FBI Arrests Leader of Mexican Kidnapping Organization

Keith Slotter, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in San Diego, announces the arrest of Jose Manuel Garibay Felix, age 24, one of the leaders of a Mexican kidnapping and drug trafficking organization. Felix was arrested at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Friday, June 6, 2008 at the Department of Motor Vehicles Office in Riverside, California. Felix was arrested by FBI agents based in San Diego and Riverside with the assistance of Investigators from the State of California Department of Motor Vehicles Investigations Division. Felix was arrested pursuant to an arrest warrant based on a provisional arrest request from Mexico.

According to the complaint filed in this matter, Felix is alleged to be one of the leaders of "Los Garibay," a criminal organization involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder, armed robbery, and theft. The "Los Garibay" organization operated mainly in the Mexican states of Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Michoacan.

At least since the year 2000, Felix is alleged to have engaged in a pattern of criminal activity, including trafficking in marijuana, crystal methamphetamine, armed robbery, and kidnapping. According to the complaint in January 2001, Felix and four others kidnapped a man using high powered weapons. In September 2002, Felix directed the kidnapping and murder of a police officer from the Public Prosecutor's Office in retaliation for the officer's work against the Garibay organization.

In September 2002, a search warrant was executed at the Los Garibay Ranch, at which time the following armaments were found: a 7.62 x 39 mm Maadi Company rifle, manufactured in Egypt; a 60 caliber rocket launcher of the type used for anti-aircraft or anti-armor purposes; a Heckler and Koch G3 semi-automatic rifle, model 91, a .308 caliber, no magazine; an Uzi Auto, model A, .9 mm machine gun with retractable gunstock and no barrel or magazine; a Cobray, model 11, 9 mm submachine gun, with magazine; a Colt AR-15 rifle, model SP1, a .223 caliber, with adapter for grenade launcher; a Remington model 700 .270 rifle; a .12 caliber Remington shotgun with modified gunstock and barrel; a Remington automatic shotgun with modified gunstock and barrel; three 30-06 caliber Remington rifles; a 7.62 x 39 caliber rifle, manufactured in China, with bayonet and retractable gunstock; a .300 caliber Savage carbine, model 99; a 7.62 x 39 caliber Norinko AK-47 rifle; a single-shot Winchester 37-A .20 caliber shotgun; and five Cobray .37 mm grenade launchers. In a report dated October 24, 2002, a ballistics expert of the Mexican Federal Attorney General's Office concluded that these weapons were for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

On Friday, June 6, 2008, Felix was arraigned before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Central District of California, Los Angeles, California. As a result of this hearing, Felix was ordered detained. Felix is currently housed at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Metropolitan Detention Center, Los Angeles, California.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, California, is coordinating the extradition of Felix with the Mexican government.

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