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3 of 11 suspects to plead guilty to their roles in Mexican Mafia drug case
SAN ANTONIO – Nearly three months after they were arrested in a sweep of suspected Texas Mexican Mafia members accused of dealing drugs in Seguin and New Braunfels, three of the eleven men have decided to plead guilty. Adrian "Lil A" Barbosa and Carlos Rios were expected to plead guilty to selling heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. A federal indictment alleges the trio were among a group of suspected Texas Mexican Mafia members who used its members "through typical street sales and through the maintaining of 'drug houses' where customers may purchase drugs." It also alleges the gang charges a "drug tax" to non-members selling drugs on their behalf. The remaining co-defendants face a superseding indictment that accuses them of extorting drug dealers by "requiring drug traffickers to pay the extortion tax to members of the Texas Mexican Mafia or face assault, robbery, or murder; using violence in all forms and degrees to enforce the Texas Mexican Mafia requirement that all drug distributors pay the tax in exchange for permission granted by members of the Texas Mexican Mafia to distribute narcotics."