ID Bust

The family patriarch gave the American a green light, and he and Suad drove to Chicago to present the offer to Manuel at the Cook County jail facility where he was being held. But the cagey documents boss smelled a rat and turned down the proposal. Manuel eventually cut a plea-bargain deal with prosecutors and was deported to Mexico in August 2006. In the meantime Suad was telling ICE investigators all she knew about her relatives' criminal activities. (ICE officials declined to comment on John Doe and his dealings with U.S. government agencies on the grounds that Operation Paper Tiger is an ongoing investigation.)

When Mexican authorities arrested Manuel last October, he was named a codefendant by U.S. attorneys in his brother Julio's alleged conspiracy to murder former Chicago ring member Guillermo Jiménez Flores in April 2007. ICE officials say that fraudulent document rings are on a par with drug cartels in their capacity for violent retribution, and Suad Leija fears for her life. She also has mixed emotions about the wrenching choice she made. "I feel bad because my father is in jail, and I never expected this to happen to my own family," she says. "But my family can counterfeit any document that comes out, and they will never go out of the business."

ICE agents have arrested 38 members of the Leija Sánchez organization to date, and from his Mexican prison cell Manuel is currently fighting extradition to the U.S. His old business associate Pedro Castorena was flown from Mexico to Denver last month to stand trial later this year on fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering charges, and Suad is expected to testify for the prosecution. But as the decline and fall of Pablo Escobar's Colombian Medellin cartel proved in the 1990s, the decapitation of a criminal organization's leadership will not disrupt the industry as long as there is strong demand for its product. And as of this week, ICE officials reported no decline in the availability of bogus documents on the streets of any major U.S. city.

© 2008