Pubdate: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 Source: Denver Post (CO) Copyright: 2004 The Denver Post Corp Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122 Author: Erin Emery, Denver Post staff writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) ALLEGED HUB OF DRUG-TRAFFIC CARTEL ATTRACTED SUSPICION, NEIGHBORS SAY Peyton - A white gate bearing the words "Private Drive No Through Traffic" greets visitors who come to this 500-acre ranch on the prairie. Behind the gate, a cowboy races a brown horse through a field of golden grass toward a blue barn, stables and a racetrack. Hundreds of trees, planted only a year ago at the ranch's edges, have already doubled in size, nourished by an irrigation system that encircles the ranch. To a passer-by, the spread at 2245 Slocum Road, 20 miles east of Colorado Springs, looks like typical Colorado. Federal drug officials say it was the hub for a major cocaine-trafficking organization based in Mexico. "We thought something was a little fishy because they planted all the trees, kind of a camouflage-type thing," said a neighbor who asked not to be identified. "They built that blue barn back there, and my son, he'd come home late at night, and he'd see big trucks pulling back in there - semis." Federal officials announced Tuesday that they had taken apart the cartel that used this ranch. Police and federal agents along the Front Range seized $11 million in cash and property, more than 5,000 pounds of cocaine and 521 pounds of marijuana. In all, 60 people have been arrested in Colorado, Illinois, Texas, New York and Mexico since the investigation began in March 2002. Federal agents said the case illustrates that Interstate 25 through Colorado has become a preferred route for drug traffickers because of its access to Interstate 70 and Interstate 80. "Within the past two years, there were probably two or three separate investigations by DEA in Denver that ... were the same routine: drugs coming up I-25 and being stashed in the Denver area, and then money coming back the same route. And there's been at least one or two others in Colorado Springs," said Paul Roach, special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Colorado Springs. None of the groups was moving as much cocaine as the Mexico-based cartel operating out of Peyton, which authorities say brought more than 1,300 pounds of cocaine a week into the United States. Federal court records show DEA agents cracked the case by using court-authorized wiretaps to monitor telephone calls between operatives in the U.S. and Mexico. Authorities say the kingpins in the cartel are brothers Miguel Angel Arriola-Marquez and Oscar Arriola-Marquez and their partner, Saul Saucedo, known as "the engineer." From Mexico, they allegedly directed their subordinates to move cocaine to New York and Chicago. Money movers then transported the money back to the Peyton ranch, where it was stored until it could be moved - sometimes in bulldozers and plows - - back to Mexico, court records show. Miguel Arriola-Marquez and Saucedo were arrested in Mexico, and extradition proceedings have begun. Oscar Arriola-Marquez is a fugitive. The owner of the ranch in Peyton, Francisco Dominguez, 46, of Colorado Springs, has been charged with conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. Dominguez, who also owns a home in the upscale Broadmoor Hills neighborhood in Colorado Springs, could not be reached for comment. Though federal officials are attempting to seize the ranch, neighbors say that each Saturday afternoon horse races are held there. According to federal court records, Dominguez is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Delicias, Mexico. He owns a pet supply business called El Edemco, which does business as Lucky 5 Ranch in Colorado Springs. Agents believe the business "is used, in part, to hide and launder his drug trafficking proceeds," the affidavit says. On Wednesday, people in the small town of Peyton marveled that their small rural community could be the hub for a major drug outfit. "It's such a small place, that shocks me," said Gina Lamprecht. "I grew up in Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, and you hear about things like that there, but not here in the country." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake