In an act reminiscent of ex-President Bill Clinton’s pardoning of criminal Marc Rich in the last hours of his term in office, former President Obama commuted the sentences of four members of a drug cartel smuggling operation that was one of the largest in the United States. Luis, Lazaro, Eduardo and Cesar Moreno were all brothers in a family that transported marijuana in large quantities as far north as Obama’s one-time hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
The four brothers, along with a fifth man, Pedro, had been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2001, based on charges brought in 1996 of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and money laundering. Pedro, along with another set of brothers, Roberto, Ricardo and Ramiro Riojas, were accused of being the “kingpins” of the business and were charged with operating a continuing criminal enterprise.
Pedro’s wife Melba Riojas and his nephew Cesar Jr. were also arrested on lesser charges. Melba was sentenced to 15 years and eight months for her role in the associated money laundering enterprise and for recruiting people to it. Altogether, these people were just 10 of a total of 79 persons charged in connection with the Morenos’ smuggling and transport organization, which served cities such as Atlanta, Houston and St. Louis in nine states.
More than 100 people worked for the Moreno and Riojas brothers, who were responsible for moving at least 100 tons of marijuana in a decade, earning them more than $150 million. Pedro Moreno and the Riojas brothers will remain imprisoned.
Originally based in the city of Roma in Starr County, Texas, the four men to be freed will be allowed to return to the place where they were arrested and where they ran extensive drug-financed real estate and used car front companies. Other businesses the brothers owned were convenience stores, car washes and animal feed outlets.
Blood ties kept law enforcement from infiltrating the business, and their organization was known for members’ loyalty and a code of silence regarding its methods. Wiretaps and videotapes ultimately incriminated the Moreno brothers and their workers, and at least one sheriff’s deputy was among the defendants charged.
Even after they were arrested, the group continued to do business while awaiting trial. There are even rumors that the operation continued on some level while the brothers were in jail.
The area where the group operated in Starr County is a remote stretch along the Rio Grande River that’s known as one of the most impoverished counties in the U.S. The South Texas region is one of the prime entry points for drugs into the United States; in some cases, crossing the border is as simple as walking across a bridge.
After the gang’s arrests, much of the activity in the small towns lining the river in this area has died down. The dropoff even turned some of the local farming communities into virtual ghost towns due to the number of people involved, according to David Bautista, an IRS agent who contributed to the investigation.
The Moreno brothers would act as a distribution network for known Mexican drug cartels and take their shipments to Houston where they would be sent to their final destination points. The quantities of marijuana were hidden in secret compartments in trucks chosen especially for the purpose of smuggling.
More than $90,000 was spent on vehicles, and the brothers ultimately acquired more than 1,300 acres of ranchland using the proceeds of their business. To evade money laundering and IRS investigators, the brothers’ payments were broken down into sums of less than $10,000 each in a process known as “structuring.”
The families’ dealings were made mostly in a series of palatial homes in Los Saenz, Texas, clustered together in a small area known as The Hill. The brothers paid lawyers to defend members of their organization who had been caught or arrested. One driver received $150,000 for skipping bond and fleeing to Mexico where he remains a fugitive.
The Morenos are just one set of criminals former President Obama has commuted the sentences of. In his last week in office, Obama prematurely ended the sentences of at least 205 others and pardoned 64 people. This is in addition to 1,170 other commutations (including of 500 life sentences) he’s made during his presidency and 148 pardons.
While it’s common for presidents to pardon a few criminals over the course of their terms, Obama has been especially lenient with drug offenders and even with bosses in the business as the Morenos’ commutations have shown.
These pardons and sentence reductions are just one more annoying headache for new President Trump to deal with, and it’s hoped that a security crackdown will retard or eliminate much of the drug trafficking on both sides of the border while Trump is in office over the next four or eight years.
~ Conservative Zone
