July 30, 2014

Two Sons of Woman Linked to Mexican Drug Cartel Plead Guilty in Federal Drug Conspiracy

LITTLE ROCK—Christopher R. Thyer, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, along with David T. Resch, Special Agent in Charge of the Little Rock Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that two men with ties to the Gulf Cartel have pleaded guilty for their roles in a conspiracy to transport cocaine from Mexico to Little Rock for distribution in the Central Arkansas area. Mohammed Kazam Martinez, a/k/a “Mo,” pleaded guilty earlier today before the Honorable Susan Webber Wright to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine hydrochloride. Martinez’s brother, Homar Martinez, was indicted in the same case—along with sixteen (16) other defendants—and pleaded guilty to the same charge on Monday, July 28, 2014, in the Southern District of Texas (SDTX), where he is being held by the United States Marshal Service in Brownsville, Texas, on a separate federal drug case. As a result of their pleas, both men face a sentence of not less than 10 years to life imprisonment.

Mohammed and Homar Martinez are the sons of Idalia Ramos Rangel, a/k/a La Tia or Big Momma, a known close associate of high-ranking members of the Gulf Cartel, who directs a drug trafficking organization based in Matamoros, Mexico. That organization is responsible for the distribution of multiple hundreds of kilograms of cocaine in the United States. According to the indictment, Mohammed Martinez was a federal inmate in the Bureau of Prisons when he recruited inmates in the Federal Correctional Complex at Forrest City, Arkansas, to distribute Rangel’s Gulf Cartel cocaine upon their release from prison. Mohammed Martinez communicated with members of the drug trafficking organization using the prison telephone and e-mail systems to coordinate the distribution of cocaine to, and the collection of drug proceeds from, former federal inmates and others, including Homar Martinez and other members of Rangel’s family.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI, with substantial assistance from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Little Rock Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Gordon and Chris Givens.