Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Two Arrested Attempting to Bribe Judge in Zetas Money Laundering Case

Havana and Chivis for Borderland Beat
Judge Sparks was to use code word "Golf" from the bench
 Cessa's Son and
Partner Attempt to Bribe Judge with 1M

Two  were arrested yesterday afternoon during the press conference for attempting to bribe the judge.  The amount was between 1 million and 1.2 million.  The judge was never privy to the investigation and the affidavit was sealed.

The two people were arrested by federal officials (FBI) yesterday afternoon in a parking area near the Austin courthouse .

 Detained were Francisco Colorado Cessa's  son- Francisco Colorado Cessa Jr. a University student and and Colorado Cessa's partner at ADT Petrol Servicios, Ramon Segura.  Segura was the first witness on the stand yesterday, the day of Colorado Cessa's sentencing. Segura  co-founding member of ADT Petrol Servicios, who was so righteous yesterday about their company

This has been an ongoing investigation since mid-August 2013 and continued until Sept. 4 as the penalty phase was in motion. Calls were monitored at the jail between son Colorado Cessa Jr. and his father and later between Segura and Cessa.. Agents  reviewed, the recorded conversations at Bastrop County Jail between Colorado Cessa and Colorado Cessa Jr and Segura in which they discussed an agreement and plan to bribe United States District Court Judge within the Western District of Texas who is an officer and employee of the United States. 

The three men wanted to obtain a reduced prison sentence for Colorado Cessa. At no time during this investigation has the judge been involved with the conduct set forth below in the affidavit.

A sting was conducted for the arrests, booking mug shot photos, below

The investigation revealed Colorado traveled throughout Mexico and various cities in Texas to include not limited to :Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Bastrop.  Colorado Jr. utilized 832-512-4056 and a white Toyota Tundra (plate no. XS-72- 941)

They are charged with conspiracy to bribe a public official and will be presented and stand before a magistrate judge this morning in Austin. They are facing a 250,000 fine and up to Five years in jail

Robert Pitman "From the beginning in the case we indicated it was all about keeping corruption from Mexican drug cartels out of the United States and this is just another example of what cartels believe they can get away with and an example that we will do whatever to not let them and will do whatever we can to stop them."

Adding insult to injury, when Segura was on the stand US attorney Michelle Fernald asked him if he ever participated in criminal activity with Cessa, he answered emphatically "no". 

Fernald reminded Segura he was under oath, he acknowledged that and again answered no.

Fernald could not hide her smile as she turned away.  Later Segura was arrested on the bribery charge.

To commit a perjury a person must be under a "lawful" oath, then "violate" that oath in a "willful" manner regarding an issue "material" to the oath.

Segura could be prosecuted under section 1623, if convicted the penalty is up to five years
.

US Attorney Robert L. Pitman front center-Gardner behind Pitman to the left

Clearly, a charge of perjury can't be far behind, but the likely,  scenario is a plea.  Hopefully any plea will include incarceration.  This impressive group of United States attorneys, seem committed in setting precedence and sending a strong message to cartels and associates of cartels, that you can't come to the US, and expect business as usual.

Corruption is business as usual for Cessa

In 2004-2005, Francisco Colorado Cessa syphoned millions of dollars  of drug money that was allocated for the horse racing operation and 12 million dollars to the PRI political party’s gubernatorial campaign in Veracruz. 

Once Fidel Herrera won, the majority of contracts awarded for Pemex and Petróleos Mexicanos was given to ADT, Francisco’s company.  Francisco was the liaison between the governor and a former Zetas leader, probably Heriberto Lazcano who is now deceased.  The gubernatorial victory assured free passage for the Zetas trafficking drugs through Veracruz.

Hinijosa testified that in 2001, when the Zetas were the enforcer wing of the Gulf cartel [CDG], a founding member of the Zetas, Efraín Teodoro “Z-14” Torres, was sent to take  over the Miguel Alemán plaza. “Plaza” refers to a region.  Miguel Alemán is the border city across the Rio Grande from Roma. 
 
At that time the government controlled the drug trafficking in the state of Tamaulipas, Torres was sent in to gain control.  
 
The cartel “took over all the plazas in the state of Tamaulipas to control all the drug movement to the United States and to handle all bribery,” he said.  Eventually Torres was sent to Veracruz to capture that state as well.
 
Cessa was sentenced yesterday to 240 months for the laundering case, but is implicated in the bribery case so will be facing additional time.
Robert Munday Special Agent of FBI filed the affidavit which was unsealed this morning.

There will be a press conference at 9:30 am.  At 2:00PM Cessa and Segura l faced the Magistrate, both men affirming they understood the charges, but Jr. stating "I don't know U.S. Law".

Both men are citizens of Mexico, and Cessa Jr. was using an expired United States visa. U.S. Attorney Douglas W. Gardner argued against bail asserting the high risk both men pose given the nature of the charges. They were held over, next hearing is September 19th.
UPDATED SENTENCING AT TOP OF OTHER POST
 
The Criminal Complaint  is a must read,  James Bond meets keystone Cops....


87 comments:

  1. Told u Texas don't play around!! If this case was taking place in Mexico then Cessa would of been a free man already!!!

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  2. Hey chivis and hanvana great job and a giant scoop they must love you guys at the court

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    1. Havana and Chivis- I agree totally love you two and all the coverage! I wish I was there,even with the boring waiting periods! Trying to bribe a. judge??? Where does he think he is? Did he do too much of his protect? Braindead? I.Q.of 6???hanks amingos. Can't wait for Z40! Peace. Texas Grandma.

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  3. Don't they get it that this is not Mexico! Honest working judges won't take bribe from criminals!

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  4. These guys were complete idiots.texas and the feds dont work like some of the judges and legal system in mexico.that was a very bad move by them two as cessa will get more time tacked on to his 20 yrs

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  5. JA! love it! well done, these people are so used to deal with corrupt officials in México it didn´t even cross their minds that it would backfire big time if they tried it in the US, I commented in another article that I was glad Pancho Colorado got a long sentence because he was as dirty as it gets and there you go, dirty and stupid, he thought he was dealing with gringo versions of Fidel Herrera and his minions jajaja.

    The full name of his partner is Ramón Segura Ramos

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  6. Yeah, we will add later I was tying off texts from the court and just wanted the scoop up.

    incredible, Cessa is such a pig, his money is all corruption (Pemex) I am happy, and his son is going down also...can you imagine arrested after court yesterday?

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  7. Judges and prosecuters take bribes everyday in Texas ,maybe if it wasnt such a high profile case and wasnt about filthy Z

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    1. @9:35 a.m maybe but not feds and nowhere near to the degree the mexican officials do.not sayin i never happens but it is extremely rare.cosa nostra used to try that years ago with judges and jurys but it never worked it was one of many things that got john gotti in trouble was paying a juror 60,000$ back in the day and he got caught at it!!

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    2. John gotti also killed his boss who had big connections with gov .and whose family is still very powerful and rich in the usa
      Its all about who you know in usa

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    3. @9:25 p.m true but at least gotti didnt kill paul castellanos wife and kids to do it.he wanted the bosses job and had him and him alone killed.they still got connections here ppl just think they went away but they didnt they just operate in the u.s in a different manner!

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  8. Not just the money, he got a ranch in Veracruz seized and in that ranch there was a big shootout and over 20 zetas arrested, yet he was still free and his company is still getting deals from Pemex, now with both partners in jail it kinda forces México to do something about it (I would think...)

    Havana must have had a blast in court when the arrest happened after what I imagine was a pretty long and boring day, icing on the cake :D

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  9. Colorado Cessa, Cessa Jr, and Segura have to be some of the stupidest sobs on the face of the planet to believe they could bribe Judge Spark into giving him a reduced sentence!! Now they are going to lose their freedom along with Pancho Colorado. Don't they know that you don't have any privacy in jails/prison and that all your conversations are recorded; along with your visits video recorded! That FBI agents wiretap themselves. These guys added salt to an open wound! Ouch that hurt! Talk about insult to injury.

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  10. I just added backstory about Cessa's corruption, Pemex and Zetas connection, see at bottom area of post

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  11. Judges and prosecutors may take bribes in Texas, but this is FEDERAL, and it's nearly unheard of for a federal judge to accept a bribe.

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  12. Great job, Chivis and Havana. That's a scoop with a cherry on top. The Colorados are personal friends of EPN, which according to Conde Nast is one of the most visionary leaders in the world.

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    1. hallucigenated;pri,and pena nieto have been robbing all over mexico,wherever there is any money to steal,armed with he "authority"of whoever is in charge,there are no accountants in messico,to prove nothing to the pederastas,I mean priistas.imagine what is going on with pena nieto as president now.that why he's been releasing people like caro quintero,to prove the mexican "authonomy".Colorado needs to TALK in exchange for something

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  13. Apparently Colorado didn't have enough protection, even after financing the gubenatorial campaign of Gov. Fidel Herrera, to prevent his arrest and eventual extradition/conviction for money laundering in the U.S.A You know Calderon had to have it out for him since he was a PRIISTA. In the mafia world that calls for somebody to get whacked.

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    1. Federal and most state judges are ex-lawyers with private practice experience. With the outrageous fees they charge defendants for counsel along with the fees they pay themselves from winning lawsuits they don't need bribes. We're talking about 40% from the awards of a lawsuit. Say its $10 million - they get $4 million. Iam not saying there is no corruption from judges because there is - especially from behind the scenes. Remember that lawyers, judges, and fprosecutors, and district attorneys are a fraternity of the American legal system. Some of these people went
      to school together and have worked with each other. It's hard to bribe judges due to the highly organized/law enforced judiciary that the American legal system is; however, its hard to corrupt/bribe people that already have a lot of money, and a great career that comes along with it.

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  14. I can't believe these guys fell for this sting. I guess when it works all the time in Mexico, you just think it's gonna work here. It shows one thing is for sure, the Zetas (or any Mex cartel) don't want to be in a US prison.

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  15. wow what a bunch od Dummy$$ lol fry them all they WI$H THEY WERE IN ***MEXICO*** SOON THEY WILL BE IN THE SHIT HOUSE CLEANING THE TOYLETS LOL..WEAR THEY ALL BELONG LOL

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  16. everyone is commenting about how stupid the defendants were in trying to bribe a US judge. But as I understand the story, the judge never knew of the attempted bribery. He probably is an honest judge, but since he didn't even know of the conspiracy to bribe him, he is not a very good example to base the belief that a US judge can't be bribed. What was stupid was that the defendants didn't think their phone calls from jail would be monitored.

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    1. The police never let it get that far as it was stopped before it did.im sure this wouldnt have been that judges first rodeo as far as that kind of thing goes.they probably didnt feel the need to tell him at that point in time but they were stupid for thinking that they dont listen in on you in jail!!!

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    2. judges in the us know they are being monitored, the very great majority are honest and not everybody's honor or manhood is for sale even from a judge from Texas.chivis and ass...good job!

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    3. How come Txas Gramma is calling our Havana an ass? You should stand up fo your buddy, Chivis! But she is right good job Chivis and Havana too! This is compelling stuff! Everything is bigger in Texas but Federal judges barely ever get bribed!

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    4. Just saw this hours later on the news! Good one! Someone was on their tippie toes early this morning. CHIVIS and HAVANA coverage! Buggs should be happy with you both

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    5. I w ound never call Havana and/or Chi is an ass! They are two of my heros.Maybe if I had not worked 94 hours this week or re-read my posts or used spellcheck. I'd not come across as a rude, not appreciate bitch
      My apologies. You two rock. Texas Grandma peace to all innocents and as always thanks for the outstanding job you all do!

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  17. Finally, some aggressive law enforcement.

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  18. Hahaha relax people texas is corrupt just like ant other place even the fact that they tried it tells you that there corrupt but its the Zetas and its a federal case theres no way at least not anymore but it has happend before el chapo does it all the time jajajaja yur a bunch of dummys too

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    1. Well, to bad your masters got some time.

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  19. if the judge didnt even know they tried to bribe him then it was not an attempted bribery. maybe they conspired to bribe by talking about it as a possibility but if they never made the approach then what gives? it sounds like maybe they tossed the idea around on the jail phones, but it never got further than that

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  20. This is America! Putting in jeopardy a federal judgeship and risking 30+years in the gulag, is worth WAY more than $1.0-$1.2 million. The bidding should have started at $10 million.

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    1. Any persons in charge of applying the law who is honest to God and the society they represent have no price at all.

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  21. yall sound stupid open up your eyes not your ass. this great country has plenty of judges lawyers and specially politcans that have took and continúe to be corrupt employes of the US but nobody talks bout it

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    1. 1:01 we know there are corrupt judges in the us,but this one,in this case,was not one of them,if you know cases of corrupt judges write a book,or report it here,ill buy the book...

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    2. You are 100 percent right it go on all over the world all day every day just look a Chicago it is the most corrupt city in the USA so for people to think there is none here u must live in a box and never get out

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  22. Logic he is honest and was just being watch just incase he flipped

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  23. By the time a judge got out for taking 10 million that would be a lot of adult diaper money cause hed be so old hed need it for those!! Most judges in u.s especially feds are not willing to risk it!

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  24. I know who can help mi friend El panocho colorado,the great mexican hero... EL CHAPOLIN COLORADO! then
    my good friend El panocho Colorado will be thumping his nose at you pinochos envidiosos!

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  25. Incredible work! No one has this indept information about the man and background. and You BB absolutely broke the story. Great team should get paid

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  26. Lo siento, Dorothy. You're not in Mexico anymore.

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  27. Wrong Judge, amount too low. Americans are way more greedy. Stupid idiots!!! He would of done it for 5m

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    1. Hahaha you know you wouldve gave that foo your asscheeks if he made you an offer like that

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  28. Later on if they need his help in another case they'll work out the number's.

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  29. September 6, 2013 at 1:01 PM

    why are you upset that these fools got caught?

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  30. Fuck what's up with the extreme close up of this idiot hahaah ah I can see the fat folds on his face. I hope he saved money for the commissary in jail. Zetas are done. Trevino ur shitty family is going to be making license plates for the next 100 years u turd

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  31. Really incredible reporting here. Havana and Chivis rocked this trial journalistically. A professional job! Thank you! May you both be safe.

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  32. Seriously stupid Francisco Cessa! OMG! After all that time in that courtroom observing that judge and he still thinks he is going to bribe him? Wicked stupid! Good story, BB

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  33. This judge was not aware of this bribery attempt in the least! It spells it out in this awesome article. Whoever just said, "You're not in Kansas anymore," nailed it.

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  34. wow...thank you 4:53, it is the troll impersonating Tex Gma, she doesn't talk like that.

    Readers read the indictment it is fascinating.

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  35. It is by far the best read all week or month Chivis - I would call it riveting. Really everybody, do yourself a favor and read it. You won't be sorry.

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  36. Hey bunch of crack heads
    don't mess with ZETAS

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  37. This coverage has made me a huge fan. Thank you. I started reading at the start of the trial. So much time devoted to covering it properly like you did. You all can pat yourself on the back. I think in trial coverage you are in the big leagues! I say thank you very much again.

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  38. the story in the indictment is hilarious, pure comedy movie material, they planned it so poorly that even if the whole thing had been real they wouldn´t have been able to deliver the down payment, they didn´t try to cover their asses at all by using some intermediary or something and basically they went asking around who knew someone who could bribe that judge and trusted the first person who came saying "yup, a friend of a friend has a brother in law who plays golf with him" hahahah

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  39. They are going to be facing some serious time unless they can bribe their way out of it. Hey, it's worth a shot! Just don't talk about it on the jail phone.

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    1. Yeah it is worth the try..but that segura dumass fucked up telling that to the colorados sr cell mates friend..he saw that guy visiting colorados sr cell mate, and told him about the bribing idea..pendejo la cago..and that "visitor", went on and told federal agents about their attempt to bribe, so he could get a reduced sentence for the cell mate..pendejos.

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    2. Luego a case of the zetas..how the fuck aren't the agents gonna monitor there calls..of course they were, since the minute they stepped insidr the jail.

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  40. Just read it Chivis and still don't really know what they were thinking! Good read!

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  41. All you people ate stupid acting like you know how judges think money is the Same color it dont matter Where your at. just Look at that judge that got 20 years for taking bribes you people are naive and dont know shit

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  42. 7:17PM

    historically there have only been 2 US federal court judges guilty of bribery, 1 a DEM and 1 a REP

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    1. The judge that tried Harry aleman in Chicago let him go for $10 000 us dollars,killed himself when he got caught.Harry Aleman,Chicago,his father was from durango...

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    2. Uh chivis you are wrong Look at the Arizona judges that were taking bribes from private jails to send more kids there one of them got twenty years. bribes here happen all time everyone just too naive to see it. not in good ol u.s.a bullshit. Yea mexicana produce and import drugs we consume them whens the last time you seen a big drug bust here yet this is the biggest market in the world

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  43. It just goes to show how stupid the cartel leadership really is.

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  44. They should make a remake of dumb and dumber zeta version

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  45. Ii loooove how they dont take the zetas bribe yet drug cartel leader Javier Torres Felix serves little time and returns safely to mexico eventhough he gunned down a special forces soldier of mx and poisoned god knows how many Americans,go USA go USA the only country where there is justices! i love the hypocrisy.US sucks CDS balls,thats the truth

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    1. He did not poison any Americans. Americans posion themselves. Take responsibility for your own actions. When someone dies because of alcohol, you dont blame the company who produced the alcohol now do you?

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  46. 8:02PM

    These people were not Zeta leadership if you read the article and see the background, which is an intriguing story of how zetas got ver and how cessa got millions.

    he is a businessman made extremely wealthy when
    Verzcruz governor candidate Herrera's election was funded by Z's and ADT, Cessa company was given all the PEMEX contracts. If you follow my hyperlink there should be the story of it. but he washed money thru his company and bought horses with clean money sending back north. He was never a zeta, just had a close working relationship.

    another fascinating story is that of Javier Del Rayo, cessa is involved in this story also, Rayo was kidnapped in a bizarre manner to be executed but that is not what happened, even though he could not pay the extortion. Later he was forced to the US to purchase a horse but so badly beat up he could hardly write...

    see that one here :

    http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2013/04/zetas-cartel-money-laundering-trial.html

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  47. There are jugdes in federal prison for corruption but I don't know how many were federal jugdes. One was caught with cocaine, a striper and a rifle. He was a fed judge, not corrupt but not any better.

    ~ Puppy

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  48. Chivis and Havana, this has been some of the best reporting I've seen in my lifetime. I'm a little sad to see these trial over, it's been so interesting especially the way you've reported everything so well. And this scoop! The icing and, like someone said earlier, the cherry on top. Great job! I'm almost sad the trials are over.

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  49. US District Judge John H Wood aka Maximum John for handing down the maximum sentence on all cases was shot and killed in May 29 1979 by El Paso, TX lawyer Jimmy Chagra and his brother also a lawyer when Maximum John refused to be bribed after the Chagra brothers were convicted of drug trafficking. Maximum John was killed outside his office. He was the first ever federal judge to be murdered, and the only one to this date. This murder happened in San Antonio, TX.

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  50. US District Judge John Howland Wood was killed outside his house by Charles Harrelson, a hit man hired by the Chagra brothers from El Paso, TX.

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  51. Charles Harrelson who killed Judge Maximum John died on March 2007 of a heart attack at Colorado 's Supermax federal prison.

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  52. Interesting stuff this is! I'm just catching up and know this Judge. Five million wouldn't do the trick and even threatening to kill his family wouldn't. He'd protect any way he could but that man is as close to unbribeable as any human can be. Those guys didn't have a chance in hell.

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  53. jajaja patadas de ahogado de Las Zorras

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  54. "lito "brito sez

    don't mess with Texas...jaja more putos going to prison

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  55. Chivis---you & Havana should write a book.
    Amazing coverage and historical review, I have spent last night and too many hrs today reading the posts and the links and yet to finish.

    The criminal complaint alone was spellbinding and that is often not the case. I am another person that 'found' Borderland Beat when googling information on the trial and was impressed how much better and detailed the coverage was here from you two.

    Huge thumbs up. suggestion: link the trial coverage somewhere on the new posts.

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  56. One more comment-what is very apparent is the knowledge you have of the Mexican Drug War , this is shown in how you link history and how is relates to the present. In other news accounts it is apparent they are limited in knowledge, no depth, a person must have the entire story to understand the cartels and the danger the posed to Mexico and the US, and how they control Mexico. My 2 Cents

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  57. In Az you are saying federal judges have been convicted for bribes? WIll you please send me a link? Thank you!

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  58. I found the info for Arizona and there has been no convictions for Bribery. only one conviction at for anything by a federal judge in Arizona and that was tax evasion.

    There was not one bribery conviction ever of a federal judge until the 90s.

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  59. This is good news. Correction; this is great news!

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  60. don't confuse federal court with state.

    and it is my understanding that 20 years is the Max sentence allowed, but with another charge of attempted bribery he will be in longer:

    http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33315.pdf

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  61. The assassin of the Federal judge, Charles Harrelson, was the father of actor Woody Harrelson. Regarding the question above about the accused only "talking" about bribery, that is the definition of a conspiracy. Very seldom are defendants acquitted in federal court.

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    1. John Howland Wood aka Maximum John was killed for not accepting money from the Chagra brothers. He was an honest to God man.

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  62. Any chance that Segura is related to Ruby the real estate agent that worked with one of the defendants and testified? Wasn't her name Segura?

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  63. What a bunch of IDIOTAS these cartel guys. What's next, stay tuned.....

    El Vato loco

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  64. Yup, it goes like this, federal, district= state law, metropolitan = city or county= outskirts. something like that

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