Opinion ID: 751138
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Undercover Operation and Initial Cocaine Seizure

Text: 4 Tovar contacted Arroyo and Appellant Manuel Garcia, who were staying at the time in a hotel in Juarez, Mexico, by telephone on July 7. A series of conversations ensued over the next three days in which Arroyo informed Tovar that the cocaine was already in Chicago, and arrangements were made for Arroyo and Garcia to fly to Chicago to oversee the transaction. Tovar wired funds to Arroyo and Garcia for their plane fare; they arrived in Chicago on July 11 and were greeted at the airport by Varela. 5 The agents housed Garcia and Arroyo in an apartment located in Justice, Illinois, that was outfitted with surveillance equipment and monitored by agents from a separate apartment nearby. On July 14, Tovar and Martinez, who had not yet met their business partners, went to the apartment with Varela, who introduced the principals to each other. Appellant Garcia quickly got down to the details of the transaction. Garcia set the price at $20,000 per kilogram, which the agents agreed to, and discussed the amount of cocaine that he currently had available. Garcia told the agents that although 740 kilograms currently were stored nearby in Rockford, 300 kilograms were already promised to another buyer. Accordingly, this initial transaction would fall short of the 500 kilograms that had been discussed previously with Varela. Garcia reassured the agents that he would be receiving a new shipment in four days and that he could supply them with all the cocaine that they wanted. Garcia then paged Vaquerito (later identified as Defendant Horacio Caballero) and instructed him to call the Engineer, 2 who was to call Garcia at the Justice apartment and tell Garcia how much of the Rockford supply could be sold to the agents. After making the call to Caballero, Garcia told the agents that he hoped that they would be doing business together on a regular basis and that he was expecting a new shipment of 500 kilograms to Chicago the following week. 6 The men also discussed delivery and payment logistics at the July 14th meeting. Garcia proposed that he would drive a van that the agents had provided him to Rockford, where it would be loaded with the cocaine and delivered to Tovar and Martinez. At the same time, Varela would wait at the Justice apartment with an associate of Garcia's. When Tovar approved the cocaine, he would call Varela and authorize him to hand over the cash. The agents agreed to this arrangement which seemingly assured security on both sides. As Garcia put it, the difficult one is the first one. 7 Before the meeting with the agents concluded, Garcia received a call from the Engineer. Garcia then told Tovar that he would go to Rockford personally and determine what he had available and that he would deliver everything he could as soon as possible. Garcia reiterated that he intended to provide the agents with more cocaine in the future and that things would run more smoothly when everyone trusted each other completely. 8 The deal was subsequently set for July 17, and Garcia promised to deliver 300 kilograms. However, the carefully orchestrated transaction began to unravel when Defendant Caballero, who was supposed to wait for the cash at the Justice apartment, had problems finding the apartment. Ultimately Garcia, along with Agents Tovar and Martinez, went to meet Caballero at a mall in Joliet to give him directions. When Caballero arrived, Garcia conferred with him and then told the agents that he had 300 kilograms ready to go. Garcia then drove the van that the agents had provided to Rockford with Tovar and Martinez following in another car. Both vehicles drove to a Denny's restaurant, where they waited for one of Garcia's co-conspirators to pick up the van and take it to be loaded. Defendant Angel Rojas arrived in a blue pickup truck accompanied by Appellant Luis Luna. Rojas talked to Garcia while Luna waited in the truck; Rojas then left the parking lot driving the van with Luna following him in the pickup. Rojas returned in the pickup less than an hour later with some bad news: After talking to Garcia briefly, the two men informed the agents that there was some sort of parade passing by the building where the cocaine was stored and that police were therefore present. Accordingly, they could not load the drugs into the van. The deal was called off for the day and was rescheduled for the following morning. 9 Early on July 18, Agents Tovar and Martinez met Appellant Garcia at the same Denny's parking lot in Rockford. Garcia told Tovar that he now had 350 kilograms to deliver. Garcia then proceeded to make a number of telephone calls to set the deal in motion. He learned that Caballero was again not in place at the Justice apartment and that Rojas was not ready to deliver the cocaine until Caballero reached the apartment. While waiting for Rojas, Tovar had two telephone conversations with the Engineer. Tovar expressed his anger at the delays and threatened to pull out of the deal. The Engineer reassured Tovar that the deal would be completed soon and told him that he had an additional 500 kilos ready for delivery the following day. 10 Finally, Rojas arrived in the blue pickup at around 10:30 a.m. He spoke to Garcia briefly, and then the two conspirators informed Tovar and Martinez that Caballero was at the apartment and that they were ready to deliver the cocaine. Garcia then got in the pickup with Rojas and drove to Southgate Plaza, a nearby shopping mall, followed by Tovar and Martinez. The group proceeded to wait for the van in the mall parking lot. At 11:35 a.m. the van arrived, driven by Appellant Luna; he was accompanied by Defendant Guillermo Olivares, leading the van in a Geo Tracker, and Appellant Bernard Wilson, following Luna in a Cadillac. After checking the van's contents, Tovar and Martinez drove off in the van, with Garcia following them in Tovar's car. The agents then called their fellow officers and gave the signal to arrest all of the conspirators. Caballero and Arroyo were arrested at the Justice apartment, and Appellants Luna and Wilson, along with Olivares and Rojas, were arrested in Rockford. Still unknowingly following Tovar and Martinez towards Chicago, Garcia was arrested at a highway rest stop. 11 A subsequent inventory of the van's contents revealed 350 brick-shaped packages, 347 of which contained cocaine. The total amount of cocaine was 348.6 kilograms, with an average purity of 87%. The other three packages contained wood chips and plaster of paris.