Edward Ruben Sotelo

Edward Ruben Sotelo ran one of Fort Worth's most prominent cocaine distribution organizations through the late 1980s and into the 1990s. Federal prosecutors described the Sotelo operation as responsible for distributing more than 280 kilograms of cocaine — used largely as crack — as well as at least 100 pounds of marijuana across the Fort Worth area. The conspiracy ran from 1990 through January 1995. A twelve-count federal indictment charged Sotelo and five co-defendants, including his brother Joeangelo Sotelo Jr. (Joe), with the conspiracy. The case included a June 1993 kidnapping incident in which, after a supplier named Juan Robles accepted payment for five kilograms of cocaine but delivered flour instead, Edward and Joe Sotelo and two associates abducted Robles's fourteen-year-old brother Gilberto in order to recover the money. Gilberto was struck but sustained only minor injury. A jury convicted Edward Sotelo of five counts: operating a continuing criminal enterprise (CCE), possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, use of a communication facility to commit a felony, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and distribution of cocaine. The Fifth Circuit affirmed his convictions in 1996 (97 F.3d 782).