Villarreal, 59, of San Benito, Texas, received a 30-month prison sentence for controlling the transmigrante industry in the Los Indios border region near Harlingen and Brownsville through monopolization and extortion of competitors. The court remanded him into custody to begin serving his sentence immediately.
Transmigrantes arrange for and transport used vehicles and other goods from the United States through Mexico for resale in Central America. There are only a few locations where transmigrantes can cross from the United States into Mexico, including the Los Indios Bridge in Texas.
According to court documents, Villarreal and his co-defendants fixed prices for transmigrante forwarding agency services and created a centralized entity known as the "Pool" to collect and divide revenues among co-conspirators. Forwarding agencies outside the conspiracy were forced to join and pay into the Pool, while members enforced rules by monitoring whether agencies charged agreed-upon prices and made required payments.
Forwarding agencies were also required to pay extortion fees, including a "piso" for every transaction processed in the industry. Villarreal pleaded guilty to conspiracy to illegally fix prices and allocate the market for transmigrante forwarding agency services, conspiracy to monopolize the same market, and conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion.
Eight others have been convicted in the case, with seven already sentenced. The conspiracy leader Carlos Martinez, 39, of McAllen, received an 11-year prison term. Three others—Rigoberto Brown, Miguel Hipolito Caballero Aupart and Diego Ceballos-Soto—were charged in the superseding indictment and remain fugitives.
"Antitrust criminals deserve lengthy sentences for the economic — and in this case physical — violence they sow," said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel W. Glad of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. "The Antitrust Division is proud to have worked with our law enforcement colleagues on this long-running investigation that will restore competition and punish violent criminals at the U.S.-Mexico border."
"Roberto Garcia chose to join a criminal enterprise that seized control of an industry through threats and violence, rigged prices against legitimate businesses, and laundered its proceeds — and now, he is headed to federal prison," said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei of the Southern District of Texas.
"The use of violence and intimidation to threaten and remove competition will not be tolerated," said Acting Assistant Director Gregory Heeb of the FBI Criminal Division.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI investigated the case. Anyone with information about the fugitives or the investigation can contact the Antitrust Division's Complaint Center at 888-647-3258.