Racketeers link to terrorism In DC’s back yard

“Manassas man key player in fake-ID card ring

By Dana Hedgpeth, Published: May 6

Illegal immigrants in Northern Virginia knew where to go if they needed a high-quality fake green card or Social Security card: They found Eulalio A. Cruz.

From his Manassas home, Cruz, 33, sent cellphone photos of customers to his computer. He’d add addresses and birth dates, used the right kind of ink, and printed the fakes on card stock with holographic images. Sets of documents went for $120 a pop. He’d use a series of runners to make the exchanges.

Federal immigration officials say that Cruz, who this week pleaded guilty to racketeering in federal court in Richmond, was a key player in one of the largest and most sophisticated document mills they have uncovered. His Manassas operation was part of 19 that ran in 11 states, stretching from Nashville to Providence, R.I., officials said. Each year, the ring produced between 10,000 and 15,000 fake documents. They wired at least $1 million to the bosses in Mexico.

As the federal and state governments continue to crack down on illegal immigration, such document mills are becoming a growing obstacle. Immigrants, seeking to skirt local and national laws, need the documents to work and drive. Cruz’s ring turned to violence, prosecutors said, to protect its turf from rivals, just as drug dealers have done for decades.

Authorities say the ring Cruz worked for was unique. Far more sophisticated and productive than most of the mom and pop shops selling fake documents, it operated under a strict chain of command, covered a large geographic area and produced realistic counterfeits.

“It was very much like a legitimate business,” said James C. Spero, deputy assistant director for the Homeland Security Investigations division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “If you worked hard, you could work your way up higher in the organization.”

Cruz, prosecutors say, reported directly to the “national supervisor” on the U.S. side of the operation: Israel Cruz Millan, who was known by his Spanish nickname “El Muerto,” which means “the dead one.” Millan is awaiting trial.

Based in North Carolina, Millan was part chief operating officer, part enforcer, authorities say. He held regular conference calls and insisted that cell managers submit detailed inventory lists of their ink cartridges, paper and other supplies, prosecutors allege. Managers provided biweekly sales reports. One note from Nashville showed $4,150 in proceeds and $1,684 in expenses.

Each cell’s success depended heavily on runners who sought out customers at grocery stores, laundromats and bars, authorities said. Sometimes they even passed out business cards advertising their services.

Proceeds were divided up. Runners, who were expected to deliver seven to 10 customers a week, typically got a few hundred dollars, attorneys involved in the case said. Managers got a fixed salary of between $300 and $400 a week. Millan took a cut, and the rest of the money went to Mexico.

The cells used code names to hide their activity. Social Security cards, printed in blue ink, were known as “smurfs,” authorities said. “New ones” meant a customer wanted a green card. They called the business cards “18s,” because that’s how many fit on a sheet.”

“A federal grand jury in Richmond has indicted 22 members of a suspected fraudulent-document-trafficking ring based in Mexico with cells in 19 U.S. cities and 11 states that reportedly sold high-quality phony identification cards to illegal immigrants and used beatings, kidnappings and murder in dealing with competitors and disciplining its own members.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said the sophisticated operation, uncovered as part of a law enforcement initiative known as Operation Phalanx, was managed in this country byIsrael Cruz Millan, 28, of Raleigh, N.C., who oversaw the production of false identification cards that sold on the street for $150 to $200 each — which netted his Mexican bosses more than $1 million from January 2008 to November 2010.

According to the 12-count indictment, Mr. Cruz Millan placed a manager in each U.S. city, all of whom supervised a number of “runners” who distributed business cards advertising the organization’s services and helped facilitate transactions with customers. The cost of the phony documents varied depending on location and included counterfeit Resident Alien and Social Security cards.

The indictment said each cell maintained detailed sales records and divided the proceeds among the runner, the cell manager and the upper-level managers in Mexico.”