Error Frees Alleged Drug Ring Kingpin

A drug kingpin arrested in the largest cocaine seizure in Long Beach police history apparently “fell through the cracks” and was inadvertently released from Los Angeles County Jail, authorities said Tuesday.

The disclosure was made at a news conference in which drug task force investigators showed off 438 kilos of the cocaine seized after a two-month investigation. The case netted five other arrests and $1.1 million in cash.

Five suspects are being held on $20 million bail each on charges of possession of a controlled substance for sale, conspiracy and violations of weapons and currency laws. All six suspects are from Mexico. They were arrested 12 days ago.

One of the six, identified as Salvador Gomez, 28, of Paramount was released from County Jail on Thursday. It wasn’t clear why Gomez, described as “the money man” in the drug trafficking family, gained freedom. The Sheriff’s Department, which operates the jail, had no immediate explanation.

“There was a flaw in the system or a mistake was made. He wasn’t supposed to get out,” said Special Agent Andy Alonso, a state Department of Justice investigator on the staff of a consortium of local police agencies known as the L.A. Impact Task Force. “He fell through the cracks.”

“More than likely he fled the country,” Alonso said.

Gomez’s alleged accomplices are in little danger of being released because they have to post bail and also prove that they obtained the money through legal means, Alonso said.

The confiscated cocaine is worth $6 million to $8 million wholesale and up to $50 million cut, bundled and sold on the street, officers said.

In addition to the drugs and cash, police seized a large number of guns and assault rifles during raids on homes in Paramount, Cerritos, Rowland Heights and Montebello on Feb. 12.

The 438 tightly wrapped, one-kilo bricks, about 2.2 pounds each, were found in the back of a van by Long Beach police. Detectives stopped the van just after it pulled away from a home in Rowland Heights. Investigators said it was unclear where the van was going.

The arrests were made without incident, police said.

On Tuesday, the bricks were piled on a table in a basement squad room at Long Beach police headquarters. Three Long Beach SWAT officers carrying submachine guns guarded the trophy haul.

Arrested along with Gomez were Nelson Villalta, 38, of Paramount; Benjamin Pena, 31, of Montebello; Raul Rios, 29, of South Gate; Pilar Gonzalez, 26, of South Gate, and Raul Basurto, 47, of Rowland Heights.

The Long Beach drug investigators, along with members of the Montebello Police Department, were called into the case in December, when the crime task force received information about a drug ring, officers said.

What followed were “hundreds of hours of surveillance and documentation” of alleged illegal activity, followed by the arrests, Long Beach police said.

“Cooperative efforts by local law enforcement are the only way to stop the illicit flow of drugs into the county,” said James C. Christian, director of L.A. Impact.

Although far larger quantities of cocaine were seized in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, police said the confiscation was the largest they could recall in years.

Investigators don’t believe cocaine use has diminished. Instead, they believe that tough anti-drug operations like the one just completed have forced smugglers to move smaller amounts into the country to avoid seizure.