Daniel Borunda

A reputed Sinaloa drug cartel bodyguard is to be sentenced Wednesday while his lawyer is arguing for a lighter punishment than witnesses in the case who were involved in abductions, mutilations and more than 100 killings in Mexico.

Rigoberto Ruiz Alatorre is scheduled to be sentenced this morning in U.S. District Court in Downtown El Paso after pleading guilty to a drug-related murder of a man in Albuquerque in 2006.

In May, after three days of trial, Ruiz pleaded guilty to a charge of murder with a firearm as part of a drug trafficking offense. As part of the plea agreement, federal prosecutors agreed to drop five other drug-related charges, agreed that New Mexico cannot charge Ruiz in the killing and agreed to reduced prison time.

Ruiz admitted to fatally shooting Fermin Rodriguez-Gonzalez, who was found in a pickup in a ditch. Ruiz was upset Rodriguez-Gonzalez was apparently making drug deals outside their agreement and Rodriguez-Gonzalez was also suspected of cooperating with law enforcement, according to court testimony.

Ruiz was also accused of being a bodyguard for Gabino Salas Valenciano, an alleged narcotrafficker known as "El Ingeniero" (the engineer) who reputedly oversaw the Sinaloa cartel's operations in the rural Valley of Juárez. Salas was killed last year in a shootout with Mexican authorities.

Ruiz's lawyer Randolph Ortega, in a sentencing memorandum, requested a sentence of no more than 10 years in prison and deportation upon release.


"Mr. Ruiz is aware that his plea of guilty was to that of murder, however, it should be noted by the Court, the deceased was an active narcotics trafficker in the Sinaloa Cartel and partook in all activities appertaining thereto," Ortega stated in the document. "Certainly this does not justify his murder, but his murder becomes far less egregious when viewed within the overall conspiracy, including but not limited to the acts of those co-conspirators who testified at trial."

The sentencing memorandum singles out the court testimony of three men:

•Rene Socorro testified to working as a drug trafficker for his cousin Salas while also getting paid for helping U.S. law enforcement. The memorandum stated that Socorro, who is a Mexican citizen, was never charged with any crime and was allowed to legally stay in the United States.

•Cesar Perez testified to helping kidnap a man taken from Fabens across the border to the village of Tres Jacales in the Valley of Juárez, according to a court transcript. The man was tortured, beaten and burned with a blowtorch before being killed. Perez testified that more than 70 people were killed after he identified them to hit men as members of rival gangs and La Linea (Juárez drug cartel). Initially facing a life sentence, Perez was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

•Alberto Puentes testified to being involved in more than 100 killings in Mexico, including Barrio Azteca gang members allied with the Juárez drug cartel. Puentes testified that he was living in El Paso at the time in 2010.

"Mr. Puentes admitted that on many occasions he cut the tattoos off of his victims while they were alive and then proceeded to disburse the victims on the streets of Juárez, Mexico, placing the carved tattoos on the dead bodies," the sentencing memorandum stated.

After his testimony, Puentes faces a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and 10 years in prison, the memorandum stated.

The killings were part of the rampant violence in Juárez during a war between the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartels.

Ruiz has been in custody since he was arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents at an El Paso hotel in Feb. 16, 2012. Ruiz initially faced life in prison but as part of a plea agreement now faces between five and 28 years in prison.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102.