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Testimony begins in Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico trial

Las Cruces Sun-News - 2/2/2018

Feb. 01--LAS CRUCES -- A federal jury in Las Cruces began hearing testimony Wednesday in a high-profile trial that promises to shed light on the distributing culture of a notorious New Mexico prison gang.

An 18-member jury of residents from around the state was empaneled after two days of jury selection proceedings that began Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces.

For the next four weeks, the jury will hear evidence from federal prosecutors and defense attorneys in the trial of four purported members of Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico, the violent prison gang that formed after the deadly 1980 riot at the state prison facility in Santa Fe County.

The four defendants -- Anthony Ray Baca, a purported SNM leader; Carlos Herrera; Daniel Sanchez; and Rudy Perez -- were among dozens of known SNM members and associates who were indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2015 and April 2016 following the completion of an investigation into SNM activities called Operation Atonement.

Federal prosecutors allege that SNM -- which at one time had as many as 500 members -- operates as a criminal racketeering enterprise, with members committing violent crimes to maintain their status in the gang.

The alleged crimes included drug and firearms trafficking, murder, assault, conspiracy and -- in Baca's case -- plotting to kill two top state prison officials, including Gregg Marcantel, the former secretary of the Department of Corrections.

In addition to the threats against the prison officials, the trial also centers on the March 2014 murder of 34-year-old Javier Molina, an alleged SNM member and prisoner who was fatally stabbed more than 40 times while incarcerated at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility, west of Las Cruces.

Defense attorneys on Wednesday cautioned the jury to be wary of the government's case against their clients, suggesting that many of the prosecution's key witnesses have checkered pasts and have entered into deals in exchange for testimony.

FBI Special Agent Bryan Acee, who led the nearly three-year-long investigation into SNM, was the first witness called to testify by federal prosecutors.

Acee said the SNM investigation began in early 2015 after eight letters from "bosses of the SNM gang" were intercepted by prison officials in Santa Fe, detailing plans to kill Marcantel and the head of the state prison system's Security Threat Intelligence Unit.

Acee testified that the investigation involved "traditional" and "advanced" investigative techniques, including multiple court-authorized wiretaps and undercover drug transactions, which agents used to secure search warrants and make arrests.

It also included the use cellphones that were given to at least two SNM members -- including a man named Eric Duran, a key witness for the prosecution -- who were in prison and cooperating with the FBI.

As part of the investigation, Baca was transferred from a prison in Colorado to the Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County, where he was housed in a cell next to Duran, according to Acee's testimony.

Baca and Duran were able to indirectly communicate with one another while in confinement through vents, Acee said, adding that Duran would make calls for Baca on the cellphone that was given to him. The FBI recorded all calls and text messages from Duran's phone.

Acee testified that Baca and Duran discussed the plot to kill the prison officials and the need to find a "good (SNM) member" on the streets to carry out the plans.

Baca's defense team pinned the entire plot on Duran and said the idea had not come from Baca, as alleged by federal prosecutors. The defense also insisted that Baca did not order the killing of Molina.

Molina, a Las Cruces resident who was serving a 13-year sentence, was found unresponsive near the doorway to a pod at the SNMCF on March 7, 2014, according to Sun-News archives. He had been stabbed 43 times in his chest and abdomen, including in his heart and lungs, according to the Office of the Medical Investigator.

Two prisoners -- Jerry Armenta and Jerry Montoya, both SNM members -- were initially charged with murder in Molina's death in state district court.

But when the FBI took over Molina's case as part of the SNM investigation, nine known and purported members of SNM, including Montoya and Armenta, were indicted on charges in connection to the murder.

Montoya and Armenta and at least two other SNM members have pleaded guilty to charges related to Molina's murder. Defense attorneys asserted Wednesday that these defendants agreed to plead guilty and testify against their clients in exchange for the possibility of lenient sentences.

It was also pointed out that after pleading guilty, these convicted murderers were given hundreds of dollars from the FBI in exchange for their cooperation.

In another instance, an imprisoned SNM member who was working as an FBI informant was given contact visits with his family, but that privilege was revoked after he was caught having sex with his wife in the presence of his children, defense attorneys said.

The trial is expected to continue for the next four weeks in Las Cruces.

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(c)2018 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)

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