DEA AGENT LINKS DEFENDANTS IN DRUG TRIAL TO HIGH-LEVEL CARTEL
LEADERS

EL PASO -- A DEA agent testified Wednesday that telephones seized as
evidence in a major drug trial linked many suspects to high-level
Mexican drug leaders affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel.

The agent and other witnesses in the trial of Fernando
Ontiveros-Arambula and Manuel Chavez-Betancourt also revealed the new
hierarchies of organized crime in Chihuahua state since the drug wars
began two years ago.

For example, witnesses said Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa drug
cartel toppled Vicente Carrillo Fuentes' drug-cartel leaders in the
Valle de Juarez -- a corridor across the border from Fabens, Fort
Hancock and Tornillo.

Witnesses said Gabino "Ingeniero" Salas-Valencio is in charge of the
Valle de Juarez smuggling route for Guzman, and Jose Antonio
Torres-Marrufo is his new top man in Juarez.

Noel Salguero, who is wanted by the DEA, is a high-level leader of La
Gente Nueva (the new people). U.S. drug investigators have said La
Gente Nueva is an emerging group that has made incursions into
drug-trafficking in Juarez.

Contacts on telephones seized from Ontiveros-Arambula and his
associates included those of operatives who adopted feline animals for
nicknames -- "puma," "pantera" (panther) and "jaguar."

The DEA agent said "pantera" is the nickname of a Mexican military
official who provided the Sinaloa cartel with intelligence about rival
drug dealers.

Another contact was for a man who directed the Sinaloa cartel's
operations in Juarez out of Panama.

Prosecutors are trying to prove the accused men belonged to a vast
drug-smuggling network tied to the Sinaloa cartel that was much bigger
and powerful than a typical drug cell.

Government witnesses have alleged that Ontiveros-Arambula worked
directly under Guzman, the Mexican kingpin who is battling for control
of the Juarez smuggling corridor. U.S. officials have indicted Guzman
and Carrillo on drug-smuggling charges, but they remain at large.

On Wednesday, a man who raised cockfighting roosters testified that he
helped drug smugglers transport marijuana loads to various U.S. cities.

Paul Quaintance, the witness, was one of the latest people to testify
in the federal trial.

Quaintance said he first met drug dealers from the Juarez-El Paso
region at cockfights in New Mexico before the state banned
cockfighting.

He said about half of the people who went to cockfights were involved
in drug trafficking.

The smugglers he worked with included several witnesses who have
testified in the trial in U.S. District Judge David Briones' court.

Quaintance said he stored marijuana from Juarez at his barn in New
Mexico, and arranged to transport it to cities in the United States.

He said he netted about $360,000 during the time he worked with the
smugglers. But he stopped his drug activities after he discovered a
surveillance camera across from his ranch house.

Among the smugglers Quaintance said he met was a woman nicknamed
"Liz," who had been shot at in Juarez at least 15 times.

"She showed me the scars, and she still had some bandages on,"
Quaintance said.

The woman is Elizabeth Lares-Valenzuela, who was attacked by an armed
commando in 2008 in Juarez. Back then, Mexican police said they
recovered 19 bullet casings from the shooting.

Last year, Lares-Valenzuela was indicted on U.S. federal drug charges
in connection with the U.S. investigation involving
Ontiveros-Arambula.

So far during the trial, agents and other witnesses testified that
many others formed part of the network, including Antonio "Black
Diamond Tony" Contreras, Oscar Ronquillo, Jesus Omar "Arabe"
Acosta-Chavez and Jesus "Puma" Fierro Mendez.