2 Barrio Azteca gang members found guilty in consulate murders of 2010

EL PASO, Texas -- Two Barrio Azteca gang members were found guilty in the 2010 murders of a U.S. Consulate employee, her husband, and the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee.

A federal jury in El Paso convicted Jose Guadalupe Diaz Diaz, 43, and Martin Artin Perez Marrufo, 54, of the murders. Both men are from Chihuahua, Mexico, and both men are members of the Barrio Azteca gang.

Evidence in the 13-day trial showed that on March 13, 2010, Diaz and Marrufo gunned down U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Enriquez, her husband, Arthur Redelfs, and the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee, Jorge Salcido Ceniceros. The three victims were leaving a children's birthday party in Juarez at the time of the shooting. The three were targeted because they were mistaken for rival gang members.

“These convictions demonstrate the Department’s commitment to combating violent transnational criminal organizations. I want to thank the Mexican Government for its cooperation including extraditing both defendants to the United States to face criminal charges," Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr., of the Justice Department's Criminal division, said.

Diaz and Marrufo were found guilty of conspiracy counts for racketeering, narcotics trafficking, narcotics importation, money laundering, and murder in a foreign country. The jury also found them guilty on three counts of murder in aid of racketeering, and three counts of murder resulting from use and carrying of a firearm during and in relation to crimes of violence and drug trafficking