Gun buyer helping U.S. find Mexico cartel chiefs

HOUSTON — U.S. agents are armed with insider information that could help lead them to top Mexican drug-cartel leaders, thanks in part to a Houstonian who was a member of an arms-trafficking group that sent more than 300 military-style weapons to Mexico.

Christian Garza was sentenced this month to three years in federal prison as a result of a plea agreement that offered leniency in exchange for telling U.S. officials about his criminal contacts, according to court papers.

“Mr. Garza has also provided assistance and information related to the sale of the firearms in question to highly sought fugitives who are believed to lead one of the most violent Mexican drug cartels, the Zetas,” states a paper submitted to a federal judge by his lawyer, Connie Williams.

The Zetas, a crime syndicate launched by former members of the Mexican military, thrives across the border from Texas and is battling rival traffickers as well as the Mexican government.

The Zetas are known for being gruesome, aggressive and efficient. Top leaders are dodging multimillion-dollar rewards for their arrests by the U.S. and Mexican governments.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives contends Houston is the No. 1 spot of origin for weapons that have been traced from Mexican organized crime scenes back to the United States.

Williams stressed that his client was not a member of the Zetas cartel and did not personally meet with any Zetas, nor take guns across the border.

“They were more interested in the higher-ups, the people who could connect them to what was going on down in Mexico,” Williams said. “He put his two cents in. There was another layer between him and the Zetas.”

Garza, 27, was a member of one of three Houston-area gun-buying cells.

As part of his agreement with the government, he described the inner workings of his cell and provided grand-jury testimony that “may prove to be critical” in seeking criminal charges against firearms retailers where weapons were purchased, according to the paper filed by Williams.

Garza became a supervisor after being recruited by two cousins, one of whom is a fugitive believed to be in Mexico.

He is the latest of a dozen Americans, including three brothers, who pleaded guilty in an ATF investigation that has intensified since 2006. It has included multiple indictments. It is unclear to what extent others in the case have cooperated.

The Houston men were convicted for their roles in deceiving firearms dealers so they could buy weapons, many of which were civilian variants of the M-16 rifle favored by Mexico's drug cartels.

Garza and others were American citizens with clean criminal records, so they could purchase guns without raising flags.

A former U.S. intelligence agent said a key factor is the validity of Garza's information.

If he dealt with the cartel only on the U.S. side of the border, he would have limited information about what is going on in Mexico.

Still, each little piece could prove important in connecting the dots, he said.

Cartel members pay attention to how criminal prosecutions play out in the United States, including who is talking, he said.

“They will do like everybody does,” the former agent said. “Assess the situation — what did he know?”

Some of the weapons linked to the trafficking cell were traced from Mexico crime scenes back to Houston stores; they were discovered by scouring records that firearms dealers are required to keep, but their whereabouts remain unknown.

Among the weapons were firearms used in the “Acapulco Massacre” in which three Mexican police officers were killed.