Opinion ID: 793069
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The White Cadillac

Text: 9 Diaz made another trip to Mexico in March or April of 2002 to pick up more heroin. This trip was taken by Diaz, Carrillo, and another associate, Salvador Zamora. All three drove to Mexico together, and the plan was for Zamora to drive a car packed with heroin back into the United States. Carrillo, who perhaps preferred Cadillacs because of his familiarity with their driveshafts, had arranged for a white Cadillac to be present in Mexico. Carrillo told Diaz that he intended to register that white Cadillac under the name of Juan Jose Guajardo. Zamora was to pose as Juan Jose Guajardo. Diaz knew that Carrillo had also obtained a birth certificate and Social Security card in that name. 10 As before, heroin was placed in the driveshaft of this white Cadillac. Carrillo then fitted the white Cadillac with the license plates he had obtained for it. Carrillo had also brought the registration for the car which was in the name Juan Jose Guajardo, which he apparently gave to Zamora. Zamora then drove the white Cadillac across the border with Diaz following in a separate car. This time, however, things did not go so well. Instead of making it to Chicago, the white Cadillac broke down near Odessa. After discussions with Carrillo, Diaz and Zamora left the white Cadillac in Odessa and returned to Chicago. 11 Shortly thereafter, in April of 2002, Diaz was contacted by law enforcement officers. These officers informed Diaz that they knew he was involved in illegal drug trafficking. After a series of discussions, Diaz agreed to cooperate with authorities. Diaz informed the government of his involvement with Carrillo and of the white Cadillac left in Odessa. 12 On May 8, 2002, DEA agents conducted surveillance on Carrillo's home in East Chicago for the purpose of observing Carrillo retain possession of the white Cadillac. On that day the agents saw Carrillo and a male Hispanic drive together to a restaurant's parking lot in Palatine. The agents watched as a flatbed tow truck with a white Cadillac on it entered the parking lot and headed toward Carrillo. Carrillo lifted his left arm as if to wave at the tow truck; then Carrillo drove out of the parking lot with the tow truck following in the same direction. The agents quickly pulled over the tow truck and seized the white Cadillac. An agent interviewed the driver of the tow truck and discovered that one of the phone numbers listed on the driver's cellular telephone was subscribed to by Miguel Vargas of Aurora, Illinois. 13 After seizing the white Cadillac on May 8, 2002, the agents took out its driveshaft and discovered heroin and cocaine. The agents ran the title history of the car and discovered that Carrillo had purchased it in February, 1999. The title history also showed that the white Cadillac had been sold to Juan Jose Guajardo and listed Guajardo's phone number. Diaz had used this number to reach Carrillo during the government's investigation. 14 About two months later, on July 2, 2002, agents covertly recorded a conversation between Carrillo and Diaz during which Carrillo discussed how a person named Miguel, along with Trejo, had brought the white Cadillac from Odessa to Aurora and then hired a tow-truck driver to tow the white Cadillac from Aurora to Palatine. Carrillo also explained to Diaz how the authorities had pulled over the tow truck and seized the white Cadillac, and how Carrillo had paid 120 bucks to be able to claim the title for the white Cadillac. Consistent with that recorded statement, the title history of the white Cadillac showed that on May 21, 2002, Juan Jose Guajardo applied for a duplicate title. Furthermore, between the time the white Cadillac was seized on May 8, 2002, and July 12, 2002, an attorney claiming to represent Juan Jose Guajardo contacted the DEA to obtain the seized white Cadillac. It was stipulated at trial that this attorney had never met Juan Jose Guajardo and that Herrera was the individual who had come to the attorney's office requesting that the attorney look into the return of the white Cadillac.