Hatfield courthouse.JPG

Portland's Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse.

(The Oregonian file)

Even drug traffickers are capitalizing on social media to boost their business these days, federal prosecutors say.

At least two suspects arrested Wednesday in an alleged heroin and methamphetamine distribution ring produced and published a music video on YouTube.

The April 7, 2014 video was described as a drug ballad that depicts the story of drug lords carrying rifles, driving Hummers and other luxury vehicles in daring drug operations to try to enhance their reputations with accordion and tuba music in the background, an indictment alleges.

The music videos are called narco corridos in Spanish. This one has been viewed more than 28,500 times since being posted on YouTube, according to the indictment.

Indictments unsealed Wednesday in federal court accuse at least 10 people of conspiring to import cocaine from Mexico into the United State to sell, and to distribute methamphetamine mailed from southern California around the Portland area.

They used hidden compartments in motor vehicles to conceal the drugs, and communicated on cell phones that they frequently replaced to avoid police detection, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Ehlers alleges in the indictment.

The drug-trafficking conspiracy occurred from at least April 2014 through this June, the indictment says.

Several of the defendants made their first appearances in U.S. District Court in Portland Wednesday afternoon and are due back in court Thursday afternoon for detention hearings.

Charged so far in the alleged conspiracy are Francisco Nuno-Urenda; Jose Octavio-Gonzalez; Pablo Ernesto Torres-Zavala, Ricardo Lopez, also known as "Cholo," Oscar Gutierrez, known as "DJ Mundo,'' Perla Rubio Valdez, Enrique Guerrero-Salazar; Angelica Maria Guerrero-Salazar, , Catalina Ortega-Moreno and Fabiola Ortiz, also known as "Fabi.'' Other names have been redacted from the indictment, suggesting investigators are still seeking their arrests.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian