Pubdate: Tue, 27 Jun 2000
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2000 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Author: Brendan Smith, Journal Staff Writer

Chimay Drug Ring Described

A federal agent described the inner workings of a Mexican heroin cartel's 
operations in New Mexico during sentencings of seven convicted drug dealers 
Monday.

At least one of four Chimay heroin-trafficking rings busted last September 
was supplied by a family-based heroin cartel centered in the western 
Mexican state of Nayarit, said James Kuykendall, a special agent with the 
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Nayarit cartel was hit June 15 by Operation Tar Pit, a nationwide 
investigation of the cartel's U.S. operations that resulted in nearly 200 
arrests in a dozen cities, including seven in Albuquerque.

The cartel had established two "distribution cells" in Albuquerque and 
another in Santa Fe, smuggling black-tar heroin across the border through 
Phoenix and on to New Mexico, Kuykendall said.

The Santa Fe cell, headed by 25-year-old Mexican national Jose Enrique 
Avila, supplied addicts and local dealers in the Espaola Valley with 
black-tar heroin, Kuykendall testified. Avila was arrested in April along 
with two other alleged members of the Nayarit cartel operating from Santa Fe.

The local cell used pagers and cellular phones to keep drug dispatchers and 
couriers in contact with customers and each other. Raul Villa-Guerra, a 
23-year-old Mexican from Nayarit, was one of three couriers that delivered 
heroin in the Espaola Valley, Kuykendall testified.

U.S. District Judge Bruce Black sentenced Villa-Guerra to two years and 
three months in federal prison Monday.

Villa-Guerra had 4.5 grams of heroin in nine balloons in his mouth when he 
was arrested last July, Kuykendall said. His biggest customer in Chimay was 
52-year-old Josefa Gallegos, head of one of the local drug rings busted 
last September, Kuykendall said.

Three members of Gallegos' organization also were sentenced to prison 
Monday, including four years and three months for 31-year-old Halbert 
Martinez; three years and five months for 33-year-old Tony Brian Gallegos; 
and 21/2 years for 32-year-old Jerome Gallegos.

Josefa Gallegos hasn't been sentenced but faces a six-year prison term and 
the forfeiture of her Chimay home under terms of her plea deal.

A local drug courier, 20-year-old Mexican national Aurelio Rodriguez 
Zepeda, was beaten to death in Santa Fe in April 1999 and was stuffed in 
the trunk of a car belonging to Josefa Gallegos. Two men, 38-year-old James 
Rudy Perez and 34-year-old Ronnie Barela, have been charged with Zepeda's 
murder in what Santa Fe police have described as a heroin deal gone bad.

Three members of a second Chimay drug ring also received prison sentences 
Monday: one year for 21-year-old Larry Martinez, two years for 26-year-old 
Jimmy Martinez and two years for 30-year-old Jesse Martinez.

Most of the 35 defendants from the bust last September already have entered 
guilty pleas and will receive sentences ranging from probation up to about 
seven years in prison.

New Mexico ranks first in the nation in its rate of drug overdose deaths, 
with Rio Arriba County leading the state on a per-capita basis. Since 1995, 
more than 160 people have died of drug overdoses in Rio Arriba and Santa Fe 
counties.

Most of the sentences delivered Monday included required drug treatment. 
During his sentencing, Tony Brian Gallegos said he wants to get clean and 
has reunited with a son he hasn't seen in 11 years.

"I'm really happy I got caught selling drugs," he said. "I wouldn't trust 
myself out there right now."

Jerome Gallegos also asked for drug treatment because "I'm tired of always 
being incarcerated and it's time to get my life straight," he said.

The federal investigation relied on several confidential sources, including 
two whose roles were described in court Monday.

CS 708 was a heroin addict who made five trips from Phoenix to supply 
heroin and cocaine to the local distribution cells in Albuquerque and Santa 
Fe, Kuykendall said. He was arrested in May 1999 at the Albuquerque airport 
with 21 ounces of heroin and 7 ounces of cocaine.

CS 720, who also abused heroin, served as a dispatcher in Santa Fe and as a 
courier between Phoenix and New Mexico, Kuykendall said. Both informants 
most likely will receive reductions in their own sentences for helping 
authorities.
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