NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – November 13, 2023
SAN DIEGO – Juan Castro of San Diego was sentenced today in federal court to 10 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release for selling 109 grams of methamphetamine to a cooperating individual.
A government memorandum submitted for Castro’s sentencing described him as a high-ranking member of the San Ysidro (or “Sidro”) street gang and an associate of the Mexican Mafia. Castro oversaw day-to-day operations for Sidro which included collecting payments in exchange for allowing others to commit crimes in the San Ysidro area. The payments, or taxes, were then distributed to high-ranking Mexican Mafia members. In sentencing Castro, U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns called him a “hand puppet for the Mexican Mafia.”
Castro was apprehended after a long-term investigation by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force and Gang Group.
DEFENDANT Case Number 23-cr-00371-LAB
Juan Castro Age: 38 San Diego, CA
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Distribution of Methamphetamine – Title 21, U.S.C., Section 841(a)(1)
Maximum penalty: Forty years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of five years, and $5 million fine
AGENCIES
Federal Bureau of Investigation – Violent Crimes Task Force – Gang Group (VCTF-GG), which currently includes investigators from the following agencies:
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- San Diego Police Department
- Homeland Security Investigations
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
- California Department of Corrections
- San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
- Chula Vista Police Department
- National City Police Department
Although not currently part of VCTF-GG, during the investigation of this case, VCTF-GG also included investigators from the following:
- Bureau of Prisons
- San Diego District Attorney’s Office of Investigations