Five Defendants From Northeast Georgia Drug Gang Convicted of Racketeering, Murder,...

Five Defendants From Northeast Georgia Drug Gang Convicted of Racketeering,
Murder, Drug, and Firearms Crimes

ROME, Ga., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Five defendants were convicted
today by a jury in federal district court of criminal charges that include
racketeering, murder, attempted murder, assault, methamphetamine trafficking,
and numerous related firearms offenses. The jury convicted the defendants
after six weeks of trial and two days of deliberations. The five defendants
were the leaders of a racketeering enterprise that originally included 30
defendants in the first indictment.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of today's verdict, "The truly
violent character of this drug gang, which operated out of the small town of
Cedartown, Georgia, is demonstrated by the fact that the racketeering
convictions are based on several violent crimes, including five murders,
attempted murder, and kidnapping, as well as drug trafficking. The five
murders for which defendants Villenas-Reyes and Shane Rosser were convicted
were 50% of the total number of murders that occurred in Floyd and Polk
counties in 2003." Nahmias added, "The use of federal racketeering and drug
statutes to attack the leadership of an organization is important, especially
with an organization such as this that operated across local and state
jurisdictional lines. Indeed, this prosecution resulted from the excellent
combined investigative efforts of local, state, and federal law enforcement
agencies."

FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Greg Jones said, "Getting inside of these
violence-driven gangs is a very difficult challenge for law enforcement
agencies when conducting such investigations. The skills and expertise of the
agents and officers brought together from the many varied agencies involved
was the key to the successful outcome of this investigation. The FBI remains
committed to working with its law enforcement partners in the aggressive
investigation and prosecution of these types of criminal organizations."

"The guilty verdict has made it clear that those involved in criminal activity
and responsible for terrorizing communities will be brought to justice," said
Kenneth Smith, Special Agent in Charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in
Atlanta. "ICE and its federal, state, and local counterparts will continue
working together to dismantle organized crime rings that threaten public
safety."

GBI Director Vernon Keenan said, "The GBI's priority is addressing the violent
crime problem in smaller communities across Georgia, and we are pleased with
the GBI's role in the successful investigation and prosecution of those
involved in this methamphetamine trafficking gang. The cooperation among
local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in this effort was
outstanding and was paramount to the successful conclusion of this case."

According to Nahmias and evidence at trial: Daniel Villenas-Reyes, 36, MARCO
Antonio Cordero, 33, Sammy Duque, 34, and Juan Duque, 31, all of Cedartown;
and Houston Shane Rosser, 36, of Centre, Alabama, were all convicted of
conspiring to engage in a racketeering enterprise in Polk and Floyd counties
in Georgia between March 2000 and December 2006. The evidence at trial proved
that the enterprise trafficked methamphetamine and protected its territory,
enforced discipline among members, and collected debts through a pattern of
racketeering activities that included the murders of five people, attempted
murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, transporting and harboring illegal
aliens, drug trafficking, and arson. The defendants were also convicted of
conspiring to distribute and distributing methamphetamine and cocaine.

Daniel Villenas-Reyes was convicted of shooting and killing Cesar Juarez
Vasquez, Arturo Torrez Ventura, and a woman who has never been identified, in
a house at 506 7th Street, Cedartown, on September 16, 2003, and setting the
house on fire to hide the evidence of the murders. Evidence at trial showed
that Villenas-Reyes committed the murders after residents of the house refused
to pay him for highly diluted methamphetamine that he had supplied them.
Villenas-Reyes was also convicted of participating in the shooting of Jesse
Vargas in Rome on December 17, 2002, several counts of selling
methamphetamine, and several counts of using firearms in connection with
crimes of violence and drug trafficking offenses.

In addition to the racketeering and drug trafficking offenses, Houston Shane
Rosser was convicted of shooting and killing T.J. Agan and Christopher
Fortenberry in their home in southern Floyd County on March 27, 2003. Evidence
at trial showed that Rosser killed Agan over a methamphetamine debt, and he
killed Fortenberry after finding that Agan was not alone. Fortenberry became
Agan's roommate a few weeks before the murders occurred. Josh Darrell Smith
went to trial with the other five defendants on January 14, 2008. But he
pleaded guilty midway through the trial and testified that he heard Rosser
shoot Agan and watched Rosser shoot Fortenberry. Another eyewitness who had
accompanied Rosser to Agan's home also testified against him.

Marco Antonio Cordero was also convicted of pistol-whipping a victim whom
Cordero suspected of stealing methamphetamine, selling methamphetamine while
he was escaped from the Polk County Jail in the late winter of 2003, and being
a convicted felon and an illegal alien who possessed several firearms on
different occasions while he was a fugitive. Other evidence presented at trial
showed that Cordero, Villenas-Reyes and Sammy Duque were previously deported
to their native country of Mexico before and during the operation of their
criminal enterprise, but illegally re-entered the United States.

Sammy Duque and his brother, Juan Duque, were also convicted of selling
methamphetamine, and Juan Duque was convicted of participating with Cordero in
the pistol-whipping of an innocent victim and using a firearm to commit that
crime of violence.

Evidence presented at trial also showed that Polk County and Floyd County law
enforcement agencies assisted each other in investigating the five murders
when a witness came forward in January 2004 and explained how the killings
were part of the violent operation of a single methamphetamine trafficking
enterprise that operated out of Cedartown. The FBI and U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) then assembled a multi-agency task force that
investigated the wide-sweeping enterprise and led to the prosecution of thirty
alleged enterprise members. In addition to the five defendants convicted
today, 15 other co-defendants have pleaded guilty to the racketeering charges
in the indictment. Ten more defendants await trial. No trial date has yet been
set.

Villenas-Reyes, Cordero, Rosser, Sammy Duque and Juan Duque face maximum
sentences of life in federal prison and fines of at least $4,250,000. There is
no parole in the federal criminal system. Their sentencing is scheduled for
May 9, 2008, at 1:30 p.m. before United States District Judge Murphy.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI, ICE, and the GBI,
with substantial assistance from the Georgia State Fire Marshal's Arson Unit,
the Floyd County Police Department, the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Polk
County Police Department and the Cedartown Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kim S. Dammers and William G. Traynor are
prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact David E. Nahmias (pronounced
NAH-me-us), United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive
Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs
Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for
the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of
Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

ONTACT: Patrick Crosby of the Office of United States Attorney David E.
Nahmias, Northern District of Georgia, +1-404-581-6016, FAX: +1-404-581-6160