Gangs emerge in state

By Josh Rabe

Published: June 17, 2006

Authorities in northwest contend with drug smuggling, violence.

When a police officer stopped a speeding car Thursday night in downtown Guymon, the driver and passengers looked like an ordinary family.

Gang reference card for parents

Anything but ordinary was the 47 pounds of cocaine in vacuum-sealed bags police extracted from the gasoline tank. Texas County District Attorney Michael Boring said it had a street value of several million dollars.

And the passengers, as it turned out, weren’t related. Ana Valerio, 19, and her 11-month-old child had been paid and flown from Denver to El Paso, Texas, to act as window dressing for the driver, Jose Chavez, 28 — a Mexican national and smuggler, Boring said.

The ruse isn’t new for police in northwest Oklahoma and is part of a complicated system of organized crime that crosses the state on a drug route that runs from El Paso to Chicago. However, for some drug cartels and violent street gangs, the state’s sparsely populated northwest corner has become a destination.

Police from across northwest Oklahoma gathered Friday in Woodward to hear from FBI gang experts about some of the nation’s most violent street gangs, including Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), which the FBI says is active in the northwest.

“There has been an increase in violent gangs from Oklahoma City, Kansas City and Mexico coming into these smaller communities,” FBI Special Agent John Davis said.

Telltale signs like gang tagging, or graffiti, are cropping up from Enid to Guymon as gangs try to get footholds in small towns.

Davis said other violent gangs known to be active in northwest Oklahoma include the Mexican Mafia, Chicago-based Latin Kings, the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang and several motorcycle gangs, including the Bandidos.

“These are extremely bad guys,” Davis said. Davis said many who claim gang membership are low-level drug runners, but the FBI has apprehended several higher-level gang members passing through or staying in Oklahoma.

“Some of the largest drug-trafficking busts have been in rural Oklahoma farm communities,” said Mark Woodward, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Woodward said operating in small towns makes sense for gangs involved in smuggling because they can maintain a lower profile and don’t expect to be caught. Boring said he intends to charge Chavez and Valerio with drugtrafficking.

In areas like Guymon, the rural poor, especially immigrants, are prime targets to be recruited by gangs for smuggling work. Investigators are finding more drug smugglers coming through the area who have contacts in or around Guymon, Boring said.

A zero-tolerance policy for gang-related crime adopted by Texas County prosecutors has kept street gangs at bay, Boring said, but the battle is ongoing.

Boring said gang violence seemed to peak about two years ago in Texas County with several stabbings, severe beatings with pipes and sexual assaults. However, tough sentencing has kept gang membership low.

Because the area has had a rapid influx of immigrants from Guatemala, it is particularly susceptible to Central American groups like MS-13, which was formed by Salvadoran refugees. Now based in California, the gang has been labeled by the FBI as one of the biggest threats to the United States. The agency formed a special task force last year dedicated to fighting the expanding gang.

Davis said educating law enforcement about how to identify MS-13 and other violent gangs is the first step in preventing their expansion, which is why the FBI invited two leading gang experts to Woodward.

“A lot of people can be looking right at gang activity and not even know what they are seeing,” Boring said.

Related Topics: Crime, Illegal Drugs, Drug Trafficking, Gang Violence