Opinion ID: 758679
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Samuel Posada-Rios Operates La Compania from Colombia

Text: 31
32 Samuel Posada-Rios continued his drug trafficking enterprise from Colombia, calling Espaillat on a daily basis. Carlos Moncada took over the Houston enterprise until his arrest on September 9, 1988. Samuel Posada-Rios then designated Ariel Ochoa as his successor in Houston to distribute Colombian cocaine. Samuel Posada-Rios also designated his brother, Esnoraldo De Jesus Posada-Rios, as his local successor to collect money owed him for previous cocaine deliveries. The money owed was recorded in ledgers that Espaillat retrieved from Samuel Posada-Rios' house and gave to Miguel Cardona and Esnoraldo Posada-Rios. 33 Esnoraldo Posada-Rios was arrested in August of 1988. Samuel Posada-Rios instructed Espaillat to bond Esnoraldo out of jail and to find him a place to live. Samuel Posada-Rios promised Espaillat 15 kilograms of cocaine for putting up Esnoraldo 's bond. Espaillat complied and moved Esnoraldo to 9001 Jones Road, # 1111, after bonding him out of jail. 34 After his release from jail Esnoraldo and Ariel Ochoa worked together at Samuel Posada-Rios' direction. (After his release from jail Esnoraldo also collected over $2 million of Samuel's drug debts.) Ochoa had agreed with Samuel Posada-Rios to supply Esnoraldo with up to 150 kilograms of cocaine per week. Esnoraldo met with Ochoa at the Two Pesos restaurant on FM 1960 to arrange for additional deliveries of cocaine. Maximo Perez, a friend from the Dominican Republic whom Espaillat recruited to come to Houston, attended the meeting with Esnoraldo; and Ochoa was accompanied by Tatiana Bedoya, his girlfriend, and Elisa Grajales Murga, his ex-wife. After the meeting Murga and Bedoya delivered 25 kilograms to Esnoraldo at Ochoa's direction. Espaillat purchased 2 kilograms of this delivery. Again through Murga and Bedoya, Ochoa delivered a second 75-kilogram load to Esnoraldo and Maximo Perez in November of 1988. 35 In January of 1989 Esnoraldo Posada-Rios had arranged for Espaillat to make a cocaine delivery. Espaillat had spotted surveillance agents earlier that day. Afraid that he was about to be arrested, he called a friend from his car to retrieve the cocaine he was carrying. Although Espaillat delivered what he believed to be all of the cocaine to the friend, when his car was stopped by the police 1 kilogram was discovered on the back seat floorboard. The Jones Road apartment was searched later that day, and nine packages of cocaine, weighing paraphernalia, guns, and ammunition were seized. 36 Esnoraldo Posada-Rios talked to Espaillat two days after this arrest to locate the 3 kilograms of cocaine that Espaillat had turned over to his friend. Esnoraldo then fled to New York, where he ran Samuel Posada-Rios' New York cocaine distribution operation. New York police arrested Esnoraldo on January 24, 1990, at an apartment where they also seized a machine gun, ammunition, and cocaine that belonged to him.
37 Elisa Grajales Murga assisted her ex-husband, Ariel Ochoa, in the cocaine distributing operation. Jose Antonio Ortiz testified that in March of 1989 Murga paid him $500 per kilogram to sell cocaine for her. He sold 1 or 2 kilograms, which he received from Murga 's maid, Mercedes Alonzo, at Murga 's house at 12806 Maxfield and for which he paid Alonzo. In late May of 1989 Ortiz negotiated a second delivery that was to occur in June of 1989. 38 On June 13, 1989, surveillance officers observed Ernesto Torres emerge from room # 113 at a Manor House Motel with Murga carrying a large hard-sided suitcase, which Torres placed in the trunk of his car. Torres and Murga drove to her house at 12806 Maxfield, where police observed them carrying packages into the house. Police continued to follow Torres. Later that afternoon Torres met several unidentified Latin males, one of whom handed Torres a package from the trunk of his car. 39 On June 14, 1989, around 11:00 a.m., Murga met Carlos Guillermo Rodriguez and Torres at the Cafe Miami Restaurant. Murga then left the restaurant and returned to the Maxfield house. Around noon police observed a Latin male, later identified as Victor Rodriguez, carry a box from the Maxfield house and place it in the trunk of his car. Victor Rodriguez was later stopped by the police on an outstanding warrant, and 10 kilograms of cocaine were seized from his car. The cocaine was labeled Oro and Peria. 40 The same day that she delivered cocaine to Victor Rodriguez, Murga called Ortiz three times at the restaurant to tell him that his cocaine was ready. Ortiz drove to Murga 's house around 1:00 p.m. and spoke with Mercedes Alonzo, who told him that Murga had left him a package in a boat in Murga 's garage. Ortiz and Alonzo loaded a large corrugated box from the boat into the trunk of Ortiz's car. Police later stopped Ortiz and seized 20 kilograms of cocaine from the box in his car. 41 The police then went to Murga 's house and searched it with her consent. The police seized 10 kilograms of cocaine from the boat in the garage. The cocaine was packaged with the same Oro and Peria markings as the 30 kilograms previously seized from Rodriguez and Ortiz. Police also seized a bag containing 2.9 grams of cocaine from Murga 's purse and a triple-beam scale from her house. 42 Olivia Alastre, a confidential informant working for the FBI, testified that in January of 1991 Murga was attempting to reestablish her contacts in the drug trafficking business. Murga first tried unsuccessfully to obtain cocaine from Fabio Zuniga, a friend of Ochoa's. Ochoa finally agreed to give her 30-40 kilograms. In April of 1991 Murga asked Alastre's assistance in renting an apartment to store the cocaine. She introduced Alastre to Don Jose, whom Murga told Alastre she had employed to assist her in distributing the cocaine to reduce her personal involvement. Murga 's address book, which she inadvertently left in Alastre's car, was photocopied by federal agents before it was returned. The book contained names and telephone numbers of other documented drug traffickers.