Hot on the cartel trail Convicted Houston gun trafficker offers tips on Mexico's Zetas

Ever the lying politically expedient, Obama is want to lay off gun violence in Mexico onto US gun dealers. Much ado has been made by the Obama regime of weapons found at the scene as being traceable back to US sources. Houston has been named as the epicenter of the gun trade by Obama and Holder. No exoneration or allowance has been given to this fine city whose fault remains it's proximity to the Zeta turf, directly across this state's border, the fact this state is awash with illegals working in concert with other illegals passing falsified identification allowing them to purchase firearms, or placing the blame not on US retailers,but rather the Mexican Judas' on this side of the border who by reselling to the Cartels are selling out their own countrymen and whose hands and profits are washed in Mexican blood.

No Obama won't tell that story.

Obama in his march towards dictatorial US control, pragmatically spins the story to fit his second amendment disarming of the citizenry of this country agenda. Obama in his quest to flood our nation with amnesty seeking illegals, not once has blamed the same element for pouring gasoline on a flaming Mexico. Not once has Obama tried to effectively seal the border stopping the cross border flow of guns, drugs, and illegals. Obama would rather denigrate the people of the 4th largest capitalist city in America, and one of the greatest states in the union.

Steve

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By DANE SCHILLER
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 4, 2011

U.S. agents are armed with the secrets of a convicted Houston gunrunner, information that could lead them to top Mexican drug-cartel bosses and the Texas firearms dealers suppling high-powered weapons.

Christian Garza was sentenced 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 cartel, 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 capture, despite multimillion-dollar rewards for their arrests by the U.S. and Mexican governments.

Garza was a member of an arms-trafficking group that sent more than 300 military-style weapons to Mexico.

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.

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.

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

"They (federal agents) 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 became a supervisor after being recruited by two cousins, including one who is a fugitive and 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 ATF and federal prosecutors declined comment.

The Houston men were convicted for their roles in deceiving firearms dealers in order to buy weapons, many of which were civilian variants of the M16 rifle favored by Mexico's drug cartels.

Garza and others were U.S. citizens (alleged citizens) with no records so they could purchase guns.

'What did he know?'
A former U.S. intelligence agent said a key factor is the validity of Garza's information. If he only dealt with the cartel 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 U.S., including who is talking. "They will do like everybody does," the ex-agent said, "assess the situation — what did he know?"

Some of the weapons linked to the cell were traced from Mexico crime scenes back to Houston stores. The weapons were discovered by scouring the required records kept by firearms dealers, (because these "bad" dealers wanted to NOT cover their tracks just in case the ATF wanted to catch them) but their whereabouts remain unknown.