Owner who OK’d ‘bag after bag’ of cocaine sales in Dallas-Fort Worth clubs sentenced
The owner of nightclubs in Dallas and Fort Worth was sentenced last week to 16 years in prison because he endorsed cocaine sales in the businesses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
A U.S. District Court jury in November 2021 found Alfredo Hinojosa guilty of managing drug premises, conspiracy to manage drug premises and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. The sales occurred at the OK Corral at La Gran Plaza in Fort Worth and the OK Corral, Far West clubs in Dallas.
U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay on Friday sentenced Hinojosa to the prison term and ordered him to pay a $120,000 fine.
The jury also found general manager Miguel Casas and promoter Martin Salvador Rodriguez guilty of the crimes.
The broader case included about 30 defendants, including former Dallas Police officers Eddie Villarreal and Craig Woods. All of the defendants were convicted.
Hinojosa, Casas and Rodriguez “ran a conglomeration of businesses that brought in revenue of about $107 million over a four-year period,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The defendants allowed cocaine sales in their nightclub bathrooms because the illicit commerce drew customers. The sales increased revenue at the clubs between $9 million and $12 million, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors presented at trial evidence of 17 controlled buys that occurred at the nightclubs between 2013 and 2016. Under the supervision of FBI special agents, informants bought “bag after bag of cocaine from traffickers operating out of club bathrooms,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
FBI agents in 2015 installed court-ordered microphones and a camera in Hinojosa’s office. During a call recorded under a wiretap, Hinojosa said, “we can’t really clean it because then we lose business,” and “we need cocaine, man,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published June 6, 2022 at 7:03 PM.
