By Gangsters Inc. Publishers
A former FBI “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” and leader of the El Paso and Juarez-based Barrio Azteca gang pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in El Paso, Texas, to his role in the U.S. Consulate murders in Juarez, Mexico, in March 2010, in which three people associated with the U.S. Consulate were murdered when gunmen fired at the vehicle in which they and their children were traveling.
57 years old Eduardo “Tablas” Raveloof Juarez, Mexico, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy (RICO), conspiracy to distribute and import drugs, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and murder in aid of racketeering. A sentencing date has not yet been set by the court.
At sentencing, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
“This case is a tragic reminder of the inseparable link between drug trafficking and violence,” said Special Agent in Charge Omar Arellano of the Drug Enforcement Administration.DEA) El Paso Field Division.
35 Barrio Azteca members and associates arrested
According to court documents and information presented in court throughout this case, Ravelo is one of 35 Azteca neighborhood members and associates based in the United States and Mexico who were charged in the third indictment in 2011 with committing various criminal acts, including racketeering, distribution and importation of narcotics, retaliation against persons providing information to U.S. law enforcement, extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and murder.
Among the 35 defendants, 10 Mexican nationals, including Ravelo, were indicted for their roles in the March 13, 2010, murders in Juarez, Mexico, of Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, a U.S. consulate employee, her husband Arthur Redelfs, and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. consulate employee.
All the accused were apprehended and 28 of them, including Ravelo, pleaded guilty. Three defendants were found guilty at trial, one committed suicide before the conclusion of his trial, and another is awaiting extradition from Mexico. Two defendants await trial in the United States.
Boss and Most Wanted Fugitive
Ravelo was the leader of Barrio Azteca gang in Mexico from around 2004. In 2009, Ravelo was placed on the FBI's “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list and remained there until his 2018 arrest in Mexico. He was extradited to the United States on February 20, 2025.
Barrio Azteca (BA) is a violent street and prison gang that began in the late 1980s and evolved into a transnational criminal organization. In the 2000s, the BA formed an alliance in Mexico with “La Linea”, part of the Juarez cartel (also known as the Vincente Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel or VCF).
The goal of the BA-La Linea alliance was to fight the Sinaloa cartel and its allies for control of the drug trafficking routes through Juarez and Chihuahua. The drug routes through Juarez, known as Juarez Plaza, are important to drug trafficking organizations because they are one of the main channels for illicit drug trafficking into the United States. The gang has a militaristic command structure and includes captains, lieutenants, sergeants and privates – all with the aim of maintaining power and enriching its members and associates through drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, intimidation, violence, threats of violence and murder.
As BA captain in Juarez, Ravelo directed and controlled the BA's drug trafficking activities, and he was ultimately responsible for and, in some cases, directly controlled several “hit” or “sicario” squads, consisting of several BA members armed with automatic and semi-automatic firearms who committed numerous kidnappings and murders in support of the BA against rival cartel members.
On the day of the Consulate murders, Ravelo monitored radio communications and directed BA members who targeted and murdered Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton; her husband Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros. Enriquez Catton was four months pregnant and her fetus was also killed.
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