Alleged Mexican cartel hitman pleads guilty in North Dakota federal court

[Judi Lynn]

(MGN Online)
By Stacie Van Dyke
Published: Jul. 13, 2023 at 3:03 PM CDT|Updated: 16 minutes ago

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - United States Attorney Mac Schneider, District of North Dakota, announced that on July 13, 2023, Juan Sillas-Rocha, age 45, of Tijuana, Mexico, plead guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Continuing Criminal Enterprise, and Conspiracy to Commit Murder in Furtherance of the Continuing Criminal Enterprise before Chief Judge Peter Welte in Fargo, North Dakota. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later time.

On March 31, 2011, Sillas-Rocha was indicted by a grand jury in North Dakota in a Superseding Indictment alleging three counts: 1) Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substance; 2) Continuing Criminal Enterprise; and 3) Conspiracy to Commit Murder in Furtherance of the Continuing Criminal Enterprise.

Sillas-Rocha was arrested on November 4, 2011, in Tijuana, Mexico and served with a provisional arrest warrant issued by a court in Mexico which started the extradition process. On September 8, 2022, after 11 years of litigation in Mexico, Sillas-Rocha was extradited to the United States and made his initial appearance in North Dakota on September 9, 2022. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, and the U.S Attorney’s Office in North Dakota played a significant role in securing this extradition.

As outlined at the plea hearing today before Judge Welte, an investigation was initiated in 2004 in Fargo, North Dakota, into the drug-trafficking activities of local drug dealers. This was designated an OCDETF case named “Operation Speed Racer.” The investigation revealed that from January 2002 until December of 2005, Jorge Arandas, a/k/a Sneaky, supervised a continuing criminal enterprise responsible for transporting large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana to North Dakota and Minnesota from Washington, California, and Mexico. Arandas was supplied by Juan Sillas-Rocha or employees of Sillas-Rocha.

More:
https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/13/alleged-mexican-cartel-hitman-pleads-guilty-north-dakota-federal-court/

[Get Me Outta Here]

1. Alleged?

I think Valley News Live could have just called the son of a bitch a son of a bitch instead of an alleged son of a bitch without risk of defaming said son of a bitch.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Article from 2017: After extradition of El Chapo, US prosecutors seek a rival

August 1, 2017
By DAVE KOLPACK The Associated Press

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — With notorious drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman now behind bars in New York after he was extradited from Mexico last month, federal prosecutors in North Dakota have their sights set on bringing one of his organization’s onetime rivals to the United States to face charges.

In court documents unsealed Tuesday, authorities say Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha was a top lieutenant for the Arellano Felix cartel, which smuggled cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the United States and competed against the Sinaloa cartel led by Guzman, once considered the most wanted man in the world. Authorities have described Sillas-Rocha as a prolific hit man responsible for killing 20 to 30 people a month during the cartel’s heyday in Tijuana.

Sillas-Rocha was arrested six years ago in Mexico, but his federal case in the U.S. had remained sealed from public view until this week. Tim Heaphy, former U.S. attorney from Virginia, said it’s common to seal such cases to preserve an investigation and protect witnesses. Those fears tend to evaporate when a defendant is in custody for a long time.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Myers, the lead prosecutor, declined to comment on the case. Court documents in Mexico listed no attorney of record for Sillas-Rocha.Sillas-Rocha, known as “Ruedas,” or “Wheels,” is charged with three counts, including conspiracy to commit murder for a continuing criminal enterprise.

He has been fighting extradition to North Dakota, where federal officials a decade ago began gathering incriminating evidence on the Arellano Felix cartel after one of its members killed a Minnesota man over a drug debt. Sillas-Rocha was arrested in Mexico in November 2011 and paraded in front of reporters by police in riot gear and masks. He remains in jail there.

The case wound up in North Dakota after Jorge “Sneaky” Arandas, a member of the Arellano Felix gang, set up shop in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota. Investigators say Arandas ordered the killing of Lee Avila, of East Grand Forks, Minnesota, in June 2005 for failing to pay for five pounds of methamphetamine that Arandas originally received from Sillas-Rocha. Arandas told police he feared that he would be killed for not paying Sillas-Rocha, so he had Avila murdered to show strength.

The indictment filed against Sillas-Rocha in March 2011 said that in addition to drug trafficking, Sillas-Rocha was involved in the supervision of crews that “participated in murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, public corruption of government officials, money laundering and other illegal conduct” meant to make money for the cartel.

More:
https://amicusint.squarespace.com/usextradition-news/?offset=1503072566331

(2nd story on the page)