EL PASO, TEXAS
A member of a violent prison gang plead guilty Thursday to drug-dealing and other crimes including racketeering conspiracy, according to officials.
The gang was involved in the murder of a U.S. Consulate employee in 2010 in Juarez, Mexico.
Barrio Azteca gang member Luis Humberto Hernandez Celis plead guilty in federal court to racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to import heroin, cocaine and marijuana, officials said.
The court has not yet set a sentencing date.
According to the evidence, Barrio Azteca gang formed in the late 1980s as a violent prison gang and has expanded into a transnational criminal organization. The BA is primarily based in West Texas; Juarez, Mexico; and throughout state and federal prisons in the United States and Mexico.
The gang has a militaristic command structure and includes captains, lieutenants, sergeants, soldiers and associates – all with the purpose of maintaining power and enriching its members and associates through drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, intimidation, violence, threats of violence and murder.
According to court 
, since Jan. 1, 2003, members and associates of the BA have engaged in a host of criminal activity committed, including drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, kidnapping and murder.
This includes the March 13, 2010 murders in Juarez of U.S. consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of another U.S. consulate employee.
The Barrio Azteca profits by importing heroin, cocaine and marijuana into the United States from Mexico.
Gang members and associates allegedly charge a “street tax” or “cuota” on businesses and criminals operating in their turf. These profits are used to support gang members in prison by funneling money into prison commissary accounts of gang leaders and to pay for defense lawyers or fines, according to officials.
The “cuota” profits are also allegedly reinvested into the organization to purchase drugs, guns and ammunition.
According to information presented in court, beginning in or around 2009, Hernandez Celis was an associate of the BA.
During his association, officials said Hernandez Celis used violence or threats of violence to advance the gang’s criminal activities, including stealing cars, managing drug distribution points and collecting quota money for a Barrio Azteca leader in Juarez.
Thirty-five members and associates of the BA gang, including Hernandez Celis, were charged in a third superseding indictment unsealed in March 2011 with various counts of racketeering, murder, drug offenses, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
Of the 35 defendants charged, 33 have been apprehended, according to authorities.
Of those defendants, 25 have pleaded guilty, one defendant committed suicide while imprisoned during his trial and one defendant was found guilty at trial.
Hernandez Celis was among three defendants, along with Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, aka Chino, and Alberto Nunez Payan, aka Fresa, recently extradited from Mexico.
Trial is currently set for February.
Three other defendants are pending extradition from Mexico.
U.S. and Mexican law enforcement are actively seeking to apprehend the two remaining fugitives in this case: Luis Mendez and Eduardo Ravelo, who is an FBI Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive, according to officials.