Jul 3, 2007 10:53 pm US/Central
Laundering, Murder Detailed In Fake ID Indictment
CHICAGO (STNG) ―
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This man is signaling that fake IDs are for sale. (File)
CBS
A federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment Tuesday against a group of men charged with manufacturing and selling false IDs out of a photo shop in the Little Village neighborhood. One of the men is accused of ordering his competition killed in the $3 million-a-year phony document scheme.
Authorities raided the Nuevo Foto Munoz, 3105 W. 26th St., in April, sparking community protests.
According to the indictment Tuesday, Julio Cesar Hernandez-Lopez, Antonio Marquez, Ricardo Gonzalez-Marquez, Armando Davila, Jose Cortez-Perez, Miguel Cepeda, Eduardo Molina-Vasquez, Oscar Montiel-Gerrido, Rafael Morales, Alfredo Muniz, Luis Perez, Oscar Perigrino, Claudio Carrillo-Fuentes and Ricardo Quintero-Lopez "solicited customers on street corners in the Little Village area ... to purchase false identification documents in exchange for money. When customers were located, members of the organization obtained a photograph -- often from ... Nuevo Foto Munoz, owned and operated by Elias Munoz, and personal information from the customer to place on the false identification document."
Elias Munoz, the father of Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd), "provided members of the organization order forms, which he kept in a box on a desk in the entryway of [the shop]," the indictment alleges.
The false documents were manufactured at various locations, including an apartment at 2555 S. Lombard Ave. in Cicero and an apartment at 5366 S. Campbell Ave. in Chicago.
"Members of the organization, including Angel Martin Dorantes-Vasquez and Jose Cortez-Perez, conducted counter-surveillance in the Little Village area to warn other members of the organization of the presence of law enforcement in the area," the indictment said.
According to the indictment,members of the organization, including Raul Gonzalez-Marquez, collected cash proceeds from the sale of false documents and "smuggled and attempted to smuggle some of the cash in bulk to locations in Mexico."
Furthermore, the indicted said members of the organization, including Julio Leija-Sanchez and Gerardo Salazar-Rodriguez, "used violence and threats of violence against competitors and former members of the organization in order to limit competition and punish those who left the organization." Additionally, some members of the group allegedly "caused illegal aliens ... to be smuggled into the United States from Mexico in order to work for the organization."
In March and April of this year, according to the indictment, Gerardo Salazar-Rodriguez and Julio Leija-Sanchez discussed plans to murder two men -- one of them called "Montes" and the other called "Bruno."
On March 31, the indictment alleges Leija-Sanchez spoke with Salazar-Rodriguez over the phone and "authorized Salazar-Rodriguez to kill 'Montes.'" On April 4, after Leija-Sanchez was told that "Montes" had been killed, he made arrangements to pay Salazar-Rodriguez for his services, through Salazar-Rodriguez's brother, the indictment said.
On April 3, Leija-Sanchez spoke with Salazar-Rodriguez over the phone and told him to "'take him to Nabor, so that he can cut him up in pieces,'" the indictment alleges. On April 5, Leija-Sanchez spoke again with Salazar-Rodriguez about "Bruno," and told him to "'do the same thing you did to Montes, dude, but shoot him two times, dude. And leave him disabled, dude, and then, pull him out and into the trunk, dude.'"
The April raid in the Little Village neighborhood sparked community protests and became a rallying point for immigrant rights activists. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the raid had to do with dangerous criminals -- and not the immigration debate.
Arraignment information for the defendants was not available Tuesday night.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)