Multiple Sources
“It’s about ego. It’s about pride. It’s about winning the horse race at all costs,”
In this Sept. 6, 2010 file photo, owner Jose Trevino Morales, center, acknowledges the crowd as he stood with the trophy after Mr. Piloto won the All American Futurity horse race at Ruidoso Downs, N.M. Prosecutors told a federal jury on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 that Morales, the man they say is the brother of leaders of Mexico’s most blood-soaked criminal organization, used the proceeds from their brothers’ ill-gotten gains to bankroll his horse-racing stable. (AP Photo/The El Paso Times, Rudy Gutierrez)
AUSTIN, Texas — A brother of two top leaders for one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico was convicted Thursday of buying racehorses to hide illegal drug profits.
A federal jury that deliberated for about nine hours over two days found Jose Trevino Morales, 46, guilty of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Trevino faces up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors say his older brothers, Miguel Angel and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, are the leaders of the Zetas, a Nuevo Leon-based organization that has expanded beyond the drug trade to become the biggest criminal group in Mexico.
The verdict represents an important step in curbing the violence and corruption generated by the cartels, said U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman.
“The government was able to show how the corrupting influence of drug cartels has extended into the United States, with cartel bosses using an otherwise legitimate domestic industry to launder proceeds from drug trafficking and other crimes,” Pitman said.
Jose Trevino Morales was one of five defendants in the three-week trial, each charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Three other defendants also were found guilty. A fifth was found not guilty.
Several other defendants remain at large, including Trevino’s brothers. His wife and daughter have pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
Trevino watched silently Thursday as jurors delivered their verdict and were polled to confirm it. Several people in the gallery could be heard crying.
His attorney, David Finn, did not immediately comment afterward. Finn has previously accused the government of prosecuting Trevino and his family with the hope of extracting information about his brothers.
“He’s honest. He’s ethical. He’s frugal. He’s not in the dope business,” Finn said.
But prosecutors accused Trevino of helping run a scheme that went through $16 million in 30 months to buy, train and race horses. Prosecutor Douglas Gardner told jurors at the start of the proceedings that the operation created fake companies and in some instances fixed races. Horse owners, trainers and others crafted bank deposits to mask the drug money being used to fund the operation, Gardner said.
“They hang themselves by their actions,” Gardner said during closing arguments of Trevino and his co-defendants.
Francisco Antonio Colorado Cessa, Fernando Solis Garcia and Eusevio Maldonado Huitron also were convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Jesus Maldonado Huitron, Eusevio’s older brother, was found not guilty.
The trial is being held in Austin because federal authorities in Central Texas took the lead in prosecuting the case.
The prosecution witnesses included a founder of the Zetas, Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar, known as “El Mamito.” Other witnesses said they helped funnel drug money into the United States.
One witness, imprisoned former Zetas member Mario Cuellar, described Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, believed to be a top cartel leader, as an active participant in the enterprise who kept a listing of the horses’ names and prices on his cellphone.
Finn accused prosecutors of trying to “tar and feather” his client by associating him with his brothers. He declined to call any witnesses.
The horses have been seized and auctioned by the government.
Mike DeGeurin, the attorney for Colorado Cessa, said after the verdict that his client did nothing illegal.
“He bought horses that ended up not in his possession,” DeGeurin said. “Was his intent to help somebody commit a crime? No.”
More than 400 of the horses have been seized and auctioned, and proceeds from the sales have netted the government $9 million, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Categories: Horse News
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
“More than 400 of the horses have been seized and auctioned, and proceeds from the sales have netted the government $9 million, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.” Auctioned to whom? Kill Buyers?
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Dio, not at those prices. But maybe right back to some cartel members.
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Hire many of those horses went to slaughter to pay for this groups crimes? I’m glad that the drug cartel was busted and that people may be fined and jailed but did the horses pay with their lives for what the humans did? It seems that animals almost always come out on the short end of the stick. What is humanity if not humane?
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$9 mil isn’t your average meat auction money and I don’t know where all of the horses went, but these were very nice AQHA and AQHA Appendix racing and breeding stock.
And last I checked, these criminals are NOT “racetrack owners”, they are racehorse owners.
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I’ve heard rumors about this happening in other states as well. Again, the poor horses pay the price for human greed.
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I thought this story about the Zetas using racehorses to hide money laundering was in Oklahoma, not Texas, but maybe it happened in both states. I’ll have to try googling it.
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SO happy people are being held accountable and caught for their corrupt dealings!!!
NOW THAT MONEY should be set up for horse programs, around the country and help rescue’s, NOT PUT in the GOV. POCKET, but they wouldn’t think of doing that ???
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That is a fantastic idea! Maybe you could look into that, see if it’s possible!
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Great thought Debbie it would make a difference but would never happen…. Greed Factor is high everywhere and our government is the biggest offender……
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See the government knows the GAO report is False. Look at this equasion=400 horses into 9 million dollars. That blows the screws off the GAO report coffin for horse prices now doesn’t it? In a dragged out beat down economy, in the sad western states claiming NO horses bring anything? And the government just got 9 million off of LIVE horses, LIVING horses generate money. So lets take the same horses and send them to slaughter 400×200 (Santos low estimate of course) or 400 into 9 million and see how the average on live animals is much higher? As for the drug money laundering and horse racing-this dates back to the 70’s. A few high profile ones in the 1990’s that really messed with me were heroin and cocaine being planted in the uterus or the stomachs of horses then when they flew the horses to their destination they slaughtered them and got their drugs out. A man and woman in the United States went up forever for that one. So the cartel has been working angles for decades. Unfortunately, we all know how horses in The Mexican slaughterhouses were treated over the years, so when you involve untold amounts of money and the drugs that they are concealing any thing including humans are entirely expendable.
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Maybe the US killer buyers are involved in drug running when they truck our US horses to slaughter in Mexico.
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When are they going to prosecute the drug cartels hiding money inside of horses and shipping them north, slaughtering them, and then removing the drugs? Horses are routinely sent north in order for them to avoid our hot Florida sun, so they certainly would go north with no one suspecting these poor animals full of drugs.
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An article from an Oklahoma City paper that lays out illegal activities by multiple cartels. “The way of the gun” makes no difference to them as long as they get what they want. Law enforcement knows about it, but also know the penalty for going public can be brutal. No Mafia code for them. They’ll take down your family, friends, and associates without batting an eyelash.
http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-16137-bad-traffic.html
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