It's prison for leader of illegal labor ring

The Memphis Commercial-Appeal ^ | 15 March 2003 | Bill Dries

[archy]

It's prison for leader of illegal labor ring

By Bill Dries
dries@gomemphis.com
March 15, 2003

San Antonio, Texas, labor contractor David Cantu Jr. was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for heading a scheme to bring 150 illegal aliens to work on FedEx Corp.'s world headquarters at Hacks Cross and Winchester.

U.S. Dist. Court Judge Hardy Mays also ordered Cantu, owner and managing partner of Brother's Construction II, to pay more than $860,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and to forfeit another $10 million.

Asst. U.S. Atty. Linda Nettles Harris said the restitution represents payroll taxes that should have been paid by the illegal workers.

"I think that this sentence sends a message that the use of illegal aliens will not be tolerated," Harris said.

Cantu, who pleaded guilty in December to charges of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, money laundering and failure to file payroll taxes, brought 150 illegal aliens to Memphis from October 1998 to April 2000. Cantu also paid the rent on numerous apartments where the aliens stayed.

The men were hired as drywall workers on the $250 million FedEx construction project.

Cantu told the general contractor on the project that the laborers were independent contractors.

"He did that to evade taxes," Harris said.

A federal investigation began when the Immigration and Naturalization Service raided the construction site and four apartment complexes in February 2000, arresting180 illegal aliens.

- Bill Dries: 529-2643

[archy]

This conviction, resulting in a 4-year prison sentence as well as $10,860,000 in fines and forfeitures does not bode particularly well for the similar case made against Tyson Poultry plant executives charged with similar offenses. And IRS investigations into other businesses continue, particularly in the Midwest.

[FreeTheHostages]

interesting post, but c'mon, you know better, this isn't breaking news

[archy]

INS bust ping!

-archy

[archy]

interesting post, but c'mon, you know better, this isn't breaking news

To my knowledge, it was not announced previously, and if a less-than-earthshaking item, is of importance both to those still prosecuting Clinton-era corruption and following the dreadfully leaky situation along our Southern border. And criminal convictions, particularly in federal court, are generally considered *newsworthy* and $1,860,000 in fines and penalties, with a 4-year jail sentence, does not strike me as at all inconsequential.

It's certainly not a *follow-up* or *extended* news item of a previous story, though hopefully related to the better-known Tyson organized crime family INS arrests and pending court cases, in which several senior Tyson management figures have been named. If other FReepers should happen to pick up on that name [CANTU] from other previous stories or more localized reports, probably from Texas or Mexico, then it'd certainly be worth the initial notice, I'd think.

For a slow weekend with the anticipated military move on Iraq on hold or clear to the back burner for the present, I thought it worth tossing this one into the hopper for now, though I'll admit that had the Attack on Iraq commenced, I'd expect it to be buried. But let's see if anything further comes of it before dismissing it so offhandedly.

-archy-/-

[FreeTheHostages]

Here's an admin thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/842334/posts
which defines breaking news. The standard isn't "not announced previously." It's interesting and thank you for the time for posting, but I do dismiss it off-handedly as not breaking news. The admin thread above encourages Freepers to flame -- err, provide guidance -- to those who abuse breaking news. I think I did so politely. I wrote: "interesting post, but c'mon, you know better, this isn't breaking news." Your response points out that there aren't a lot of other categories you could put this post in. Well, yes there is: news. It's just not *breaking* news. Breaking news is not a default category when you don't know where else to put something.

So I think I'm being nice about it, but as to being nosey, I'd note: (1) the admins kinda encourage us to police each other because it's a lot of work for them to have to continually knock things down from breaking news (which happened to yours, by the way, and I did not hit abuse -- it just kinda obviously wasn't breaking) and (2) especially when people want to quickly glance for Iraq-related news nowadays, as the admin guidance says, especially nowadays, they want to be stricter.

[FreeTheHostages]

To my knowledge, it was not announced previously, and if a less-than-earthshaking item, is of importance both to those still prosecuting Clinton-era corruption and following the dreadfully leaky situation along our Southern border. And criminal convictions, particularly in federal court, are generally considered *newsworthy* and $1,860,000 in fines and penalties, with a 4-year jail sentence, does not strike me as at all inconsequential.

Oh, BTW, I agree with all these points. It's an interesting news article even though it's not breaking and it's far from inconsequential. So I do thank you for taking the time to post it, too.

[archy]

The admin thread above encourages FReepers to flame -- err, provide guidance -- to those who abuse breaking news.

At present I note the following *breaking news* items listed:

IMMIGRATION

Dixie Chicks CLOSE Fan Comment Board For "updating"!

Remember 911 (Pix) and Freedom Fries ... A Homeland Security topic would be nice :-)

Please show support for our military at Buckley AFB TODAY!

Anti-war ditz gets owned by Iraqi national on radio

Operation Infinite FReep in FResno, California (3/14/03)

KPFT (90.1 FM), said it would play the Dixie Chicks now more than ever.

From A Serviceman

Add the Dixie Chicks to the Boycott list (My Title)

ConsumerFreedom . com Hilarious but Correct Thinking Posters

Pro-U.S. Billboard at the Oscars

Breaking News

Feel free to flame --- err, *provide guidance* to any of the above that are also not sufficiently breathtaking for your tastes. Or do you feel that follow-up of Clinton-era criminality and abuses should be disregarded and swept under the table for more pressing reports about the Dixie Chicks, French/Freedom fries, and Oscar billboards?

-archy-/-

[The Coopster]

Oh, they will, I'm sure. There's never a shortage of people around here that are willing to nitpick every little mistake made. In fact, more bandwidth has been used chastising you than the actual subject matter.

Thanks for the ping. We use a labor contracting company, and you can't let that be a reason NOT to be vigilant. We double check all potential new-hires, even though the liability lies with the company we use.

[Alamo-Girl]

Hmmmm ... very interesting. Thanks for the heads up!

[madfly]

ping

[Old Professer]

Cantu, who pleaded guilty in December to charges of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, money laundering and failure to file payroll taxes, brought 150 illegal aliens to Memphis from October 1998 to April 2000. Cantu also paid the rent on numerous apartments where the aliens stayed.

The part about paying the rent on the apartment strikes a chord here in Nashville; about 3-4 years ago, Opryland Hotel bought a Quality Inn on Murphreesboro Pike to house "Peurto Rican" employees and set up shuttle vans to carry them to work and back-most of the workers were Spanish-speking only.

Hardly raised an eyebrow, even after a fatal shooting involving a Mexican National tenant in the lobby.

Opryland Hotel only hires "long-term" temporary help when they advertise and deduct from wages for "room and board."

This place is thick with illegals.

[Old Professer]

Hall monitors are prone to "trip and fall" accidents.

[Old Professer]

We double check all potential new-hires, even though the liability lies with the company we use.

Wrong. That's one of the things that is going to hang Tyson.

The workplace employer is obligated to verify eligibility; period.

[FreeTheHostages]

:) I know this well, having served as a hall monitor in junior high school.

[RWG]

I have seen more mexicans in iowa than I did in baja.

[janetgreen]

This place is thick with illegals.

You should see southern California, they're in the millions here (and the California taxpayers know it).

[4Freedom]

The way I read them, Archy's post fits guideline #2 fairly well and #3 perfectly.

It's 'breaking news' all the way.

94% of FReepers responding to JR's 'immigration poll' want illegal immigration stopped and our laws enforced.

Only 3% of FReepers thought immigration, legal or illegal, was no big deal.

What more do you want?

[FreeTheHostages]

*breaking*

not just news

*breaking*

I would note that the admins pulled it off of breaking news right quick -- I didn't report it in for abuse. I was just pointing out the rules.

We've been doing these rally for america threads and coordination and yesterday we had national news media hitting our website to try to get links and information for their news coverage of Freeper rallies. Especially during the pre-war time, it's going to be very useful to make breaking news breaking news. As the admins say.

[FreeTheHostages]

BTW, I totally like the post and think it definitely was *news.* It's good news at that!

[4Freedom]

How does Archy's post fail to meet guideline #2 and #3? Explain.