LITTLE ROCK-A high-ranking female member of a Mexican cartel was charged in a drug conspiracy case in Arkansas after her son allegedly recruited federal inmates in the state to distribute the organization's cocaine after they got out of prison, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Idalia Ramos Rangel, her son, Mohammed "Mo" Martinez, and 14 others with ties to Arkansas, Texas and Mexico are charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors say Ramos Rangel, 57, is believed to be a lieutenant or captain in the Gulf cartel, which runs a drug-trafficking organization responsible for hundreds of pounds of cocaine in Arkansas and elsewhere across the United States.
"Most of the drugs in Arkansas originate out of Mexico, specifically the Gulf cartel," Christopher Thyer, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, told reporters at a news conference in Little Rock.
The Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, on the border with Texas, has seen a turf battle between members of the Gulf drug cartel and the notorious Zetas drug gang. The Zetas were hit men for the Gulf cartel until they split in 2010, unleashing their bloody war.
In the U.S., Martinez, who prosecutors say is serving a federal prison sentence for another drug case in Texas, allegedly recruited inmates at a federal prison in Forrest City, Ark., about 95 miles east of Little Rock, to continue the organization's drug-related activities.
Those inmates included Emmanuel Ilo and Mervin Johnson, who allegedly began distributing Ramos Rangel's organization's cocaine after they were released from federal prison in about 2010, according to the indictment.
Authorities on Tuesday arrested Ilo and nine others charged in the indictment. Martinez is in federal custody in Beaumont, Texas, prosecutors said.
Ramos Rangel, Johnson and three others remain at large. Ramos Rangel is believed to be in Matamoros, Mexico, though prosecutors acknowledged that having her brought to the United States will be no easy task.
"That's not something that just happens with the stroke of a pin, but we will make every effort to bring her back into the United States for trial," Thyer said.
Thyer referred to Ramos Rangel as a fugitive from justice, but she's not a new one. Thyer said she was indicted in the 1990s, though he said he didn't know the specifics of the case when he spoke Tuesday.
"There have been various efforts to extradite her through the years," Thyer said. "I anticipate that following the indictment announced today, those efforts to bring her to justice back here in America will intensify."
Authorities also are seeking Manuel Garza, 31, of Brownsville, Texas; and Johnson, 37, Dwatney Noid, 30, and Gerard Trice, 29, all of Little Rock.
Randall Coleman, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Arkansas, said authorities are looking into leads in Arkansas.
"We are also working with our partners outside of the state, certainly focused on the southwest border to attempt to locate them and arrest them," Coleman said.
Federal court records didn't list attorneys for Ramos Rangel, Martinez or any other others charged in the case.
Officials say the charges stem from an investigation that began in 2010 after the Little Rock FBI office obtained information about Martinez's alleged attempts to recruit fellow inmates.
At one point in 2010, Martinez allegedly called Johnson from prison in Beaumont, Texas, to complain that Johnson hadn't paid for drugs he'd already received, according to the indictment.
"You owe Big Momma (RAMOS RANGEL) some money," Martinez said, according to the indictment.