Opinion ID: 198984
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Drug Packaging at the Mesas

Text: 9 At trial, the witnesses for the prosecution testified as to their and the appellants' involvement in the Santiago-Lugo drug mesas. Wilfredo Martinez-Matta stated that in 1986 and 1987 he worked at two drug mesas located in hotels. At that time, he also packaged cocaine at his mother's house. Ramos-Rodriguez and David Martinez-Matta testified that they also packaged drugs at the Martinez-Matta house, and David Martinez-Matta stated that Santiago-Lugo, Colon-Miranda, and brothers Ortiz-Santiago and Ortiz-Figueroa participated. 10 Wilfredo Martinez-Matta and Ramos-Rodriguez testified that in 1989 a condominium in Reina del Mar served as a mesa. Hidalgo-Melendez testified that Colon-Miranda, Ortiz-Santiago, and Ortiz-Figueroa packaged drugs there in the early 1990s. Wilfredo Martinez-Matta stated that he packaged cocaine there once in 1989, and further stated that Ortiz-Santiago, a drug user, tested drug quality at this location. Ramos-Rodriguez, who rented the Reina del Mar mesa for four to five months, indicated that the drug organization packaged one-eighth-kilogram quantities of cocaine at each session in the Reina del Mar mesa and that he or Santiago-Lugo would transport the drugs to Davila for storage and distribution. 11 In the early 1990s, Wilfredo Martinez-Matta worked at two mesas in the Costa del Mar condominium complex. At these locations, he processed cocaine with Ramos-Rodriguez and heroin with Rios-Rios. Wilfredo Martinez-Matta also stated that (1) the organization packaged kilogram quantities of cocaine and one-eighth kilograms of heroin at each session and (2) Rios-Rios once obtained one kilogram of cocaine for Santiago-Lugo from a supplier. Ramos-Rodriguez recalled that the organization used the Costa del Mar mesas from 1990 to 1991, that he processed heroin and cocaine once or twice a week for four or five months there, and that he was paid $150 for each one-eighth kilogram of cocaine packaged. He added that Ortiz-Santiago delivered drugs to the mesa, occasionally with Santiago-Lugo. Ortiz-Santiago also processed drugs and tested their purity. 12 Wilfredo Martinez-Matta, David Martinez-Matta, and Ramos-Rodriguez also testified that Rios-Rios rented a mesa at the Los Pinos condominium complex in Isla Verde. All three witnesses, in addition to Colon-Miranda, Ortiz-Santiago, Ortiz-Figueroa, and Rios-Rios, processed heroin there. According to the testimony presented at trial, the organization processed quarter-kilogram quantities of heroin and kilogram quantities of cocaine there on a weekly basis. Hidalgo-Melendez also recalled packaging drugs at Los Pinos and once saw Rios-Rios deliver cocaine there. Further, the rental agreements for the Los Pinos mesa indicated that Rios-Rios rented the apartment and listed Santiago-Lugo as his employer and reference. Defense witness Marta Arrondo-Daz, who owned the Los Pinos apartment, stated that she rented the apartment to Rios-Rios and Santiago-Lugo for a one year term in March 1991. 13 The trial testimony identified three additional mesas: an apartment in Condado where Wilfredo Martinez-Matta worked with Ortiz-Santiago, a condominium in the Villa del Mar complex in Isla Verde, and a Coral Beach condominium rented by Colon-Miranda. Wilfredo Martinez-Matta recalled seeing Santiago-Lugo, Colon-Miranda, Ramos-Rodriguez and others packaging heroin in bags marked with the name cristal at the Coral Beach condominium. Ramos-Rodriguez testified that Santiago-Lugo moved operations to the Coral Beach condominium in 1991. There, Santiago-Lugo, Colon-Miranda, Ortiz-Santiago, and others packaged two or three ounces of heroin two or three times each week.