Thaindian News

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) – Thirty-one Mexican Mafia gang members were convicted in California, prosecutors said Thursday.

The gang was considered to be the most extensive, organized and violent extortion and drug trafficking cell in Imperial County, California history.

Patrick Ralph Ponce, 44, of Imperial County, California, leader of the cell, pleaded guilty earlier this week to drug, weapon, kidnapping and extortion charges, making him the last of 31 gang members to plead guilty to charges brought by Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Ponce’s convictions puts “Operation Gangland” to an end, after it had begun its investigative operations in 2005, eventually shutting down a major Mexican Mafia cell that was spreading across Imperial and San Diego Counties.

The investigation revealed an extensive drug smuggling and extortion operation that used “tax collectors” in El Centro, Calexico, Brawley, Heber, Holtville, Calipatria, and Niland to extort funds from anyone engaged in illegal activity, such as drug sales or immigrant smuggling. The cell, which was being led by Ponce, would violently attack those who refused to pay the “fee” or “taxes”, which would be split between the gang member who collected them, Ponce and other gang leaders.

Furthermore, Ponce was running a heroin and methamphetamine trafficking operation, distributing and selling narcotics throughout the region. Part of his scheme was forcing gang members with outstanding warrants to surrender themselves to law enforcement in order to smuggle illegal goods hidden on these individuals into the Imperial County Jail. Any gang member that refused to obey Ponce’s orders was violently punished.

During the investigation, agents caught Ponce on wiretaps ordering assaults, setting extortion rates and arranging drug sales. In addition, agents seized large amounts of firearms, heroin and methamphetamine.

The 46-count indictment against the 31 gang members began in August 2007, collectively sentencing them to more than 200 years in prison.

“This Mexican Mafia cell was one of the most violent extortion and drug trafficking rings California’s border region has ever seen,” Brown said. “With the convictions of all 31 gang members, we’ve dealt a fatal blow to their criminal enterprise and they will spend a long, long time in prison.”