House of Death Lawsuit Exposes "War on Drugs"

“Mr. Peyro put his life on the line for the United States of America time after time. He is directly responsible for approximately 50 criminal convictions of upper echelon cartel members, as well as the removal of huge quantities of drugs from the streets of this country….

There is no question that Americans are some of the most naive people on the planet. In fact, even non-Americans are naive when it comes to the subject of the USA. A little naiveté is a good thing because without it no-one would attempt anything, but too much, and you're a sitting duck.

 Perhaps, I'm a bit too naive because I truly believe that most of us do the best we can, given our circumstances, but holding onto the credulous expectation of people doing right, especially of those in power--anywhere in the world, including America--can be very dangerous to one's health. Those in positions of influence have been, according to their own definition, "successful" within the system, so, of course, have an interest in maintaining the status quo at all costs. We give these people decision-making abilities who are growing increasingly remote, as local council power is removed to national government and even to international government.

But when I inform others of what's really going on behind the scenes, of the profit-before-people motivation of our decision/policy-makers, I'm often told that even if what I'm saying is true, there is nothing you or I can do to solve this problem that's plagued mankind for centuries, because the powers that want to continue have all of the wealth and power at their fingertips while the rest of us are just barely getting by. To a point, I agree. However, no-one can convince me that ignorance is bliss as it makes us vulnerable should we be unlucky enough to get caught up in the system. Many veterans can testify to the dangers of ignorance and/or naive and senseless hope based on the unawareness of the fact that all war--including the "war on drugs"--is merely a pursuit to preserve power and wealth, a redistribution schemes to finance the lifestyles of the elites. In other words, blind trust, and/or willful nescience only makes you part of the problem at the very least, and at most, can put you at great risk as you will see from the example below.

Many--unfortunately, not even close to most-- of us are aware of what happens to the enlisted. After putting their lives on the line, for what they're told is our freedom, they suffer grave consequences. If our troops are lucky enough to make it home, they confront another battle: the tangled bureaucratic web of chaos while at the same time, trying to find work in an unstable economy that is very leery of hiring veterans. All of it, to line the already lined pockets of ruling class. Then there are the "veterans" of the equally fraudulent "war on drugs." Not a pretty picture for anyone who gets caught up in it.

Take former ICE informant,  Guillermo Eduardo Ramirez Peyro, employed as a "Mexican federal cop who worked for a top lieutenant (Humberto Santillan Tabares) of the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes drug organization in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in the early to mid-2000s" who is suing US prosecutors and federal agents as well as several county sheriffs and detention-facility officials (include past and present employees of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the US Marshals Service and various county sheriffs in Texas and Minnesota and some of the most powerful US prosecutors in Texas) for conspiring to silence him in an effort to cover up their role in the "House of Death" murders in Ciudad Juarez Mexico. Yes, this man trusted the U.S. government enough to risk his life several times over, and for his loyalty and effort, was severely punished.  The lawsuit is sealed but Narco News was able to obtain pleadings from the case.

“In affidavits linked here and here,filed in prior litigation related to the House of Death murders, Fielden and former ICE Special Agent in Charge Giovanni Gaudioso, (also named as a defendant in the current case) each contend they did nothing improper in the handling of Ramirez Peyro as an informant and also stress that they had no prior knowledge of any of the murders carried out at the House of Death in Juarez.

Ramirez Peyro oversaw--assuring the house was opened whenever Santillan wanted a murder carried out, as well as being responsible for overseeing the burial of the bodies--the infamous House of Death, the site of multiple gruesome torture/murders. Between August 2003 and January 2004, Peyro "informed his US government handlers about subsequent murders at the House of Death, often in advance of them taking place."

“Both ICE and the US Department of Justice had knowledge of these executions, both through the tapped cell phones and the information provided by [Ramirez Peyro],” the lawsuit alleges. “After each such execution, [Ramirez Peyro] and Raul Benecomo asked for the operation to be terminated and for arrests to be made. However [Ramirez Peyro] was instructed to continue his undercover work.”

In 2004, after the House of Death was exposed, Peyro was put in protective custody. and then placed in an isolation unit at a detention facility in Texas “under the guise of a material witness” for the pending Santillan trial that never took place due to the US Attorney cutting a deal with VCF cell-leader Santillan. But Peyro was not released. Instead, US prosecutors and agents kept him in prison "under threat of deporting his wife and children — who had been given temporary visas to stay in the US and who would have faced certain death at the hands of VCF operatives if sent back to Mexico."

“In May 2005, after Sutton’s plea deal with Santillan was inked, the US government initiated deportation proceedings against Ramirez Peyro — who also faced the prospect of certain torture and murder by VCF assassins upon his return to Mexico.

So for risking his life and helping the U.S. government,  Peyro was severely punished instead of rewarded,  spending six years in prison, mostly in isolation.  Why?  In an effort to cover up the complicity of the government in the House of Death murders.

From Ramirez Peyro’s legal pleadings:

“ … Sutton, Gaudioso, Fielden, Leachman, Durbin [and other defendants] entered into a conspiracy to cover up the fact that they not only knew about the murders [at the House of Death in Juarez], but were listening in on devices provided to [Ramirez Peyro] by Defendants for that purpose, and to cover up the fact that they had instructed [Ramirez Peyro] to continue his work with full knowledge that he had been assigned to maintain the "House of Death" where executions on behalf of the Juarez Cartel [the VCF] were occurring.

…Fielden, Sutton, Gaudioso, Leachman and Durbin decided that if [Ramirez Peyro] was allowed to testify truthfully at the Santillan trial, that they would be implicated in the murders and that ICE … had knowledge, both before and after the fact, that individuals were being executed and buried by the Juarez Cartel at the "House of Death."

… Sutton, Gaudioso, Fielden, Leachman and Durbin hatched a conspiracy to cover up the House of Death murders.

… Sutton, Gaudioso, Fielden, Leachman and Durbin conspired to enter [into] a plea deal with Santillan so his matter did not go to trial.

During the five years after the Santillan plea deal, Ramirez Peyro was kept imprisoned by US officials while facing deportation proceedings. Ultimately, Ramirez Peyro prevailed, and was released from prison in April 2010 after securing a temporary deferral of removal under United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) due to the credible threat to his life should he be deported to Mexico.

[Ramirez Peyro] was moved from one county detention facility to another, including Wilson County Jail in Floresville, Texas; Midland County Central Detention Center in Midland, Texas; Washington County Jail in Stillwater, Minnesota; and Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minnesota [and ultimately the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in New York], and each of which he was sequestered in SHUs [Special Housing Units].

[Ramirez Peyro] … at each of the county detention facilities, was held in total isolation from other prisoners, deprived of his family, friends, and the outside world under conditions far more stringent than necessary.

… Said conditions did not affect any legitimate purpose of ensuring his testimony or protecting [Ramirez Peyro] from potential assassins or serve any other legitimate purpose.

… During the period [Ramirez Peyro] was confined in said county facilities, he had no access to a phone, no access to television or newspapers, was deprived of access to soap and other elementary means of sanitation, was housed in a tiny cell sometimes up to 23 hours a day, with a floor contaminated by feces and urine, and his hands and ankles were chained and shackled to his waist any time he was outside his cell.

… Each time that [Ramirez Peyro], who had no charges, criminal or otherwise, filed or pending against him, was transferred from one facility to another, his feet were shackled together, his hands were shackled to his waist, he was accompanied by at least 10 federal agents, was moved in the middle of the night, with lights and sirens on the vehicle he was transported in, and with escort vehicles closing traffic. If he traveled by airplane, it was on a private plane owned by the US government.