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SALT LAKE CITY — On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced the sentencing of a leader of the Norteños street gang that has been active in the Salt Lake City area since the mid-1980s.
Joseph "Norte Joe" Gomez was sentenced in the U.S. District of Utah court to 14 years in federal prison and then an additional five years of supervised release afterward. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs and money laundering.
Gomez and 31 other individuals were charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and heroin in the Salt Lake Valley. A Department of Justice press release says that each of the 32 defendants pleaded guilty, and that most of them were sentenced to between six and nine years. Four of these defendants have not yet been sentenced.
The complaint against the individuals was filed in February 2019. It said the Norteños gang was first documented in the 1980s, several subsets of the gang were documented in the 1990s, and when the charges were filed the gang had approximately 10 active subsets with between 100 and 150 active members. The court filing claimes that the individuals transported drugs from Mexico, moved them to Salt Lake City, and distributed drugs within the community.
"Norteños in the Salt Lake Valley have been responsible for drive-by shootings, aggravated assaults, robberies, and homicides," the press release says.
The investigation, which included the Salt Lake Area Metro Gang Unit, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division focused on the drug and firearms trafficking in Salt Lake gangs.
The press release says that Gomez received drugs from Mexico and Los Angeles-based traffickers and distributed them through sub-distributors. During the investigation, agents seized 30 pounds of methamphetamine, 19 firearms, and over $20,000 in cash. The investigation showed that the group trafficked 20-30 pounds of methamphetamine each month.
Acting United States Attorney Andrea T. Martinez said the U.S. Attorney's Office is committed to prosecuting gang members and narcotics dealers who are fueling an epidemic of crime in Salt Lake City.
"This prosecution highlights the high-level narcotics distribution networks that target our state and our communities, along with the law enforcement partnerships that enable us to dismantle drug trafficking organizations from the cartel level down to street dealers," Martinez said.
