When we hear about large amounts of cocaine and Cuban guys we're instantly compelled to make some lame reference to saying hello to "my little friend."
The story of two Cuban nationals who tried to buy 22 pounds of cocaine near Tucson last year isn't nearly as sexy as the narco-utopia depicted in Scarface for two reasons: A) They got caught. And B) They were in Tucson, not throwing people out of helicopters at their villa on some tropical island.
In any event, two Cuban nationals living in the United States legally were found guilty Friday of trying to buy 22 pounds of cocaine from a contact in Mexico.
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced today that following a week-long trial, Michel Martinez, 37, and Hiraldo Agramonte Neyra, 46, were found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine.
In March of last year, federal authorities got word from contacts in Mexico that two men were trying to buy cocaine from Mexican drug dealers.
In the following weeks, undercover detectives identified the men as Neyra and Martinez, and got to work on arranging the deal.
Martinez assured the detectives -- posing as drug dealers -- that he had the means to transport the drugs via a hidden compartment in his truck.
How, um, original.
Martinez, who lived in Miami, agreed to a deal to buy 22 pounds of coke for $90,000, which he planned to turn into crack and make a roughly $40,000 profit.
On April 14 of last year, Martinez loaded his hidden compartment with the cash and drove from Miami to Tucson, where the deal was scheduled to go down.
Only it didn't. Instead, federal agents swarmed the truck at the Tucson buy site and arrested Martinez and Neyra without incident.
At sentencing, the two men face a minimum of 10 years in prison and the possibility of spending the rest of their lives in the federal hoosegow.
