Gov't. Informant Killed Citizens, Feds Knew

The money is just too much for a man without morals and integrity.

Here's another ---

http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/3753713/detail.html

Whataburger Shooting Update
El Paso Police confirm the shooting death of a man at a South El Paso Whataburger is related to drug-trafficking. As we reported, the murder of 27-year old Abraham Guzman is believed to be a hit by the Juarez drug cartel but the bullets were actually intended for an ICE informant known as "Lalo". Police confirm Lalo was with Guzman, in a Lincoln Navigator the night of his murder.

"Lalo" is being treated as a witness in the case. Police also confirm Guzman's murder is part of a killing spree, where four other men were found murdered in Juarez on September 1st and 2nd. Police are working with federal agencies, including the FBI and with Chihuahua State Police. They're on the lookout for the trigger man and the get-away vehicle, described as a mid 90's blue and tan Ford Bronco.

In case you missed it --- "Police are working with federal agencies, including the FBI and with Chihuahua State Police."

The Chihuahua State Police are the Chihuahua Judicial Police ---- the same department of police that was involved with the torture and burying of the 12 corpses under the patio. Now why would our police be working with that outfit to solve this murder????? Are they just trying to get more people murdered?

An update:

http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040924-172930.shtml

Status of informant at time of killing raises questions

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times
The alleged involvement of a U.S. government informant in the slaying of an El Paso man at a Whataburger restaurant last month has raised questions about the informant's supervision.

The man, a drug dealer known only as "Lalo," was an informant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement who turned into the star witness in an important drug and murder case to be tried in January in federal court.

Yet the night of Aug. 25, Lalo was apparently free to follow his friend Abraham Guzman, whom he sent to pick up money for him at the Whataburger at 2120 E. Paisano. The meeting was a setup. Guzman was shot to death, possibly by killers who mistook him for Lalo, authorities said.

El Paso police said Lalo was not with Guzman, who was killed inside a Lincoln Navigator in the restaurant's parking lot, but witnessed the shooting.

"He was present in the area of the homicide," acting Cmdr. George McBain, head of the El Paso police Crimes Against Persons unit, said Wednesday.

It isn't clear whether Lalo, who is now in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, enjoyed government protection at the time of the Whataburger killing, police said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials won't comment on an ongoing case. Guzman's family did not return calls.

Through his collaboration with ICE last year, Lalo led authorities to the bodies of 12 men whom a drug cartel had killed and buried in the back yard of a Juárez house, ICE memorandums show. Lalo's alleged superior in the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes drug ring, Heriberto Santillan Tabares, and others were arrested.

Santillan was charged with murder, and his trial was set for January in federal court in El Paso. Santillan is being tried in the United States because the killings allegedly were committed in the context of a binational drug smuggling operation.

According to court documents, only one co-defendant besides Lalo will testify against Santillan.

Documents obtained by the El Paso Times show that Lalo told U.S. authorities that he had participated in a number of drug-related killings in Juárez.

Law enforcement experts said it would be odd for Lalo, apparently a valuable witness, to be unsupervised. "Generally, protective custody means he's in jail or in a safe house under guard, hidden," said Richard Schwein, a former FBI special agent in charge in El Paso.

Warrants to protect material witnesses can be obtained from judges, or the U.S. attorney's office can ask the U.S. Marshals Service directly to protect its witness, Marshals Service officials and others said.

Marshals Service officials said they, in concert with the U.S. attorney, decide what level of protection is warranted. Witnesses can be picked up at home in the morning and escorted back at night. They can be under 24-hour surveillance or even enter the witness security program, also known as the witness protection program.

"A lot of it is common sense," said David Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington, D.C. "Witnesses in the witness security program yield 89 percent convictions, which is a high conviction rate, because when they are sure to be safe, they are more willing to testify. It's easier for the truth to be told."

Turner said he could not discuss particular cases and it is not known whether his agency was protecting Lalo before the Whataburger killing.

El Paso police spokesman Javier Sambrano said detectives are still working on the Whataburger case, even though McBain said the killers might already be dead.

Police have linked the Whataburger killing with the subsequent execution of four men in Juárez during a recent wave of drug- related killings. Police looked in particular into the double killing of an El Paso man and his son, Fernando Santibañez Gutierrez, 54, and Jose Santibañez Salaih, 20. The two were found Aug. 31, strangled in the trunk of a car left in the Chamizal park on the Mexican side of the Bridge of the Americas.

"We have confirmed Lalo had been talking to them prior to Guzman's murder," McBain said Wednesday.

Police didn't say whether the Santibañezes were the ones who set the trap that led to Guzman's death.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.; Daniel Borunda contributed to this story.

(Obviously interesting: "Law enforcement experts said it would be odd for Lalo, apparently a valuable witness, to be unsupervised.")

It always stuns me to hear that U.S. police are working with anyone on the Mexican side. Only credulous reporters actually believe that Mexican police are anything like real "police". Most American cops don't believe that. But I guess they make the pretense of cooperation for publicity purposes.

I would think that after what Enrique Camarena went through, the police and law enforcement agents here would be a little cautious about working around Mexican police.