NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, June 21, 2001

The Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI and U.S. Customs Service made the arrests in cooperation with police in the culmination of an 18-month investigation of the trafficking ring, based in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas.

The Marquis Organization allegedly moved large quantities of cocaine and marijuana through Nuevo Laredo into south Texas, where it was warehoused in the Laredo area, then smuggled throughout the United States, mostly in trucks loaded with produce.

"The Marquis Organization appears to be fairly typical of today's organizations operating from Mexico, smaller groups that rely on each other to capitalize on drug trafficking opportunities," said DEA Administrator Donnie Marshall. "Nevertheless, these organizations remain as violent and dangerous as ever."

Three men were allegedly shot to death in San Antonio on orders from Hugo Villarreal-Solis, a 34-year-old Marquis "associate." Villarreal-Solis, Jose "Joey" Rodriguez, 21, and the alleged gunman, Roberto Lopez Rivera, 30, have been indicted on drug and murder charges. If convicted of murder, each of them could face the federal death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Arrests were conducted Wednesday in Laredo, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Little Rock, New York, Newark, Charlotte, Cleveland, St. Louis, San Diego, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nashville and Memphis, the agents said.

Provisional arrests warrants naming 14 Marquis Organization members in Mexico will be submitted to Mexican authorities, and, once apprehended, U.S. prosecutors will formally request their extradition for trials in the United States.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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