Home > Austin Legal > Archives > Drug enforcement category
Drug enforcement
March 27, 2012
No bail for Austin nightclub owner, brother
A federal judge denied bail today for Austin nightclub owner Hussein Ali “Mike” Yassine and his brother, Mohammed Ali “Steve” Yassine.
They will remain in federal custody, officials said.
Bail for four others ranges from $10,000 to $25,000, while rulings on the fates of four suspects — Karim Faiq, Alejandro “Cueta” Melendrez, Edgar Orsini and Nizar “Nino” Hakiki — will be made at a later date.
Mike Yassine and the other suspects were jailed Thursday morning, accused of taking part in a drug ring. The investigation, according to court documents, dates to 2007.
The 10 people arrested — including Mike Yassine’s two brothers and his longtime assistant — have been charged with a variety of crimes, including distributing cocaine, transferring firearms used to commit drug trafficking and money laundering.
“Authorities believe that they used several business establishments located in downtown Austin to launder over $200,000 in cash, which they believed to be the proceeds of narcotics trafficking,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement last week.
Mike Yassine’s company, Yassine Enterprises, owns eight Austin bars: Pure, Spill, Kiss & Fly, Treasure Island, Hyde, Fuel, Malaia and Roial. They’ve remained closed since Thursday’s arrests.
Yassine Enterprises is also part owner of Stack Burger Bar, which is still open for business.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment Categories: Drug enforcement
Nightclub owner, 9 associates due in court today
Update: Follow coverage below of reporter Gary Dinges, who is tweeting from the hearing.
Previous, 7:16 a.m.: Austin nightclub owner Hussein Ali “Mike” Yassine and nine other people arrested last week and charged with taking part in a drug ring will appear in federal court this morning for a detention hearing.
Judge Dennis Green could set bond for the 10 suspects or order that they remain in custody. They face a variety of charges, including distributing cocaine, transferring firearms used to commit drug trafficking and money laundering.
Mike Yassine’s company, Yassine Enterprises, owns eight Austin bars: Pure, Spill, Kiss & Fly, Treasure Island, Hyde, Fuel, Malaia and Roial. They’ve remained closed since Thursday’s arrests.
Yassine Enterprises is also part owner of Stack Burger Bar, which is still open for business.
Others charged in the case are:
Hadi Ali Yassine, 35, Austin
Mohammed Ali “Steve” Yassine, 38, Austin
Marisse Marthe “Madi” Ruales, 33, Austin
Sami Derder, 38, Pflugerville
Edgar Orsini, 40, Cedar Creek
Amar Thabet Araf, 29, Austin
Alejandro “Cueta” Melendrez, 42, Austin
Nizar “Nino” Hakiki, 32, Austin
Karim Faiq, 29, Manor
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment Categories: Drug enforcement
March 14, 2012
'Cell' of cocaine traffickers arrested, officials say
Authorities announced today that they have charged 22 people who they say were responsible for selling more than 5 kilograms, or more than 11 pounds, of cocaine per week in the Austin area during the past 10 months.
“This is quite large,” Austin Assistant Police Chief Sean Mannix said during a morning press conference. “It’s not just taking a street dealer off the street. It’s a whole cell.”
Mannix said the group includes member of Austin area street gangs who received their cocaine directly from members of a drug cartel, which he declined to name.
Fifteen of the defendants are charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.The rest of the defendants have been charged in state court.
Last week, authorities executed a coordinated series of search and arrest warrants. Two defendants were already in custody.One remains at large, authorities said.
U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said that because of the amount of drugs involved, the federal defendants face a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison if convicted.
At the press conference, officials praised the teamwork of the federal and state authorities, which include the FBI. Authorities declined to speculate on the affect the takedown would have on the local drug market.
“We don’t fool ourselves into thinking that by taking these people off the streets” the drug problem in Austin will abate, Mannix said.
Pitman identified Vivid Kahey, 34, as a leader in the cocaine distribution ring. Also charged in federal court were Austin residents Raymond Smith, 38; Rodney Ryan, 33; Kenyatta McClain, 36; Luis Gonzales, 43; Noe Lopez, 33; Mario Gonzalez; 40; Bianca Garza, 24; Daniel Olmos, 21; and Llasmin Orduno, 24.
Also charged in federal court were Vicente Sanchez, 34, of Cedar Creek and Kevin Edwards, 41, of Manor.
The number of defendants charged in federal court has been corrected.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Categories: Drug enforcement
March 1, 2012
Man charged in fatal strip club shootings gets almost 20 years in drug case
A Manor man facing a capital murder charge in the shooting deaths of two stepbrothers outside a Travis County strip club in 2010 has been sentenced to almost 20 years in federal prison in a separate drug case.
Jorge Gutierrez, 30, (pictured) had been a target of a multi-state drug trafficking investigation when he was arrested on May 31,2010, following the fatal shootings of Jose Hernandez, 24, and Arturo Rodriguez Jr., 26, outside the Pink Monkey Cabaret, a strip club in eastern Travis County.
Relatives of the victims have said that a dispute over a stolen iPhone led to a fistfight and, ultimately, to the shooting.
Witnesses to the shooting said the gunman fled the club parking lot in a Ford F-250 pickup, which deputies later pulled over with Gutierrez inside, an arrest affidavit said. Witnesses identified Gutierrez as the shooter and he was arrested, the affidavit said.
Gutierrez was indicted in federal court in Alexandria, Va., three days after the shooting. In November he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced last week to 235 months in prison. He is among 15 people sentenced to federal prison time in the case.
Federal prosecutors said Gutierrez led the ring that brought large quantities of cocaine from Mexico to his home in Manor and then had co-conspirators deliver the cocaine in vehicles to Arkansas, Virginia and Pennsylvania. During six months of 2009 and 2010 the group smuggled about 60 kilograms to Virginia alone, prosecutors said in a news release.
Officials have not alleged a link between the drug trafficking and murder cases. Gutierrez is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on his Travis County capital murder indictment on March 19. No trial date has been set.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Drug enforcement, Murder trials
December 9, 2011
Austin-area prison gang members get decades in prison
A federal judge in Austin today sentenced 17 members and associates of the Texas Mexican Mafia — including 10 who received more than 20 years in prison each — in a case that marks what the FBI calls the largest joint prosecution of the prison gang in Austin.
The top sentence doled out by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks went to Ruben Flores, who received 30 years in prison. All of the sentences except one were longer than 10 years.
In July, a federal grand jury indicted 18 members on heroin and cocaine conspiracy charges. The charges against one defendant were dismissed. The rest pleaded guilty.
The defendants range in age from 24 to 61 and are from various cities in Central Texas, including Austin and Pflugerville, according to the FBI.
The Texas Mexican Mafia has a brutal history in other parts of the state but has generally not been very active in Austin, which has been dominated by the Texas Syndicate prison gang. The prison gangs generally recruit members behind bars, and those members band together to commit crimes upon their release.
The indictment charged the defendants with conspiring to deal more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and more than 1 kilogram of heroin from April 1, 2009, to July 4, 2011.
One of those charged in the case — Eloy Davila Jr. — is among four men with ties to the Mexican Mafia who are awaiting trial on a murder charge in Hays County.
Davila, who received 20 years in prison today, and four others are accused of the Aug. 31 killing of Walter Capello, 35, of Lockhart.
Permalink | | Categories: Drug enforcement
July 14, 2011
18 Mexican Mafia members indicted in Austin on federal drug charges
An indictment unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Austin charges what an FBI spokesman said are 18 members of the Mexican Mafia prison gang with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin.
The indictment marks a rare mass roundup of Mexican Mafia members in the Austin area, where the Texas Syndicate prison gang has traditionally dominated.
The gangs generally recruit members while behind bars and when those members are released they often join with confederates to commit crimes.
Four men who authorities have said have Mexican Mafia connections were indicted in Hays County in October in the August 31 killing of Walter Capello, 35, of Lockhart.
Officials have said that Capello’s body was discovered during a traffic stop September 2 in Comal County.
One of the men awaiting trial for murder in that case - Eloy Davila, Jr. - was among those charged in the federal indictment unsealed today.
The indictment contains no detailed accusations against the suspects other than to accuse them of conspiring to deal more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and more than 1 kilogram of heroin from April 1, 2009 to July 4, 2011. Each faces up to life in prison under the indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury July 5.
An FBI spokesman said that the Mexican Mafia, which has traditionally operated in the San Antonio area, may be increasing its presence in the Austin area but said there are no signs of clashes with Texas Syndicate members.
“Austin is not known as a Mexican Mafia stronghold,” said FBI Special Agent Erik Vasys, a bureau spokesman. “But it’s not unusual for gangs to work together for mutual financial benefit.”
There are no allegations of violence in the court documents but both the Mexican Mafia and Texas Syndicate have historically been very brutal organizations.
Last year, a federal jury in San Antonio convicted three Mexican Mafia members who operated out of San Antonio and were accused of helping the gang commit nearly two dozen murders.
Former Texas Mexican Mafia general Jacinto Navajar and two lieutenants, who were found guilty of conspiracy, were each sentenced to life in prison. Federal agents arrested 34 members of the gang in 2008, but the three were the only ones who went to trial. The others pleaded guilty.
In 2003, 19 men in Austin were charged and later convicted here with being part of a drug-dealing gang that wreaked havoc in Austin with robbery, kidnapping and murder from the mid-1990s to 2003.
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: Drug enforcement
June 22, 2011
Detective: Accused steroid dealer fantasized about killing others
An accused steroid dealer who authorities say had weapons and a plan to kill police officers had other disturbing thoughts, including “shooting a mother and daughter coming out of a Macy’s store,” an Austin police detective testified in federal court today.
The thoughts were recorded in a journal kept by Damon Bruce Beshears at his North Austin apartment, where police also found illegal steroids during a search this month, said Detective Brian Crissman.
The journal recorded dreams or fantasies that Beshears had, including “disemboweling his wife and strewing the organs throughout the house” and seeing “the plasma ooze” from the brain of someone Beshears passed on the street, Crissman said.
Beshears wrote about handcuffing himself to his bed at night because “he was afraid of going out there and committing some kind of violence,” Crissman said.
The testimony came during a hearing at which U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin ordered that Beshears, 38, remain in jail without bail. Beshears’ lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Bill Ibbotson, argued that Beshears has mental health problems and asked that he be released from jail to an inpatient mental health facility.
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted Beshears on charges of possession with the intent to distribute and manufacture anabolic steroids and possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. The charges are punishable by a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.
Police have said an informant, who they have not identified, fingered Beshears as a steroids dealer and warned them that he was potentially violent. During the search of Beshears’ Duval Road apartment this month, police seized almost 5,000 capsules of steroids, including Anadrol and Winstrol; about 240 vials of steroids, including testosterone; and $4,100 in cash, according to court documents.
Along with a helmet and ballistic vest, police seized a Norinco Mac 90 semiautomatic rifle, a semiautomatic 9 mm pistol, ammunition, a gas mask, a 12-ounce container of pepper spray and a Colt revolver, according to the court documents.
During the search, Beshears told them that he had planned that if his apartment was ever raided by police, he would use the weapons and the helmet, vest and gas mask to engage them in a gunfight and kill as many officers as possible.
That plan was also explained in a journal entry, Crissman said.
Police avoided a potentially deadly confrontation with Beshears by arresting him in his car, Crissman said.
Beshears worked from 1995 to 2006 as a juvenile corrections officer for the Texas Youth Commission, a commission spokesman has said. Ibbotson, his lawyer, noted in court the equipment Beshears owned could have been for that job.
Ibbotson argued that Beshears is “not a violent person” and was hospitalized in March for mental health issues, although he did not give any specifics of Beshears’ health problems.
“He has some mental issues that he was seeking help with, he was going to a doctor,” Ibbotson said. “And he advised keeping a journal.”
Ibbotson said that Beshears had been taking prescription medication as well as steroids and possibly Oxycontin and hydrocodone, which were found in Beshears’ apartment but had not been prescribed to him.
“You have someone who has problems and has these kind of unfortunate thoughts and is seeking help for those,” Ibbotson told Austin. “He was also not helping himself by taking medications that might have contributed to those problems.”
Prosecutor Doug Gardner argued that Beshears is clearly a threat to public safety. He noted that one police detective told Beshears that he had children and asked him about the affect that killing him would have had on the officer’s children.
Gardner said that Beshears responded: “I lost both of my children in a divorce. Why should I care about your children.”
About six members of Beshears’ family, including his wife, a brother, a sister and his mother, were in court for the hearing, Ibbotson said. They all declined to comment outside court.
Permalink | Comments (41) | Categories: Drug enforcement
February 22, 2011
Austin cocaine organization members sentenced
An Austin man who was a leader in an organization that imported large quantities of cocaine from Mexico and distributed it throughout the Austin area from 2007 to 2010 was sentenced to 17½ years in prison today.
Pedro Fuentez, 30, was among 15 members of the organization who were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel. The others received sentences ranging from probation to more than 15 years.
Fuentez, also known as “Oso” or “Tigre” and originally from Honduras, received the shipments of cocaine from another man and distributed the drugs to about 10 lower-level dealers, according to court documents.
Using information from people referred to in court documents only as cooperating defendants or confidential sources, FBI agents worked with Austin police to monitor federally authorized wire taps on four phones used by the drug dealers, court documents said. Authorities broke up the organization in April 2010, seizing five guns, two cars and $18,800, documents show.
Fuentez lived in Southeast Austin. One unidentified confidential source told investigators he conducted much of his business at an East Austin restaurant, saying that the owner would close the business to give Fuentez privacy, a federal affidavit said.
Permalink | | Categories: Drug enforcement
June 16, 2010
Feds: Accused strip club shooter was drug boss
A Manor man charged with killing two people in a May 31 shooting at a strip club in northeastern Travis County has been targeted in a major cocaine trafficking investigation since February, according to federal court documents.
Jorge Gutierrez, 28, was suspected of leading a group that smuggled multiple kilogram loads of cocaine — which originally came from Guadalajara, Mexico — from Austin to northern Virginia in recent years, according to a federal affidavit filed by a Drug Enforcement Agency agent in federal court Tuesday.
Federal agents and Austin police had been listening to Gutierrez’s cell phone calls through a federal wiretap. Five days prior to the killings at the Pink Monkey Cabaret, officials passed information gleaned in those calls to Virginia State Police, who seized 7 kilograms of cocaine that was being smuggled from Austin to Virginia in a vehicle spare tire, the affidavit said. Two people suspected of working for Gutierrez were arrested during that traffic stop.
Gutierrez had flown to Virginia hoping to meet the delivery and sell the drugs but returned to Austin when the shipment never arrived, the affidavit said.
Officials have not alleged that the shootings were related to drug deals. Gutierrez has been charged with capital murder in the deaths of stepbrothers Jose Hernandez, 24, and Arturo Rodriguez Jr., 26, at the club, which is at 9705 Reservoir Court, near U.S. 290 West and Giles Lane.
An arrest affidavit says that surveillance video from the club shows Gutierrez involved in a fistfight with the stepbrothers. The affidavit said Gutierrez is seen going to a pickup truck, retrieving a gun and returning to shoot the men.
Witnesses said that the gunman fled with others in a Ford F-250 pickup, a truck that deputies later pulled over, the affidavit said. Witnesses identified Gutierrez as the shooter, the affidavit said.
The sister of Hernandez and Rodriguez told police that a female customer at the club had accused one of the brothers of stealing her iPhone, which led to the fight and shooting.
The affidavit filed in federal court was attached to an application for a warrant to seize Gutierrez’s truck because it was purchased with drug profits. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Pitman approved the seizure of the 2008 Ford F-250 pickup truck.
Gutierrez remains in the Travis County jail pending trial on the capital murder charge.
Permalink | Comments (39) | Categories: Drug enforcement
March 30, 2010
One defendant in marijuana case to be released from jail
During a federal court hearing today that revealed new details of what authorities have described as perhaps Central Texas’ biggest marijuana bust, a judge ordered one of two men arrested in the case released on bond.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Andy Austin released Ky Dac Ho, 27, at right, pending trial to live with his mother and sister in Round Rock. Ho, described as an American citizen of Vietnamese descent who has no criminal record, was not required to pay any money up front but would have to pay $100,000 if he does not appear for court.
Austin rejected defendant Huy Hoang Dong’s requests for freedom pending trial, noting that Dong, at right, is a permanent resident but not a U.S. citizen and would likely be ordered deported if he were convicted in the case.
Dong, a 35-year-old originally from Vietnam, was initially misidentified in court documents, his lawyer told Austin.
Both men were arrested March 25, when authorities say they raided five homes in Travis County and one in Williamson County and seized 1,400 high-grade marijuana plants and about 200 pounds of loose marijuana. All six homes were in suburban neighborhoods and featured elaborate indoor marijuana growing operations, authorities said.
Ho was arrested during a raid on the house where he lived in Manor, at 5513 Colinton Avenue, an affidavit said. Authorities found 295 marijuana plants inside.
Dong was busted when a search warrant was executed at a home at 13912 Conner Downs in Pflugerville, where 285 marijuana plants were growing inside, according to an arrest affidavit.
In court today, Assistant U.S. Attorney Grant Sparks said that that Dong had a loaded .45 caliber pistol within his reach when authorities entered the home. They also found 300 rounds of ammunition for the gun and later learned that the gun had been reported stolen, Sparks said.
Sparks asked that both men be ordered detained because they are expected to eventually face charges of conspiring to manufacture more than 1,000 marijuana plants, which carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.
Both men are currently charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to manufacture and distribute it. The charge is punishable by five to 40 years in prison.
Sparks told Austin that the investigation into the case is continuing and that authorities have identified several potential co-conspirators.
Without saying how, Sparks said that the case is connected to that of Cong Van Pham, who was busted in May 2009 with more than 700 marijuana plants at a home at 105 Silver Lace Lane in Williamson County. Pham was convicted last year of manufacturing marijuana and sentenced to five years in prison.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Categories: Drug enforcement
March 25, 2010
Men arrested in $7 million pot bust ordered held without bail
The two men busted in what officials described as one of Central Texas’ biggest marijuana busts in decades appeared in federal court today and were each ordered held without bail pending a hearing next week.
Hoang Dang Huv, 35, and Ky Dac Ho, 27, both were arrested Wednesday, when authorities say they raided five homes in Travis County and one in Williamson County and seized 1,400 high-grade marijuana plants and about 200 pounds of loose marijuana. All six homes were in suburban neighborhoods and featured elaborate indoor marijuana growing operations, authorities said. Some of the pot seized is shown in the photo at right.
Authorities said the marijuana seized is worth up to $7 million.
Both men are charged with possession with intent to manufacture and distribute marijuana.
Huv was busted when a search warrant was executed at a home at 13912 Conner Downs in Pflugerville, where 285 marijuana plants were growing inside, according to an arrest affidavit. Huv lived at that house and was inside when authorities showed up, the affidavit said.
Ho was arrested during a raid on the house where he lived in Manor, at 5513 Colinton Avenue, an affidavit said. Authorities found 295 marijuana plants inside.
Federal prosecutors asked that the men be held in jail pending trial and U.S. Magistrate Judge Andy Austin ordered them jailed until a preliminary and detention hearing Tuesday.
Permalink | Comments (27) | Categories: Drug enforcement
December 4, 2009
Man charged with possessing 'shrooms
A Dallas-area man was arrested Thursday with about 2 kilograms of hallucinogenic mushrooms in his trunk, according to a police affidavit filed in federal court in Austin on Friday.
Jordan Alan Landrum, 27, of Addison, has been charged with possession with intent to distribute psilocybin mushrooms.
The affidavit said on Thursday an Austin police department “cooperating defendant” contacted Landrum and asked to purchase some mushrooms. It did not further describe the defendant.
When they met, Landrum had a gym bag full of mushrooms in the trunk of his Lexus, the affidavit said. The location of the rendezvous was not disclosed in court documents.
Austin police, who were watching the transaction, arrested Landrum, the affidavit said.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Drug enforcement
July 11, 2008
Drug defendants in Austin's district get lighter drug sentences
Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is continuously compiling information on federal law enforcement trends. This week, it announced that there are wide disparities in prison sentences doled out across the nation’s 90 federal judicial districts.
TRAC’s report analyzed cases brought by the Drug Enforcement Administration and compared federal judicial districts, which are wide areas that often include many cities. The median sentence for these defendants in the federal district that includes Austin — the Western District of Texas - was 37 months in 2007, among the nation’s lowest, according to the report, which is based on data the nonprofit acquired from the Justice Department under the Freedom of Information Act. The report can be found here.
The Western District of Texas is based in San Antonio and stretches west and south to Del Rio. The district’s sentencing median ranks 77th out of the 90 federal judicial districts, according to TRAC, which reported the median prison sentence in DEA cases nationally was 60 months.
A TRAC news release said that “key factors determining the final sentence imposed in such cases include the kinds of matters the DEA investigators recommended for prosecution and the resulting agreements reached by the defendants and the assistant U.S attorneys about the charges that ultimately are brought against them. In other words, the discretionary power of the district judges is much less important than is generally understood.”
The data compiled by TRAC is broken down only by judicial district and not by city, so the data has limitations. Nevertheless, it gives a good overview of how prosecutors inWestern District U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton’s office approach drug cases.
Other interesting nuggets from TRAC’s report on DEA cases prosecuted in federal court:
The Western District of Texas was among the fastest in completing prosecutions in 2007. The median time that elapsed from when DEA agents made criminal referrals to prosecutors to the completion of the case was 218 days, the third fastest of the nation’s judicial districts.
With 709 people convicted in cases brought by the DEA, the Western District of Texas was second among the nation’s federal judicial districts when computing convictions as a proportion of population.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Drug enforcement
