Arrest made here after new indictments returned against
top Bandidos
WACO, TX (March 2, 2017) – Authorities arrested four top
officials of the Bandidos motorcycle club Thursday, one of them in Central
Texas, after a federal jury in San Antonio returned a second superseding
indictment against the highest-ranking leaders of the club, adding four new
defendants and additional murder-related charges, federal prosecutors said.
Thursday morning, authorities arrested the following:
Bandidos National
Sergeant at Arms Johnny Romo, 47, of San Antonio;
Bandidos San Antonio Centro Chapter member Robert Romo, 45, of San Antonio;
Bandidos San Antonio Centro Chapter Sergeant at Arms Jesse James Benavidez, 40, of San Antonio,
and Bandidos San Antonio Centro Chapter member
Norberto Serna, Jr., 35, of San Antonio for their roles in the
2006 murder of Anthony Benesh.
Johnny Romo was arrested in Waco and the other three were
arrested in San Antonio.
They remained in custody Thursday night pending detention
hearings next week before United States Magistrate Judge John Primomo in San
Antonio.
An unknown Bandidos MC Member
The 12-count indictment, unsealed late Thursday afternoon
in San Antonio, charges all four with one count of discharging a firearm during
a murder in aid of racketeering.
Johnny Romo and Robert Romo are also charged with murder
in aid of racketeering, prosecutors said.
Benesh was attempting to start a Texas Chapter of the
Hell’s Angels in 2006 in Austin, but was warned by members of the Bandidos to
abandon the effort, the indictment says.
Benesh ignored the warning.
The indictment charges that the four murdered him on
March 18, 2006, outside an Austin restaurant “to protect the power, reputation
and territory of the Bandidos enterprise.”
The new indictment includes previous federal charges
filed against Bandidos National President Jeffrey Fay Pike, 61, of Conroe, and
National Vice President John Xavier Portillo, 57, of San Antonio.
Portillo also faces a new charge of discharging a firearm
during a murder in aid of racketeering for his role in the retaliation murder
of Robert Lara in January 2002 in Atascosa County for killing one of their own,
prosecutors said.
Javier Negrete, a member of the same Bandidos chapter as
Portillo, was killed in October 2001 outside a San Antonio bar.
Pike and Portillo are charged with one count of
conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt or RICO) statute; one
count of conspiracy to commit violent crimes in aid of racketeering or VICAR,
and one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion.
Portillo is also charged with: one count of VICAR
(murder); two counts of aiding and abetting VICAR (assault with a deadly
weapon); one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute
methamphetamine and cocaine; one count of possession with intent to distribute
cocaine; and, one count of felon in possession of a firearm.
The two are accused of sanctioning and directing members
of the Bandidos to carry out such acts as murder, attempted murder, robbery,
assault, intimidation, extortion and drug trafficking, prosecutors said.
Jury selection is currently scheduled for August 7, 2017.
SOURCE: KWTX