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Drug empire cnronoiogyBy The Associated PressImportant ev*rrts m m* ns« Of Juan Garca Abrego. lt;3ert**lt;j by U S and Me* can au mooses as me bead of me Gu* drug carte1 • May 1984 Garca Abrego s nvai. Casnwo Ei Cacho' Espmosa Campo, « aftacfced by gunmen who leave s * oecp*e dead m a Mat-amovos cfcnc El Cacbo d»es sborPy a*te*-ward, and Garca Apr ego repcnad^ taxes rans of cocame t-a'frc rt Matamoros• October 1989 9 tons of cocame fmked to Garca Abrego seized from bome n Harfrn-gen. Texas• May 19SC Several Garca Ab*ego-owned ranches se red by Me* can government two b^jh-ranfrmg Mexcan occe offcats ba a«ag-ecfry broad are anestedhigh positions.Assistant U.S. Attorney David Novak said the bankers’ trial revealed how drug money had penetrated financial institutions in the United States.During the trial, a cousin who said he worked as Garcia Abrego’s errand boy for 13 years testified that the cartel leader handed out millions of dollars a month in bribes to Mexican officials.ITO INSURANCE4770/VS TO SERVE YOUf 1 (Inside Brownsville Motors) .• 546-0093JTO LIABILITYon 6 descuentos • SR-221 • Brownsville* 1 , *») pm • Sat. 9:00 am to 2:00 pm1-800-870-4013• December 1990 Federal grand jury m Danas issues 131-count conspiracy w dctment agamst Garca Abrego and dozens clt; gang members• May 1991 A not by weR-armed inmates msoe a Matamoros prison clams 18 bves Au*bpre*s blame figbt.ng between Garca Abrego s gang and a pr-son-based drug operation beaded by Oveno Cnavez Araujo• Marcb 1992 A U S Customs Sennce-ied task force seres maons of dollars m assets a’-egecTy purchased by Garca Abrego s drug money n the Rc Grande Valley.• Apri 1993 Rault; Vattadares del Angel, denied by tbe OEA as a key cartel l*euten-ant. uses tear gas to escape tbe Hidaigo County Jari n EdmburgThe cousin, Francisco Perez Monroy, testified that his duties included taking a representative of Javier Coello Trejo — then the No. 2 man in the Mexican attorney general s office — on shopping trips in McAllen to buy $1,000 suits for Coello, his family and staff.Perez, who is in the witness-protection program, testified that Abrego had moved his headquarters from Matamoros to Monterrey in 1989 at Coello’s insistence.In October 1990, President Carlos Salinas de Gortan fired Coello, known in Mexico as “the iron prosecutor, from his job as the head of the nation’s antidrug campaign.Perez portrayed Garcia Abrego as a shrewd but hot-tempered boss who has children by several women, bets thousands of dollars on race horses.• Jura 1993 Lu»s Medrano Garca. considered a hey contact to Colombian cocaine suppliers, a arrested m Mexico• September 1993 A federal grand jury in Houston issues a superseding indictment agamst Garca Abrego and co-defendants• June 1994 A fePetal jury in Brownsville convicts Antonw GirakJi and Lourdes Real egui. lormer executives ol American Express Ban* international, of laundering 130 million m drug profits belonging to tbe Garca Abrego gang• June 1994 Vaiiadares is recaptured by Mexican autbomas• October 1994 Garca Abrego * brother, Humberto, is arrested m Mexico and ques-usned about tbe Sept 28 assassination of me No 2 offical m Mexico’s ruling partyhires witch doctors out of superstition and doesn’t hesitate to order the death of an associate who crosses him.A nephew to a reputed Matamoros underworld godfather, Garcia Abrego was liorn in La Paloma, outside Brownsville.U.S. authorities say he was moving mainly marijuana in the early 1980s, until he had a falling out with a former ally named Casimiro Espinosa Campo, known as “El Cacho.”In May 1984, hit men allegedly acting on Garcia Abrego’s orders entered a medical clinic in Matamoros to assassinate El Cacho and ended up killing six people. El Cacho survived the attack, but he died later while seeking medical attention in Monterrey.The FBI says that’s when Garcia Abrego took the reins of the Matamoros cocaine trade.
Newspaper Details
Brownsville Herald
Brownsville, Texas, US
Sun, Oct 09, 1994
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Benjamin S.
USA 05 Jan 2024
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