Luis Edward Castro, 28, a member of the "La Empresa" group, was sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison for involvement in a hostage-taking conspiracy. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, the case involved a man who was abducted at gunpoint from his motel room in Mexico.
On August 24, 2023, a person was kidnapped in Juarez, Mexico. The kidnappers demanded $9,000 from the victim's family through threatening calls. Castro, holding a handgun, recorded proof-of-life videos showing the victim claiming to be in El Paso. Local law enforcement found Castro's location, where they discovered six undocumented noncitizens and several firearms with some serial numbers removed. Castro was arrested on September 5, 2023, and charged with hostage taking, harboring and transporting undocumented noncitizens for financial gain, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He pleaded guilty to the hostage taking charge on September 26, 2024, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman said, "This case highlights some of the many dangers posed by TCOs on both sides of our southern border, and Castro’s sentencing of two decades in federal prison is a significant penalty." The FBI and U.S. Border Patrol investigated the operations of the transnational criminal organization known as "La Empresa," resulting in the sentencing of one of its members. Special Agent in Charge John Morales of the FBI’s El Paso Field Office said, "These ruthless networks exploit the vulnerable through human smuggling, drug trafficking, and violent extortion." Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mathew Engelbaum and Kyle Myers prosecuted the case, as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
