EL PASO, Texas, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A gang member testified in a U.S. District Court how he supported Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, on trial for three deaths tied to a U.S. Consulate in Mexico.
Barrio Azteca gang member Jesus Ernesto "Camello" Chavez Castillo, a government witness, testified Monday at the trial in El Paso, Texas, of Gallegos, accused of being the gang leader involved in the deaths of three people linked to the U.S. Consulate in Juarez March 13, 2010.
Chavez Castillo testified about his role in the violence that enveloped Juarez during the drug cartel wars that killed among others, a U.S. Consulate employee and her husband, an El Paso County jail detention officer, the El Paso Times reported.
Chavez Castillo was to take the stand Tuesday to resume testifying about his relationship with Gallegos, the gang, and his knowledge of the shooting deaths of detention officer Arthur Redelfs, his wife Lesley Ann Enriquez Redelfs, who worked at the U.S. Consulate in Juarez, and of Jorge Salcido Ceniceros, husband of Hilda Salcido, who also worked at the consulate. The three were killed while traveling.
During opening arguments Monday, government lawyers alleged that Gallegos Castrellon and other gang members participated in high-scale violence in Juarez on orders "to keep the body count up," as part of a cartel's plan to gain control.
The defense indicated it would argue that officials could have prevented the deadly attacks and that Gallegos was tortured by Mexican officers before providing the FBI a written confession.
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