Ring Leader and Last of 52 Defendants Sentenced to 360 Months in Prison for Drug Trafficking

St. Louis, MO – Israel Angeles-Moctezuma, a/k/a “Amigo,” 41, of Stockton, CA, was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment for conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of actual methamphetamine.  Moctezuma appeared before Judge Catherine D. Perry in United States District Court today.

This investigation resulted in the seizure of nearly 200 pounds of methamphetamine, most of which was nearly 100% pure.  The Drug Enforcement Administration seized at least 18 firearms and over $300,000 in cash, all of which has been forfeited to the United States.  In April 2016, 56 pounds of methamphetamine was recovered – the largest single seizure of methamphetamine in the history of the Eastern District of Missouri.  Moctezuma directed a vast network of co-conspirators, whom he recruited to transport methamphetamine to St. Louis, where it was distributed through a second network of people acting at his direction.  Moctezuma admitted to being response for hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, as well as hundreds of kilograms of marijuana and heroin, all of which was smuggled into the United States from Mexico by his network.

Each of the 52 defendants indicted as a result of this investigation entered guilty pleas, including Moctezuma. 

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration – St. Louis Field Division, and the U.S. Marshals Service.