Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Two gunmen of the violent Mexican street gang Barrio Azteca were sentenced to life in prison on Monday for the 2010 murders of three people, including a U.S. consulate employee, in Juarez, Mexico.
Jose Guadalupe Diaz Diaz, 43, and Artin Perez Marrufo, 54, both of Chihuahua, Mexico, were sentenced Monday after being found guilty by a Texas jury on Feb. 3 of killing Leslie Enriquez, Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Salcido Ceniceros more than a decade ago.
Enrique, a U.S. consulate employee; Redelfs, Enrique's husband; and Ceniceros, the husband of a second U.S. consulate employee, were gunned down by Diaz and Marrufo on March 13, 2010, after leaving a child's birthday party in Juarez.
Prosecutors said Diaz and Marrufo had misidentified the trio as targets of a rival gang.
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The pair were also found guilty of conspiracy to commit racketeering, narcotics trafficking, narcotics importation, money laundering and murder in a foreign country, murder in aid of racketeering and murder resulting from the use and carry of firearms during and in relation to drug trafficking.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. said in a statement that the gunmen "will now spend the rest of their lives in prison."
The Justice Department described Barrio Azteca as a transnational criminal organization that engaged in money laundering, racketeering and drug-related activities in in El Paso, Texas, among other places, and was allied with other gangs to battle the Sinaloa Cartel, which was headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is currently serving a life sentence in Colorado.
Diaz was extradited to the United States from Mexico in November of 2019 with Marrufo being extradited the following January.
