BY MIKE CETERA
UPDATE: A member of the FBI cold-case task force told me July 12 that Juan Corral is not in fact involved in the latest investigation.
It might take awhile for it all to come out, but sooner or later we'll learn just how the cops built their murder cases against 31 men. And you can bet that gang snitches played a big role, men like Juan Corral, a one-time major cocaine supplier in Aurora who became a prosecution witness after his 2002 arrest on federal drug trafficking charges.
We don't what, if any, role Corral played in supplying information during this particular investigation. But we do know he told prosecutors who he thought committed the 1993 murders of brothers Jesus and Franscisco Montoya, two of the murders local prosecutors announced charges on last week.
In 2004, we wrote that Corral testified before a grand jury that a Latin King enforcer -- a gang member responsible for meting out punishment within the gang -- is responsible for the Montoya brothers' murders.
The brothers were killed execution-style on March 8, 1993. The two teenagers purportedly took their father's 1983 GMC cargo van to help a friend with a drug transaction, according to police.The man claimed he killed the brothers to eliminate competition for Corral in trafficking cocaine. According to his testimony, however, Corral found the rationale for the murder unusual because he was dealing in small drug transactions at the time, typically no more than an eighth of an ounce.
The man told Corral he paged one of the Montoya brothers to set up a full kilogram drug deal and later was picked up by the men in the van. They drove around East Side neighborhoods discussing the drug deal before stopping on Spencer Street, where the man and an unnamed accomplice, both of whom were sitting in the van's rear seats, shot the brothers multiple times.
The men stole a quarter kilogram of cocaine from the van and fled, Corral testified.
Authorities later found the van in the 0-99 block of South Spencer Street, according to police. Jesus Montoya, 19, was shot once in the neck and twice in the side of the head. Francisco Montoya, 18, was shot twice in the head.
Both brothers, police said, were affiliated with a street gang. Jesus earlier had applied for, but was denied, acceptance to the Aurora Police Department's cadet program.
The Montoya brothers' killer later participated in other shootings and enjoyed targeting rival gang members, Corral testified. He once bragged about a shooting in which he mistakenly thought he had wounded one of two brothers who belonged to the Insane Deuces.
Police need information to make cases. Sometimes their most reliable sources are the very people we'd like to see behind bars. We'll soon find out if gang members provided the key information that allowed police to crack these cases.
Corral, by the way, was given a 15-year prison sentence in May 2003 in exchange for telling what he knew about the Latin Kings. The plea deal spared Corral a possible life sentence. He is due to be released Aug. 15, 2015.
STRONG MESSAGE OR STRONG SMELL OF SCAMS
To all citizens and taxpayers, beware of the recent "strongest message" being sent by the APD and State's Attorney's Office. They briefly state how the information came to them regarding these unsolved murders. The past federal drug sweeps supposedly took drug dealers, gang members and murderers off the streets but now it seems those same criminals are able to wheel and deal to gain their freedom and get back to "doing business" with the help of our wonderful law enforcement. Well, two wrongs do not make a right. But here they have created a system for the criminals to feel they can go ahead and do all the wrongs they want because APD and Kane County State's Attorney will make you a deal. They emphasize that these suspects thought they got away with murder but did not and it's a "new day" for Aurora. Not so new when you're willing to put the same element back on the street and continue the cycle. The APD and States Attorney are fulfilling their own agenda's and pleasing their egos giving citizens a false sense of safety and accomplishment.
You seem to know a lot of details about the inner workings of the State's attorney office and the Aurora Police department. Or are you talking out of your backside? Can you provide any details of those who are getting their freedom back and getting back to "doing business?" Can we get the names or street names of anyone who is back on the streets because he gave information on these murders?
Why do you want names? You know who you are and who the others are. You obviously work for one or the other to be so curious of what I'm talking about. The details are coming out more and more and soon everyone will see the rats run loose along side the police cars or their backsides.