FBI arrest of Most Wanted Fugitive Saenz detailed

LA Weekly points out that the arrest of Jose Luis Saenz was facilitated by a Mexican deportation of the mafia hit-man, not an extradition. The mag profiled Saenz in its 2010 cover piece titled: “East Los Angeles Hit Man Trained by Mexican Cartels“. He was wanted for a couple of street corner killings, the rape murder of his pregnant girlfriend and the slaying of a Whittier man in connection with a $600,000 drug debt.

This from LA Weekly:

For years, nobody has had a death wish strong enough to rat out Smiley for these killings, save for young Juan Pena. Dying several years ago of childhood leukemia, he fingered his blood brother Saenz for the executions on North Clarence Street.

But Smiley, with his intense black eyes and his quick, deviant mind, vanished from the local cops’ radar for 10 years — to Mexico for some of that time, the FBI says, where he morphed from East L.A. tagger and Cuatro Flats gang member to a connected, Mexican-cartel drug “soldier” — simply put, a high-level executioner, and then trafficker, operating on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.

Here’s video of the Whittier slaying — warning it is graphic:

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Video of Jennifer Lopez and George Dejongh after capture in Mexico

George and Jennifer Dejongh, 34, are shown in video below shortly after their capture in Mexico nearly two weeks ago. Jennifer is accused of taking her children to Mexico after temporary custody was awarded to their grandfather Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea.
She claims the children were abused by their father, Miller’s son Brian.
An attorney for the Millers denied the accusations last week.

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Survivor producer suspect in wife’s death

From Fox News

A television producer for the hit CBS show “Suvivor” is the main suspect in his wife’s death after he reported her missing in the Mexican resort city of Cancun.

The body of Monica Beresford-Redman was found Thursday morning in a sewer at the swanky Moon Palace resort where the family was on vacation, according to the official at the office of the attorney general for Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located.

A witness at the hotel saw the couple arguing Sunday, and Bruce Beresford-Redman has been detained as a suspect, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the case.

Beresford-Redman had been missing for two days when her body was found Thursday.  According to reports, she left Monday to go shopping but never returned.

KCAL, a CBS News affiliate, spoke with Bruce Beresford-Redman Wednesday, who told them he could not comment on the matter much because he was hoping to keep the phone lines clear.

“I’m very hopeful someone will find my wife very soon,” he said. “She still hasn’t been located and we’re looking.”

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He’s baaaack — Most Wanted fugitive returned to US from Mexico

Emigdio Preciado,  whose picture has been on billboards, the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List and the television program America’s Most Wanted, returned to the US Tuesday, according the the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. 

Here’s a portion of Ruby Gonzales’ story on the gang member’s return:
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A Southside Whittier gang member on the run for nine years is back in Los Angeles county to face trial for shooting at two deputies during a Sept. 5, 2000 traffic stop.

Norwalk Station Deputy Michael Schaap was shot in the forehead while Deputy David Timberlake wasn’t injured during the shooting. Schaap underwent rehabilitation and had to learn how to walk and talk again.

The FBI brought back Emigdio Preciado Jr. on Tuesday from Mexico, according to Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker in a written statement.

He said Preciado is scheduled to appear Thursday in Whittier Superior Court.

According to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller, Preciado was extradited to the U.S. and handed over to FBI agents at the border in Brownsville, Texas on Tuesday morning. The 39-year-old was flown to Los Angeles International Airport under FBI escort in the afternoon where he was handed over to sheriff’s detectives.

“The Sheriff’s Department and the people of Los Angeles County express their gratitude to the FBI and Mexican law enforcement authorities for their tireless efforts to return Preciado to Los Angeles County,” Parker said.

The shooting happened on Gunn Avenue, north of Mulberry Drive in the county area of Whittier. Schaap and Timberlake tried to pull over a 1979 Chevrolet van for a burned-out headlight when Preciado allegedly fired at the two with an AK-47 assault rifle.

Detectives said Preciado was wanted for violating parole and didn’t want to return to prison.

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Counsel general says travel to Mexico is safe despite Salcedo slaying

This from KPCC

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Mexican consul general in Los Angeles Juan Marcos Gutierrez-Gonzalez said that the investigation’s taken on high priority in Mexico. “I spoke to several members of the community of El Monte, that communicate to me the concern and I immediately talked to the ambassador of Mexico in the United States, who at the time was in Mexico City. That helped and the undersecretary, at the maximum level.”

Mexican authorities have said they believe the killings were the work of area drug cartels. On Monday, thousands of people attended a candlelight vigil at which Salcedo’s brother urged those in attendance to pressure Mexican officials to find the gunmen.

Consul Gutierrez-Gonzalez said that the slaying, while tragic, should not discourage travelers from visiting his country as long as they take precautions about their surroundings. “You can travel to Mexico. We invite you to visit Mexico but once there, take your precautions. I’m not saying the Salcedos didn’t take their precautions. I think they are victims of something else we don’t know yet.”

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Rethinking Mexico after Bobby Salcedo’s death

On Thursday I began rethinking Mexico.

We learned that day that Bobby Salcedo, an assistant principal at El Monte High School and El Monte City School Board member was shot to death with five other men in the town of Gomez Palacio.

Mexican authorities tell us the men were casualties of the ongoing drug war. A war that in Gomez Palacio during 2009 claimed countless lives including that of the town’s police chief.

If the U.S. State Department’s warning issued in August against travel to Mexico clinically pointed out brutal drug violence has plagued that country, Salcedo’s assassination brought it home in a way that none of us in the San Gabriel Valley will soon forget.

Salcedo, 33, was a rising star in a community that lacks credible role models. He worked his way through school, he mentored kids and volunteered to help the less fortunate in South El Monte’s sister city – Gomez Palacio.

It was there he met his wife, Betzy. It was there Salcedo was abducted, shot to death and dumped in a ditch.

Why?

The answers aren’t clear. Some say it was a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever the answer, Salcedo is a casualty of a vendetta among rival gangs, local authorities and the federales, all fighting for control of something no one can control.

That is what Mexico has become. It is why so many Americans are afraid to travel there anymore. Forget about surfing at K19, having Ortega-style lobster at Puerto Nuevo, or sipping daiquiris at sunset at the Rosarito Beach Hotel.

It wasn’t always that way.

I think back to spring break 1980.

Bill Morrow from Whittier and I concocted a simple plan. We would drive from UCSD to a small fishing village south of Ensenada and hang out for the week.

Of course we needed a car, so we enlisted Gene Helsel, who had a sky blue Ford Fiesta with a tape player. We popped in Pink Floyd’s “Animals” and hit the road.

A late winter storm cleared in time for us to make the journey. Things were smooth until we hit Ensenada. From there we played a game counting the road signs that said “devastacion.”

The mostly dirt road had been washed out in parts by untamed creeks. Mud was everywhere, but the skies were blue and wildflowers were just beginning to bloom.

At more than one point we stopped as a flock of chickens crossed the road. We hit San Quintin at nightfall and stayed in a motel that had a restaurant and bar.

Even though we were teenagers, we drank tequila and beer and watched a group of fishermen down flaming shots of 151.

A few days later we returned home after a stop at Hussongs on Lopez Mateos in Ensenada where we listened to mariachis, bought panchos and counterfeit Marlboros and ate bean cones from a street vendor.

We didn’t even get sick.

Since then, I’ve enjoyed many trips south, I’ve viewed the sunset from a friend’s trailer in the hills above Ensenada, and eaten borrego while drinking sweet port on a vineyard farther east.

I’ve been to the barrios of Mexicali, factories in Tijuana and colonias outside Rosarito.

That was when Mexico was safe. It isn’t anymore.

When it exactly changed no one can say for sure. But after Bobby’s death it will never be the same.

Devastacion.

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South El Monte’s sister city beset by violence — six executed *

This from Mileno in Gomez Palacio:

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Gomez Palacio, Durango .- The bodies of six males that had bullet wounds caliber in the chest and in the cranial region, were found today at 08:30 am at the side of Sacramento versus channel to the colony 11.

Spokesmen for the State Attorney of Justice report, which was based on a telephone call that was captured in Central Radio C-4, the Expert Services staff and the public prosecutor of crimes against life and health of people, moved to the site to attest to the fact.

It was reported that the bodies were found on the floor next to the channel from Sacramento, where they were raised and subsequently concentrated in the Amphitheater Facilities for practice of the autopsy of Law

In the place where the bodies were located was said, were found about thirty-caliber spent shell casings, which is why it is assumed that there were people killed.

* One of the dead is possibly Bobby Salcedo, an El Monte school board member, picture added above.

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