Three people involved in cannabis and real estate investments in the San Diego area were charged Monday in a murder-for-hire plot foiled by an FBI informant they allegedly paid to kidnap and kill a business associate, prosecutors said this week.

Salam Razuki, Sylvia Gonzales and Elizabeth Juarez were arrested last week and charged Monday in U.S. District Court in San Diego with felony counts of conspiracy to kill, kidnap or maim an individual.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Razuki and Gonzales told the FBI informant — whom they believed would carry out the hit for $2,000 — that they wanted the business associate to be shot in the face, and directed the informant to “take him to Mexico and have him whacked.”

Prosecutors said the defendants were entangled in a business dispute involving approximately $40 million with the victim targeted in the murder plot, who was identified in the criminal complaint only by his initials, N.M.


“You need to get rid of this a--hole, he’s costing me too much money,” Gonzales allegedly told the informant during the second of at least five meetings.

Prosecutors say Juarez joined the conspiracy in November over a sushi dinner. During the meal, Gonzales and Juarez told the informant they wanted to “put the turkey up to roast before Thanksgiving” — and then asked the informant to take a cellphone photo of them to commemorate the occasion, according to court documents.

Razuki’s attorney did not immediately respond to phone and email messages Tuesday night. Gonzales apparently did not have an attorney as of Tuesday, according to court records.

Allen Bloom, a longtime criminal defense attorney, said his client, Juarez, has “never been in trouble, is a wonderful person and is completely innocent.”


“I’m convinced that by the end of this case, the evidence will show Elizabeth is not only not guilty, but she’s innocent,” Bloom said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “The evidence will show she is not responsible for any part of any conspiracy or plot of any kind.”

FBI agents and federal prosecutors allege that the plot to have N.M killed was set in motion on Oct. 17, when Razuki and Gonzales first met with the FBI informant.

In court documents, prosecutors added a footnote that Razuki himself had been a confidential source for the FBI since May 2014 in other cases.

“However, Razuki has not informed the FBI of any of his actions, or those of Gonzales or Juarez, in attempting to have N.M. kidnapped and killed,” prosecutors noted.


The person the group believed would kill N.M. — whose name, gender and other identifying details were not disclosed — began cooperating with the FBI in 2009 and had “reliably… provided information … over the years leading to the successful identification and prosecution of drug traffickers, money launderers, and other subjects,” prosecutors wrote.

About three weeks after the first meeting, Gonzales allegedly met with the informant alone and called herself “the honey badger,” saying business associates often send her to handle problems. Gonzales said during this meeting at a Hillcrest restaurant that the informant didn’t have to kill N.M., but she “was making a slashing movement across her neck indicating she wanted N.M. to be killed,” court documents said.

Three days later, on Nov. 8, Gonzales met the informant again at a La Mesa sushi restaurant, where she said the informant needed only to lure N.M. to Mexico, where Juarez “would take care of him over there,” according to court documents. When Juarez showed up, prosecutors said, the trio negotiated the price for the informant to carry out the hit, then the informant took a cellphone photo of Juarez and Gonzales.

Juarez — who mentioned once drugging and kidnapping a Vista woman, and who allegedly said the plot against N.M. “wouldn’t be her first rodeo” — advised Gonzales not to watch the killing “because it would be gruesome and haunt her,” court documents said. Juarez also said the hit should be carried out in Mexico because “It’s easier to make things go away, you pay for your freedom.”


A day after the sushi dinner, the three defendants met somewhere in the Stockton neighborhood of San Diego to give the informant details needed to carry out the hit, according to court records. After agreeing to pay the informant $1,000 both before and after the job was done, Gonzales left the meeting, walked across the street to the Goldn Bloom Dispensary and came back with $1,000 cash.

On Nov. 13, the defendants had a court hearing in downtown San Diego in connection with the civil litigation with N.M. Prosecutors allege that the trio invited the FBI informant into the courtroom to see N.M., but the informant declined.

Instead, Gonzales took photos of N.M. and described him to the informant, who waited outside the courthouse, prosecutors said.

Last Thursday, the FBI interviewed N.M., who confirmed his business dealings with Razuki, mostly real estate investments involving cannabis dispensaries.


Later that same day, the FBI informant met with Razuki and told him he’d finished the job, prosecutors said in the court filing. Razuki told the informant he didn’t want to see proof, which the informant was offering to show him.

Gonzales was arrested Thursday and “denied involvement in any conspiracy to kidnap and kill N.M,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Juarez and Razuki were both arrested Friday, prosecutors said, and while Razuki also denied his involvement, Juarez allegedly admitted to FBI agents that she had “meetings and conversations about kidnapping and killing N.M., but said she didn’t think the group would actually go through with it.”


Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

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alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com