One-time insiders rat on ‘El Primo'

BROWNSVILLE — Juan Roberto “X-5” “El Primo” Rincon-Rincon was a rising player and right-hand man of the successor to Osiel Cardenas Guillen's Gulf Cartel, two men convicted in the United States for crimes related to the organization testified Wednesday.

The one-time municipal police officer allegedly rose to rule over the Rio Bravo “plaza,” Mexico's wide swath of drug trafficking turf opposite eastern Hidalgo County.

The witnesses gave testimony describing Rincon-Rincon's role in the cartel in hopes of lenient sentences for their own convictions.

The trial against Rincon-Rincon started last week, with federal prosecutors aiming for a jury conviction on two counts of conspiracy to traffic marijuana and cocaine.

Since the takedown of Cardenas Guillen in 2003, Rincon-Rincon was an ever-present part of the entourage surrounding Jorge “El Cos” Eduardo Costilla, the heir to the leadership, said prosecution witnesses Alejandro Jimenez Mendoza and Alberto Venegas Nuñez.

Both Jimenez and Nuñez admitted to testifying in hopes prosecutors will recommend light prison sentences. Jimenez entered a guilty plea for a January 2011seizure of cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine. Nuñez pleaded to being part of a bribery scheme.

Rincon-Rincon was one of four people arrested last October on the banks of the Rio Grande with a satchel containing a jewel-encrusted pistol, cocaine, and about $20,000 in cash. Among the others was Jose Zuniga Hernandez, whose cartel nickname, “El Wicho,” was engraved on the gun.

Prosecutors are hoping to prove Rincon-Rincon guilty of two counts of conspiracy to traffic more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana between 2002 and his arrest.

The key witness so far in the trial has been Rafael “El Junior” Cardenas Vela, Osiel's nephew and, before their arrests, his rival for cartel leadership. Cardenas Vela's testimony laid bare the workings of an organization that, as he described it, ran the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

Thrice-convicted drug trafficker Jimenez had an “in” — his brother-in-law was Costilla's cousin, Jimenez said.

He recalled meeting Rincon-Rincon in 2001, at a funeral for a slain drug lord. The guests included Osiel Cardenas Guillen, a name everyone in Matamoros knew. The city directly across Brownsville is the Gulf Cartel headquarters.

When Jimenez wanted permission to start a trafficking “line” running from Oaxaca to Veracruz to Houston, Rincon-Rincon was there at the Matamoros car wash, where the discussion was held.

Rincon-Rincon's role rose as helper to Costilla, Jimenez said. In one occasion he was the one trusted to count approximately $78,000 Jimenez delivered in a Louis Vuitton bag. In another encounter, Rincon-Rincon came alone to collect suitcase full of drug proceeds from Houston.

“I needed to work,” Jimenez said, remembering that he took one cartel assignment to pay for his daughter's quinceanera.

In the early days, Rincon-Rincon and Costilla were municipal police officers who moonlighted as operators of “tienditas,” small shops, conducting drug deals out of their patrol cars.

The police uniforms were ditched by 2003, when Costilla was the “right hand” of Cardenas Guillen, said Nuñez, who worked with Tampico plaza boss Juan Carlos “J.C.” de la Cruz.

“We all knew in general who Osiel was,” Nuñez said when asked about Cardenas Guillen. “He was in charge of the cartel.”

When Costilla took over for Cardenas Guillen, who is now serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States, Rincon-Rincon was Costilla's “trusted man.”

On certain days, a succession of traffickers would come to the car wash for beers, barbecue, and payments into the pool of money to buy cocaine. Rincon-Rincon logged the orders for the cocaine in a notebook. The convoy would come again when it came time to deliver the drugs, with Rincon-Rincon slicing into the individually marked packages so the buyers could sample.

The last time Nuñez saw Rincon-Rincon was a few months before his Texas-side arrest.

There was an approximately six-kilometer line of trucks marked “CDG,” for Gulf Cartel, centering round a gas station.

“Three kilometers before the gas station, three kilometers after, what was in the gas station?” prosecutor Angel Castro asked.

“Rincon,” Nuñez answered. “With another person.”

He said the other person was Costilla.

The trial continues today, with a lineup of federal law enforcement officials expected to testify for the government.

lbrezosky@express-news.net