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EL PASO -- The man accused of setting up a hit on a Juarez drug cartel member who was an informant for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was himself an informant for the same agency, El Paso police revealed Tuesday. The fatal shooting of Jose Daniel Gonzalez-Galeana last May outside his East Side home was retribution for the arrest of Pedro "El Tigre" Sanchez, a reputed high-ranking cartel leader caught by the Mexican army last year, detectives said. "This was a payback situation and not something like an ongoing type of battle like you see in Mexico right now," Police Chief Greg Allen said. Three men, including a Fort Bliss soldier, arrested late Monday remained jailed Tuesday in lieu of $1 million bond on capital murder charges. More arrests are possible. The arrests follow a three-month investigation involving more than 50 police officers, the FBI and Texas Rangers and the high-tech mapping of the suspects' locations on the day of the slaying by plotting where their cell-phone calls were made. Police said Ruben Rodriguez-Dorado, 30, was ordered by his cartel bosses to plan the hit onGonzalez-Galeana, who a Mexican newspaper last year reported was an informant who led to the capture of Sanchez, though it was unclear whether he actually provided information on that case. Allen said Rodriguez-Dorado, a legal U.S. resident, not only planned the slaying but also ran a burglary ring while he was an ICE informant. "As a matter of policy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not confirm or deny identification of confidential sources of information," ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said in a brief statement. Detectives said Rodriguez-Dorado hired two friends to carry out the slaying for less than $10,000. Pfc. Michael Jackson Apodaca, 18, was the shooter, and Christopher Andrew Duran, 17, drove the getaway vehicle, police charge. Rodriguez-Dorado was also at the scene, they said. Detectives said the men are El Pasoans who know Rodriguez-Dorado through friends. Rodriguez-Dorado "was the fixer, the older man who bought them alcohol, the party locations, things of that nature until he recruited these young people to do his bidding," said Lt. Alfred Lowe, head of the police Crimes Against Persons Unit. Police have obtained an arrest warrant for Jesus Aguayo Salas, 33, an alleged midlevel cartel lieutenant believed to be in Mexico, who is charged with ordering the hit on Gonzalez-Galeana. The cartel put a bounty on Gonzalez-Galeana because it believed he was an informant or switched allegiances to a rival organization, stated a criminal complaint obtained by the El Paso Times. The men are part of cell of the Juarez drug cartel referred to as the compania, or company. As the violence heated up in Mexico, Gonzalez-Galeana, 37, who owned a trucking business, permanently moved to El Paso on a visa from ICE, but detectives suspect he did not give up his role a midlevel cartel boss coordinating drug shipments. Allen said ICE should have told police about the cartel informants, especially considering the drug warfare in Juarez that has claimed more than 2,700 lives since January 2008. "My concern for this community is that this community stay safe," Allen said. "And for this community to stay safe, I need to know any person who might be posing a threat to the community." Allen, who had threatened to remove his officers from any ICE tasks forces, said he has spoken with high-ranking ICE officials to improve communication and cooperation. Rodriguez-Dorado, of the 3400 block of Billet Hill, allegedly told detectives he found Gonzalez-Galeana by obtaining his license plate number. He had also paid one of Gonzalez-Galeana's cell-phone bills in a failed effort to find his home address. Documents showed that federal agents alerted police that Gonzalez-Galeana was in danger after the cell-phone incident. Gonzalez-Galeana knew Rodriguez-Dorado was looking for him, and he was "concerned for his own well-being and the safety of his family," an affidavit stated. Through cell-phone records, detectives learned Rodriguez-Dorado was in constant communication with Apodaca and Duran. Their cell-phone numbers were confirmed through past arrests, police records, federal agents and service provider records. Detectives learned Rodriguez-Dorado, Duran and Apodaca were near Canutillo between 9 and 9:30 p.m., while Gonzalez-Galeana was in the area visiting a relative. They then followed him to his home. The men confronted Gonzalez-Galeana as he walked to the front of his upscale home in the 1300 block of Pony Trail Place on the East Side. There was a brief argument in Spanish, followed by gunfire. The El Paso County medical examiner found thatGonzalez-Galeana was shot eight times and that the fatal wound was to his chest. Apodaca, of the 7900 block of Viscount, belongs to the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Unit and is a Patriot launcher crew member. He is a former student at El Dorado High School and enlisted in the Army last September. Duran, of the 3400 block of Baron, attended Keys Academy, an alternative school in the Socorro school district. Police said a .45-caliber handgun used in the shooting was not from the military. It has not been found. Ten days after Gonzalez-Galeana's death, El Paso County sheriff's deputies arrested all three men during a failed attempt to steal a trailer full of flat-screen televisions. Each man was released from jail on a $50,000 bond. |
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