Friday, July 3, 2009

ILLEGALS - POCKETFULS OF FRAUDULENT IDs

Fake Documents Cartel
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This story was first broken on the Wake Up America Talk Show "A Minuteman Project Chapter" Hosted by Steve Eichler.
Go to: WWW.Wakeupamericausa.com

A Mexican clan of document forgers operates in 33 states,
including Illinois. In Chicago, their annual take is around $2.5 million, and their main collaborators are gang members.

Los Angeles - In 1848 what came to be called the Gold Rush started. People came to California from all over the world to seek their fortunes. The idea of getting rich without much effort was the main reason they left their countries and headed for the promised land to seek the precious metal.

And so did Pedro Castorena-Ibarra and Manuel Leija-Sánchez, albeit 138 years later. In 1987 they found their goldmine in California. At that time the United States Congress had just passed a law giving amnesty to the undocumented who were living in the country.

This was when the boom in forged documents got going. Everybody wanted to get the paperwork and, whatever the cost, have the documentation to show length of stay in the country so they could work legally.

Pedro and Manuel took advantage of the situation and made
document forgery into a highly profitable family business. Authorities estimate that this organization generates earnings of $300 million annually.

The Castorena and Leija families, according to reports by the federal government, run a criminal organization dedicated to the production and distribution of fake documents. It is a criminal network extending into 33 states across the country.

Its main leaders are Pedro Castorena and Manuel Leija, both in prison, but still in control of the cartel.

The organization is run from their native Mexico by their parents, Alfonso Castorena and Natividad Leija, according to a federal agent involved in the investigation, ongoing for five years, which last month led to the arrest of Pedro Castorena in Guadalajara in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

In terms of financial organization and operation, the organization has been compared to the Arellano Félix cartel in drug running and the Peralta-Rodríguez brothers´ organization in the human trafficking business.

Specializing in forged ID cards, mainly the residency and work permit document called "green cards," the Castorena-Leija cartel is not above activities associated with the drug trade and human trafficking "coyotes."

Suad Leija, Manuel Leija´s stepdaughter, described in an interview the secrets of the organization , disclosing that it is also involved with human trafficking gangs which bring people across the United States border illegally.

"They also have connections with the Monterrey gang. Pedro knew the most about those people, and after him, my stepfather," Suad commented.

This organization is considered by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), a branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as one of the largest internationally, with connections in Central America and Mexico.

Friends from their childhood days, Pedro and Manuel became so good at the counterfeit document business that they used other identities, with which they managed for quitea while to outwit whoever was hot on their heels.

They came to the US almost 20 years ago. Los Angeles was their cradle, where they first "went into business." Later they expanded to Chicago, where Manuel Leija ran the show. Little by little, they established themselves in New York, and then in Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Denver, among other cities.

US Attorney Bill Leone has described this organization as a large-scale threat to national security, as it provides tools to criminals to evade justice.

"These tools help criminals hide their identity and gain access to places where they should not be allowed. They facilitate other forms of identity theft," Leoni declared, revealing this organization´s operations. "They serve as a store for not just illegal immigrants but also for drug smugglers, money launderers and potential terrorists."

For ICE Director of Investigations Marcy Forman, the Castorena-Leija organization, which can provide forged documents to terrorists intent on violating national security, is one of the largest and most sophisticated counterfeiter networks.

Los Angeles City Prosecutor Arturo Martínez, who has prosecuted several cases of forged documents, explained that the proliferation of counterfeit documentation leads to the crime of identity theft and is a national security problem while generating multi-million dollar losses
to the economy.

It concerns a problem which goes beyond just getting a fake document to show proof of age for getting into a bar, Martínez explained. "It´s a highly complex problem, not just the crime of forging a document, but because other crimes are committed. There are criminals who get these documents to hide their identity, to get through airport security or to commit fraud."

In the year 2004, according to the prosecutor, there were around one million victims of identity theft registered in California and ten million across the entire country. © La Opinión

Counterfeiter´s stepdaughter puts family on display Suad Leija doesn´t care if she unmasks her family. This 22-year-old young woman feels that national security is more important. Her stepfather is Manuel Leija-Sánchez, identified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as one of the ringleaders of a band of document ounterfeiters. She confirmed this.

In recent months, Suad has worked as informant for the federal government. Investigators from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been able to clear up several questions. Last month, together with Mexico´s Federal Investigations Agency (AFI, per its Spanish initials), managed to arrest Pedro Castorena in Guadalajara, one of America´s most wanted for the crime of
counterfeiting documents.

Pedro Castorena, aged 43 years, and Manuel Leija, aged 39,
godparents of each other´s children, are both in jail. The former is in the process of extradition from Mexico; the latter is close to completing a one-year sentence. They are the ringleaders of a band of counterfeiters operating in 33 states across the country, according to Suad, whose explanation is backed up by the ICE investigation.

From somewhere in the state of Georgia, Suad Leija offered a telephone interview to La Opinión. Her first words were, "My stepfather Manuel killed my real father in order to marry my mother."

At that time, she said, she was a baby. They were living in Mexico City. When Manuel got her mother, they moved to Los Angeles, California in 1987. Suad was two years old. Together with Pedro Castorena, Manuel Leija and a few other relatives got started in the counterfeiting business.

"My job was counting the money. I put it in envelopes, making envelopes of a thousand, two thousand, five thousand dollars." Suad remembered her work as a child, for which she was paid fifty dollars.

In just a few years, the Castorenas and the Leijas managed to amass a fortune. In Mexico they have chains of motels, bars and restaurants,the result of money laundering.

"When we arrived in Los Angeles, we lived in Pedro´s apartment - he was called `Perico´ [parrot] - and with his wife, Julieta León," the young woman explained. "That´s where they got started. Pedro and my stepfather sold documents and counted the money on weekends. That was my job, counting the money."

In the early 90´s, the business now flourishing, Manuel took charge of the Chicago market, where they were expanding. The whole family moved together.

"My stepfather took the Chicago area. My uncles, Julio and Pedro Leija, shared the other cities. In Chicago, my stepfather took in 2.5 million dollars a year," Suad commented.

The young woman assured that, in spite of being in jail, Pedro Castorena and Manuel Leija have kept control of the organization. Federal agents consulted by La Opinión indicated that this organization has a few hundred people operating across the country in various cells.

From Mexico, where the money is laundered in motels, bars, brothels and gyms, Suad said the business is controlled by Alfonso Castorena (in Guadalajara), Pedro´s father, and by Natividad Leija-Herrera (in Tlanepantla), Manuel´s father.

A report in the Library of Congress, called Organized Crime and Terrorist Activities in Mexico, 1999-2002, points out that the founders of this organization, based in Guadalajara, are Alfonso Castorena and Juan San Germán, who have members of the Latin Kings gang as collaborators in the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago.

In Las Vegas and Los Angeles, members of the 18th Street gang have also been linked to this organization. Suad fears for her life. She says she has already been threatened, so she moves from one place to another, under protection from the federal government. And for certain the Castorenas and Leijas have money and power aplenty. Authorities estimate that every year their document counterfeiting generates $300 million.

"I don´t know how they figure tha amount, but my stepfather is always the first one to have the latest model car. He is quite the showoff in Mexico, although in the United States he is ever so humble, appearing to be a low-level worker so as to not call attention, but there in Mexico he´s quite the opposite," Suad said.

Manuel Leija used to put on huge, rowdy parties in his parents´ home in the Jiménez Cantú section of the city of Tlanepantla in the State of Mexico. He liked drinking sprees and to have the band Los Tigres del Norte play "El Jefe de Jefes" [The Boss of Bosses] for him. With a
glass of Azteca de Oro brandy in his hand, wearing a Versace shirt, fine boots and jewels on his neck, Manuel would sing noisily. He would say he was The Boss of Bosses.

While Manuel lingers in jail, every third month his brothers Pedro, Julio, Elías and José Luis take turns with the business in the United States, Suad remarked.

"That is, everybody gets a chance to make money. They take turns with the business, each one putting together his sales team, and then my aunts take charge of handling and managing the money."

Why inform on your family? "For me, it´s like they never were. I am not of their blood. When I was little, they never treated me like I was part of the real family. Besides, it doesn´t matter to them if one of the documents they forge falls into the hands of a terrorist...All that matter to them is money."

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