MIAMI (AP) — The convicted ringleader of a smuggling organization that brought more than 1,000 Cubans into the US, some of them baseball players including Texas Rangers outfielder Leonys Martin, was sentenced Monday to more than 14 years in federal prison.
US District Judge Joan Lenard rejected a request for leniency by Eliezer Lazo, whom she noted was paid US$22,000 a month through the scheme — not counting the percentages of any professional baseball contracts the players signed. Prosecutors say Martin paid the Lazo group $1.2 million after signing with the Rangers in 2011.
Lazo, 41, will begin serving the sentence after finishing an unrelated five-year prison term for money laundering in a Medicare fraud case. In the smuggling case, he pleaded guilty in August to extortion conspiracy.
The Lazo organization smuggled Cubans by boat to Mexico for $10,000 each, more for the baseball players, according to court documents. They would then usually travel to the US border crossing at Laredo, Texas, and ask to be permitted to stay in the US.
Under the US “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cubans who reach dry land in the US are generally allowed to remain while those intercepted at sea are returned to the communist island. Lazo’s attorney, William Clay, said many of Lazo’s customers were overjoyed to make it to the US despite the costs.
But Assistant US Attorney Ron Davidson said migrants who couldn’t pay were held for ransom by armed guards, often threatened and sometimes beaten. Although Lazo himself did not participate in any violence, Davidson said he was well aware it was going on.
The case also provided a glimpse into how Mexican drug cartels get their cut of the migrant smuggling business.
