{"id":51076,"date":"2022-10-13T12:40:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T19:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=51076"},"modified":"2022-10-13T12:42:20","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T19:42:20","slug":"calif-high-ranking-mexican-mafia-gang-member-sentenced-to-13-1-2-years-in-prison-for-drug-trafficking-in-ventura-county1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=51076","title":{"rendered":"Calif. High-Ranking Mexican Mafia Gang Member Sentenced to 13 1\/2 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking in Ventura County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A high-ranking member of the Oxnard-based Surtown Chiques street gang was sentenced Thursday to 13 years and six months in federal prison for attempting to secure control of drug trafficking in Ventura County, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Armando \u201cCriminal\u201d Molina also extorted \u201ctaxes\u201d on behalf of the Mexican Mafia prison gang.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 U.S.District Judge John A. Kronstadt sentenced Molina, 39, of Ventura.<\/span><\/p>\n

After a four-day trial in September 2019, a federal jury found Molina guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and five counts of distribution of methamphetamine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Molina was arrested in November 2013 as part of Operation \u201cSuperNova,\u201d a multi-agency task force investigation that targeted Mexican Mafia-affiliated street gangs in Ventura County.<\/span><\/p>\n

The federal criminal complaint on which Molina was arrested targeting \u201cshotcallers\u201d of Ventura County street gangs. <\/span><\/p>\n

The criminal complaint details a year-long undercover investigation and outlines a series of narcotics transactions that led to the seizure of more than two pounds of methamphetamine and quantities of heroin that were being sold on the streets of Ventura County.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The drugs were supplied by a drug trafficking organization controlled by Mexican Mafia member Martin Madrigal-Cazares. <\/span><\/p>\n

Local street gangs communicated with the head of the organization in Mexico, while controlling narcotics sales and collecting \u201ctaxes\u201d on behalf of the Mexican Mafia in Ventura County.<\/span><\/p>\n

From October 2012 and March 2013, Molina and his co-conspirators sold approximately 267 grams of pure methamphetamine to a confidential informant working for an FBI task force.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201c[Molina] was more than some street dealer doling out methamphetamine to addicts to make a buck,\u201d prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. \u201cRather, he was a key member in a broader, more dangerous criminal enterprise that sought to dominate profitable criminal conduct over the Ventura County region.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the eve of Molina\u2019s trial in 2019, a co-defendant, Frank Joshua \u201cVillain\u201d Ruiz, 40, of Ventura County, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. In February 2020, Judge Kronstadt sentenced Ruiz to 135 months in federal prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"In connection with this ongoing criminal case, Ventura County prosecutors charged 23 defendants in a 15-page indictment in November 2012.\u00a0 <\/span>Prosecutors gave defense lawyers about 1,500 pages of discovery and more than 40 CDs and DVDs. He said there are 20,000 secretly recorded phone calls, according to the Ventura County Star.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The FBI, the Ventura Police Department, and the Oxnard Police Department conducted the investigation jointly. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Assistant United States Attorney Mack E. Jenkins, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, prosecuted this case.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A high-ranking member of the Oxnard-based Surtown Chiques street gang was sentenced Thursday to 13 years and six months in federal prison for attempting to secure control of drug trafficking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nCalif. High-Ranking Mexican Mafia Gang Member Sentenced to 13 1\/2 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking in Ventura County<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A high-ranking member of the Oxnard-based Surtown Chiques street gang was sentenced Thursday to 13 years and six months in federal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=51076\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Calif. High-Ranking Mexican Mafia Gang Member Sentenced to 13 1\/2 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking in Ventura County\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A high-ranking member of the Oxnard-based Surtown Chiques street gang was sentenced Thursday to 13 years and six months in federal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=51076\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-13T19:40:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-13T19:42:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Mexican-Mafia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=51076#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=51076\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Calif. 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