Apr 25, 2007 9:41 pm US/Central
Phony ID Scam Reported More Than 1 Year Ago
2 Investigators First Exposed Little Village ID Peddlers In February 2006
by Pam Zekman
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The raids Tuesday in Little Village targeted the Chicago branch of a crime organization that sells high quality counterfeit IDs in at least nine cities.
The 2 Investigators reported on how the operation works in a series of reports last year.
As CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman reports, they flashed their signs in the shopping mall parking lot, a 'c' signaling that phony identity cards were for sale. And for a few hundred dollars 2 Investigators bought them twice last year.
The second time an ID peddler took an undercover CBS 2 producer to a photography shop to have a picture taken for her fake documents.
She then turned around and paid him a $100 deposit cash inside the photo shop. A few hours later she got a fake Social Security card and Michigan drivers license from the ID peddler.
"These documents are not only used by individuals that want to possess them to get a job; these are also used by criminal organizations, they are also utilized by potential terrorists," said Elissa Brown of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The government said a basement apartment in a Southwest Side in the 5000 block of south Campbell building was the organization's primary office.
Tuesday they seized blank fake documents and the equipment used to make 50 to 1,000 fakes a day.
"When an organization is responsible for 15, ballpark, 15,000 or more fraudulent documentation sets per year, that is a serious threat to our system," said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
Twelve people were taken into custody on Tuesday. Among them was Julio Leija-Sanchez, who was the alleged Chicago cell leader of the fake ID ring. Meanwhile, among those charged but not located was Gerardo Salazar-Rodriguez, a fugitive believed to be in Mexico. Both are accused of conspiring to kill two fledgling competitors, federal prosecutors said.
Leija-Sanchez and Salazar-Rodriguez allegedly discussed the execution of one competitor, known only as "Montes" earlier this month, in which it would have been made to look like a robbery. They also allegedly discussed killing another competitor, "Bruno," in a scenario in which he would have been kidnapped and dismembered, prosecutors said.
Leija-Sanchez was charged with conspiracy to commit murder outside the United States. He and 21 co-defendants were also charged with participating in a 3-1/2 year conspiracy to illegally produce IDs and other documents. Ten of those charged are fugitives, and four are believed to be in Mexico, federal prosecutors said.
The federal complaint alleged that the organization originated in Mexico and is produces false documents in Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago and other U.S. cities. Julio Leija-Sanchez took over the Chicago operation after his brother, Manuel Leija-Sanchez, 40, was deported, prosecutors said.
Manuel Leija-Sanchez still has control of the organization from Mexico, prosecutors said.
The fake ID ring has already turned deadly, federal prosecutors said. One of four former members who stole equipment from the organization to set up shop in Indiana was killed, they said.
It was Julio Leija-Sanchez, the government charges, who paid $3,000 to have competitors killed.
"Someone was in fact murdered in Mexico and then there were steps being taken to murder at least one other person," Fitzgerald said.
A 100-page document unsealed Wednesday includes details of conversations overheard between the killer and Julio Leija-Sanchez.
"The person who did the killing relayed back on the wiretap what had happened, how many times he shot the person -- 15 shots," Fitzgerald said.
When the government overheard incredibly gruesome details of another planned killing earlier this month, they took steps to make the arrests Tuesday.
Search warrants were executed at four locations, including Nuevo Foto Munoz, a photo shop at the Discount Mall.
As part of a 2006 series, the 2 Investigators went to Nuevo Foto Munoz last year as part of a series of reports on the fake ID ring. As part of the investigation, an ID peddler took an undercover CBS 2 producer to a photography shop to have a picture taken for her fake documents.
She then turned around and paid him a $100 cash deposit inside the photo shop. A few hours later she got a fake Social Security card and Michigan driver's license from the ID peddler.
The photography shop is owned by Elias Munoz, who speaks English but insisted on answering CBS 2's questions in Spanish.
When asked if he was part of the illegal operation, he responded, "No I'm not part of anything. I'm a photographer; that's it."
Munoz is the father of 22nd Ward Alderman Ricardo Munoz who told CBS 2 Tuesday that the feds did not arrest his father, but did search the studio.
"They found nothing, they took some cameras and he will probably get them back in a week after they see that on the film there are just pictures," Ald. Munoz said.
On Tuesday, Manuel Leija-Sanchez's stepdaughter told CBS 2 she was helping the feds in their continuing investigation.
"At this time other people, other members of the family have stepped in," said Suad Leija-Sanchez.
Prosecutors say the fake ID ring recruits illegal immigrants to come to Chicago and sell fake IDs on street corners in Little Village, including Green Cards, driver's licenses from several states, and other documentation. Most members of the organization were of Mexican descent, but customers from around the world did business with them, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also allege the organization is involved in smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States from Mexico.
Conspiracy to produce fraudulent identification documents carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. But Julio Leija-Sanchez could face life in prison if convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.
Ten defendants are still fugitives.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
