A small army of 200 law enforcement officers — including visiting FBI SWAT teams from Albuquerque, Phoenix, San Diego and Las Vegas — took part in raids across El Paso targeting a growing prison-born gang known as Chuco Tango.
The raids at dawn on Thursday, Aug. 29, were part of Operation Rock Water, a long-term federal organized crime investigation lead by the FBI and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration targeting the El Paso gang.
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The “takedown” resulted in 22 arrests on Thursday of accused Chuco Tango gang members, associates and drug dealers accused of selling fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and illegal firearms on the streets of El Paso, federal law enforcement officials said.
The arrests took place in El Paso, Horizon City, Socorro, and Las Cruces and Anthony, New Mexico with prisoners taken to be processed inside the El Paso County Coliseum due to large number of arrests, FBI officials said.
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The arrestees face various federal and state charges including drug conspiracy, possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
The operation included the Texas Department of Public Safety along with area police departments and other federal agencies.
‘Not a one and done’
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas, who was formerly El Paso’s district attorney, said he was “extremely proud” of the federal, state and El Paso-area law enforcement officers who took part in a large and complex investigation.
“All of them are working constantly to make sure this community is safe. This was a long-term operation, not a one and done,” Esparza said at a news conference in the Richard C. White Federal Building in Downtown El Paso.
“I’ve lived in this community a very long time. I’m proud of the fact that we are safe community … The Chuco Tango gang is one of many problems we have but we are slowly chipping away,” said Esparza, whose office is based in San Antonio.
If convicted, some defendants could face federal punishments ranging from five years up to life in prison, said Esparza, adding that the sale of fentanyl is a foremost concern.
“Fentanyl in this community is a real problem, just like it is across the state and the country,” Esparza said. “Protecting our communities and our loved ones from this dangerous drug and poison that is fentanyl is a priority for the Justice Department.”
Who was arrested in the Chuco Tango raids in El Paso?
Operation Rock Water, the federal organized crime investigation into Chuco Tango, originated four years ago. The latest arrests are part of a case that began in October-November 2023 with federal indictments handed up earlier this month, officials said. Some defendants were already in jail on other charges.
The U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and DEA officials identified those arrested as:
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Clarissa Inez Santana
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Daniel Baeza aka “Racoon”
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Hector Chamorro
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Angel Renee Corral aka “Happy”
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Antonio “Omar” Gamboa
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Robert Gurrola aka “Bobby Barker” aka “Bobby Baker”
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Ricardo Moreno
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Andrew Solorio aka “Tokes”
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Adam Vazquez
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Brandon Garcia
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Jacqueline Perez
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Aileen Gonzalez
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Byanka Sambrano
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Thomas Payan
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Steven Kuehn
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Cassandra Page Silva
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Tanya Campechano
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Alejandro Morrill
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Zoilo Romero
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Alexander Rangel
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Zulema Marin
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Jessica Rodarte
During the afternoon news conference, federal agents said there were four fugitives still sought —Jonathan Blanco, Carlos Flores, Adriel Belmont and Jessica Rodarte. By Thursday evening, Rodarte was in custody, a DEA spokesman said. Specific charges for each suspect were not disclosed.
Tips on the location of the fugitives can be made to the DEA by calling 915-832-6000 or visiting the website https://www.dea.gov/submit-tip or the FBI at 915-832-5000.
“We will continue to pursue them until they are arrested,” DEA El Paso Division Special Agent in Charge Towanda Thorne-James said at the news conference.
Since Operation Rock Water began four years ago, there have been 44 arrests, 65 drug seizures, 25 firearms seized and even the seizure of military-grade explosives, FBI El Paso Acting Special Agent in Charge Britton Boyd said.
‘La Chely,’ Chuco Tango connection
Chuco Tango was linked to “La Chely,” Michelle Angelica Pineda, the Juárez woman accused of leading a bloodthirsty crew of the Aristas Asesinos street gang in Juárez that cut out the hearts from the dismembered bodies of its victims as offerings to La Santa Muerte.
The El Paso Police Department through monitored jail phone calls and intelligence “were able to tie La Chely communicating directly with Chuco Tango gang members,” Boyd said.
In February, the information provided a lead for the FBI El Paso Safe Streets Gang Task Force and U.S. Border Patrol to locate and arrest Pineda at a motel in East El Paso. She was deported back to her native Mexico, where she is accused of five homicides.
Chuco Tango organization
Chuco Tango — which gets its name from the “El Chuco” nickname for El Paso — is the El Paso version of the Tango Blast gang, which has cliques in the major cities of Texas.
Tango Blast began as self-protection groups in prison, whose members often claim they aren’t a gang. The name Tango reportedly comes from a Spanish slang term for “hometown.” Some claim the name is an acronym for “Together Against Negative Gang Organizations.”
Chuco Tango has a horizontal leadership model unlike the ranks in the military-style hierarchy of prison gangs formed by prior generations, such as the Barrio Azteca and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Tangos do not have a “blood in, blood out” membership requirement.
The gang operates outside of prison in small, loosely organized cells, according to Texas Department of Public Safety gang-threat reports.
There has been violent conflict in the past between Chuco Tango and El Paso’s long-established Barrio Azteca prison gang because of Chuco Tango’s refusal to pay the Aztecas’ “street tax” to deal drugs in El Paso.
UTEP Miners’ pickaxe in Chuco Tango tattoos
Chuco Tango members sometimes have tattoos of “CT” and “320,” for C and T, the third and 20th letters of the alphabet, according to gang members’ social media posts and jail documentary shows. One version of the “CT” tattoo is a C intertwined with the UTEP-style pickaxe for the T.
Tango members may also have tattoos with the name of their city and logos of sports teams as a show of hometown pride, though such logos may not necessarily be gang related on their own, according to law enforcement gang information.
The original Tango groups — known as the “Four Horsemen” — are Houstone (Houston), D-Town (Dallas), Foritos (Fort Worth) and ATX or “Capirucha” (the capital) in Austin, according to Texas DPS reports. There is also Tango Orejon in San Antonio, a regional group named West Texas or WTX along with Corpitos from Corpus Christi and the Vallucos from the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Chuco Tango takedown: FBI, DEA arrest El Paso gangsters
