Posted on 01/30/2008 7:09:35 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
Suspect linked to two other sets of charred remains
EDINBURG — A man linked to three burned bodies found since 2005 went on trial Tuesday, charged with one of the killings.
Manuel Alvarez, 33, is accused of the murder of Apolinar Ramos, a Mid-Valley based drug associate with ties to the Texas Syndicate prison gang.
Irrigation district workers found Ramos’ charred remains Dec. 22, 2005, in a sugar cane field south of Donna. He had been shot three times in the chest, placed in a Dodge pickup truck and set ablaze.
Hidalgo County Assistant District Attorney Monica Barron Auger said Tuesday that Ramos was killed in retaliation for the murder of Alvarez’s brother, Lorenzo, days before under similar circumstances.
“Manuel Alvarez was in complete and utter control of Apolinar Ramos’ execution,” she said.
Jurors viewed grisly photos of Ramos’ burned body Tuesday, as an Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputy described the scene of the crime.
But Alvarez’s defense attorney, Roy Garza, said the government had relied too heavily on conflicting witness statements in building its case.
“There isn’t going to be any medical evidence,” he said. “There isn’t going to be any physical evidence.”
NO ‘LEAVE IT TO BEAVER’-TYPE FAMILY
Alvarez was arrested Dec. 18, 2006, after nearly a year on the run.
Sheriff’s deputies identified him as a suspect in Ramos’ murder soon after the body was found. But as they arrived at his Donna home to arrest him, his mother and several sisters fought them off, allowing Alvarez time to escape.
The family next made headlines in December 2006 after police in Danville, Ill., found Alvarez’s parents, Felipe Sr. and Justina, shot execution-style in their home near the state’s border with Indiana.
Days later, they arrested Alvarez trying to break into a parked van blocks from his parents’ home.
“We are not dealing here with a Leave it to Beaver-type family,” Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said at the time. “They’re murderers and drug dealers.”
Alvarez has remained in the Hidalgo County Jail without the possibility of bond since his extradition to the Rio Grande Valley later that month.
CALLING CARD
The two murders — and a third two years later just south of Edcouch — all bear the calling card of the violent Texas Syndicate gang, an organized criminal group tied to contract killings and drug smuggling activity throughout the Valley.
Nine of the gang’s alleged top leaders — including Jose Ismael “Smiley” Salas, the most powerful Syndicate member in the Valley — currently face federal charges of racketeering, drug smuggling and conspiracy in a case set to go to trial in March.
The group routinely disposes of its victims’ bodies by leaving them in abandoned burning cars, investigators said.
Sheriff’s deputies found Lorenzo Alvarez’s charred remains Dec. 18, 2005, just south of the Donna Reservoir on Valleyview Road. Four days later Ramos’ body turned up less than five miles from the first crime scene.
Authorities believe Ramos may have killed Lorenzo Alvarez for ripping off a gang drug load. No other suspects have been arrested in that case.
Two years later, another charred body was discovered near the intersection of Mile 4 Road West and Mile 13 1/2 North, just south of Edcouch.
Investigators later identified the dead man as Marcelino “Mars” Torres, a federal informant, former gang leader and potential witness in the government’s case against the gang’s top leaders.
After his death, U.S. attorneys turned to Manuel Alvarez for information on the group, according to court documents.
If convicted in Ramos’ death, he could face life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Testimony is set to resume today in the trial, which is expected to last through the end of the week. ____
Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.
Valle ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
LOL! Nice headline.
APf
Can’t say I’ve ever seen a burning body on trial.....maybe at the Spanish Inquisition?
Looks like the prosecution gave him a grilling.
How do they keep it lit?
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/police_8469___article.html/car_ear.html
Thanks, NRA1995.
[Texas: Coyote]Suspect loses ear while fleeing La Joya police
Houston Chronicle/AP ^ | Jan. 28, 2008
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960839/posts
Napalm?
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