos franchise.

He also owns a one-fifth share in South Texas FM Investments, a group that includes Starr County Judge Eloy Vera and which owns several non-operational radio stations in north Texas and Oklahoma. He sits on the board of the county tax assessment district.

Fabiel-Mendoza is not a Valley resident, but a U.S. postal worker from near Houston. He has been a postal worker for 14 years, said his attorney, Dan B. Gerson of Houston. It is unclear whether he has ties to the Valley.

"He has a good job, solid family, no record," Gerson said.

In the middle, there are men like Ricardo Soto, 36, who owns several "legitimate businesses" in Roma, according to his attorney, Jesus Maria Alvarez, but also has several previous arrests.

A complaint filed in Duval County last year notes that Soto was involved in two traffic stops, in 2004 and 2005, that uncovered large amounts of hidden cash.

Between two of the indictments filed by the U.S. attorney's office, around $8.3 million in alleged drug profits are at stake.

The indictments seek the forfeiture of money seized from various defendants.

Also at stake may be public safety. The broad strike against so many levels of the Gulf Cartel has raised concerns for local law enforcement officials that there might be an uptick in drug-related violence.

"Anytime that law enforcement does something of this nature, the possibility of backlash against law enforcement on this side and the other side is a possibility," said Brownsville Police Chief Carlos Garcia. "We have no information or intelligence that this would happen, but we need to be on alert and ready to respond."

Other criminal organizations often try to move in whenever they see an opening like this, Garcia said.

"It depends on the people that were indicted. If they are still in Mexico, they are still in control and still have the resources to continue to operate," Garcia said.

If not, there could be a scramble to see who is going to lead the organization, he said.

"When law enforcement strikes a blow of this nature to a criminal organization, we have to be ready for repercussions, be it a rise in crime, retaliation on this side or that side; we have to be ready regardless of what might happen out there," the chief said.

AT A GLANCE

Suspected Rio Grande Valley and Mexico members or associates of the Gulf Cartel who have been charged in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas with drug trafficking as a result of Project Reckoning/Operation Dos Equis:

Houston Division:

Indictment No. 1

Six-count indictment charging defendants with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, conspiracy to commit money laundering. Forfeiture notice seeking to forfeit interest of all defendants in $6.7 million in alleged drug proceeds: Arrested Sept. 16 and Sept. 17

>Onesimo Cruz, 38, naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Mexico.

>Olegario Flores Garcia, 42, naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Mexico.

>Luis Ariel Rivera-Rodriguez, 35, McAllen.

>Clarissa Lizbeth Gonzalez, 24, Roma.

Indictment No. 2

One count conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine.

>Jose Luis Del Toro Estrada, 37, resident alien from Reynosa, Mexico.

Indictment No. 3

Two-count indictment charging conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

>Juan Francisco Ayala, 36, Brownsville.

>Felix Garcia, 39, Brownsville.

>Juan Montelong-Garcia, aka Ivan Villarreal, 31, Matamoros, Mexico.

McAllen Division:

Indictment No. 1:

Two-count indictment charging conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute 385 kilos of cocaine.

>Mario Gomez, 45, Edinburg.

Indictment No. 2:

17-count indictment unsealed only as to those in custody charging conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, eight drug counts, conspiracy to commit money laundering and seven involving more than $1.6 million of which has been seized:

Arrested Sept. 2:

>Jose Carlos Hinojosa, 31, Roma.

>Raymundo Edgar Gonzalez, 37, U.S. citizen residing in Miguel Aleman, Mexico.

>Sergio Ivan Olivarez-Flores, 24, Miguel Aleman, Mexico.

Arrested Sept. 16:

>Saul Morin Mendez, 31, Rio Grande City.

>Mario Alberto Mascorro, 33, McAllen.

>Jesus Fabiel Mendoza, 29, Richmond.

>Roberto Eden Moreno, 27, Mission.

>Jaime Herrera, 33, Edinburg.

>San Juanita M. Garcia, 55, Garciasville.

Charged federally and in state custody in Fort Bend County:

>Tarsila Villarreal Vidal, 37, Salineño

Corpus Christi Division:

Criminal compliant: One defendant charged with conspiracy to launder $135,000 in drug proceedes.

Arrested Sept. 11

>Richardo Soto, 36, Escobares

Note: Upon conviction, the drug offenses carry a mandatory minimum 10 year sentence to a maximum of life imprisonment and a $4 million fine. Money laundering offenses carry a maximum penalty upon conviction of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $500,000 or twice the amount of the financial transaction, whichever is greater.

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Texas