Barrio Azteca gang member serving life for ambush murders dies in federal custody

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A Barrio Azteca gang member died in federal custody Saturday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Ricardo "Chino" Valles de la Rosa, who was from El Paso, was serving life in prison after admitting to serving in the 2010 ambush slayings of three people tied to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, according to the Justice Department.

The BOP confirmed Valles de la Rosa's death but did not specify how due to security reasons. A spokesperson told ABC-7 the last facility he was at was the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Butner in Butner, North Carolina.

Valles de la Rosa faced the maximum life sentence on three counts of racketeering and drug conspiracy, according to a news release from 2017 by the DOJ.

The ambush targeted two cars leaving a birthday party in Juarez. In one car, attackers killed U.S. Consulate worker Lesley Enriquez and her husband Arthur Redelfs, who was an El Paso County Detention officer. Their baby daughter was in the car and wasn't harmed.

In the second car, Jorge Alberto Salcedo Ceniceros was killed. Hs wife worked at the consulate. Several children were in that car but weren't harmed.

Valles de la Rosa admitted to tracking the cars and telling the gang to shoot the victims.

According to the DOJ, the Barrio Azteca gang killed the victims because they mistakenly believed they were rivals associated with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's drug trafficking organization.

Valles de la Rosa was sentenced seven years after the attack.

In connection with is plea, he said the BA gang had members in West Texas and Juarez and operates inside and outside the prison system, the DOJ said. The Justice Department also said Valles de la Rosa admitted the gang profits from importing and distributing drugs and collecting "street tax" through people engaged in legal and illegal activities in the gang's territory.

The DOJ said Valles de la Rosa became a BA associate while imprisoned. There, he rose to the sergeant rank. According to the news release, he later was promoted to lieutenant after being released from prison. As lieutenant, he was in charge of prostitution and illegal alcohol sales in downtown Juarez, the DOJ said.