GRAND JURY FOR THE
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
GRAND JURY NUMBER 93-5
DCN:
Grand Jury Inv. No. 9301035
REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
TESTIMONY OF
OSCAR DANILO BLANDON
February 3, 1994
REPORTED BY: CARLA SOARES, CSR# 59081
APPEARANCES:
For the United States of America:
MICHAEL J. YAMAGUCHI
United States Attorney
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, California
94102
By: DAVID C. HALL,
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Thursday, February 3, 1994
11:10 a.m.
OSCAR DANILO BLANDON,
a witness called on behalf of the United States Grand
Jury in and for the Northern District of California,
having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
MR. HALL: Q. Mr. Blandon, remember that
we're in kind of an odd-shaped room here, and the
people in the back might have trouble hearing you.
I'd ask that you keep your voice up. You might
pretend that you're talking to one of the men in the
back row so that everyone can hear you.
A. Okay
Q. Number one, your name for the record?
A. My name is Oscar Danilo Blandon.
Q. And Mr. Blandon, you're currently in federal
custody, are you not?
A. Yes.
Q. And have you been convicted of a crime?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What crime have you been convicted of?
A. Conspiracy.
Q. Conspiracy to do what?
A. To sell drugs.
Q. What kind of drugs in particular?
A. Coke. Cocaine.
Q. And where and when did that happen, your
conviction?
A. It happened in December. Well, my
conviction was in 1992.
Q. And you were arrested in December of '91?
A. No, I was arrested in 1991, but not for this
case.
Q. Right.
A. I was arrested in May, May 15, 1992 for
this.
Q. On this case?
A. On this case, and I have been sentenced.
Q. And you've been sentenced to what?
A. For drug conspiracy.
Q. How many years?
A. Four years.
Q. Four years?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, as part of your plea process, did you
agree to cooperate with the United States?
A. Yes.
Q. And to testify in front of Grand Juries and
at trial if necessary about people that you'd been
conspiring with?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that was done in the federal courts in
San Diego.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you were represented there by a lawyer,
were you not?
A. Yes.
Q. And his name?
A, Mr. Bruno.
Q. And Mr. Bruno agreed with your cooperation
agreement.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And agrees that you can testify in front of
Grand Juries and trials including this Grand Jury?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, where are you currently doing your
time?
A. Well, right now I don't know.
Q. Okay. You have been detained at the
Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Which is more of a jail as opposed to
prison. People generally wait there to go to other
places to serve time; is that right?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you expected to be sent to another
prison for the beginning of your time when the writ
came from this court that would bring you here to San
Francisco to testify?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. So you don't really even know where you're
going back to, whether it's San Diego or some other
institution?
A. No, sir.
Q. Right now are you in the San Francisco
County Jail?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And martials brought you here to court
today; is that right?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And one is right outside that door as best
you know it?
A. Yeah.
Q. And one is in the back back there.
A. Okay.
Q. Now, I'm going to ask you whether you dealt,
in your cocaine conspiracy or conspiracies, with a
family, we'll go through each one, but a family by the
name of Meneses.
A. Yes.
Q. And would that be spelled M-e-n-e-s-e-s?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Tell me what your dealings were with the
Meneses family in a general way first.
A. Okay. I start knowing the Meneses family
since Nicaragua. That is my country. When I came
here in 1979, I -- well, I came here like a refugee,
like political asylum. I started getting contact with
Meneses family in 1981.
Q. And how did you hear about the Meneses
family?
A. The Meneses family --
Q. Well, as somebody you could contact?
A. The Meneses family, they are from Nicaragua,
and my family, my mother's family is from Nicaragua.
And we had a relationship because they called -- well,
the name, the last name is Meneses Contraro, and
Contraro was my mother, grandmother also. So we are
related.
Q. Somewhere way back?
A. Yeah.
Q. Okay.
A. So when I came here, we started doing
something for the contra revolution. I meet with
Norwin Meneses in San Francisco to have meeting to
start the movement, the contra revolution.
Q. Now, at that time when you met with Norwin
Meneses, were you living here in San Francisco?
A. No, I was living in L.A.
Q. And what would be your purpose in meeting in
regards to the Nicaraguan revolution here in
California? Trying to raise money?
A. Yes, trying to raise money.
Q. Your purpose was to raise money to send back
to help the revolutionaries?
A. Yes. We fly to Honduras one time with
Norwin Meneses. We meet with the chief of the contra-
revolution, Enrique Ramunez. That was Commandant
Ramunez, and he is in charge, okay, how to raise money
in California So we start coming to California and
meet with the politics people. But we didn't find a
way, and Norwin was doing drug business at that time.
Q. Norwin was already in the drug business?
A. Yes. So he told me to make some drug
business in L.A. for raise money to the contra, and we
started that way.
Q. And is that the first time you were involved
in the drug business?
A. Yes, one time.
Q. Now, how did the drug business work from
your point of view as it first started?
A. Well, in 1981, it works like, a gentleman
deals at that time with the Meneses family, with the
people. Meneses used to give me the customer, okay,
in L.A., so I started doing business at that time.
Q. Where did you get the drugs?
A. From Meneses. I came to San Francisco and
picked it up at Norwin's house.
Q. What kind of quantities would be dealt?
A. At that time it was two keys. It's only for
the money that we had to send. We start sending truck
pickups to the contra revolution. We start sending
clothes, medicines at that time.
Q. All right. And you would transport it down
in cars?
A. In cars.
Q. You'd come up here, get it in a car and
drive it back down?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Now, how old was Norwin at that
time, say, in '82?
A. At that time he was -- he's like -- he was
like in 30s, late 30s. 35, something like that.
Q. Where did he live in the Bay Area?
A. He was living in Pacifica.
Q. Do you know what street or what area of
Pacifica?
A. That area was the first time I came to San
Francisco. I didn't know, but it was in Pacifica
because we used to -- someplace at a restaurant that
is near the coast, a restaurant that is in front of
the ocean. It was a mile from there in Pacifica.
Q. Up the hill?
A. In Pacifica. At that time it was starting a
lot of new houses right there.
Q. Did he live up the hill from that
restaurant?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you remember the area, maybe Rockaway
Beach? Does that name --
A. No. There is a school right there.
Q. It's near a school right there?
A. In Pacifica.
Q. Is it your understanding that agents might
be helping you to find locations that we'll be talking
about here in the near future while you're here in San
Francisco?
A. Yes.
Q. And you might be allowed by the court to
take trips in the custody of these agents and to point
out various places?
A. Yeah, I can find.
Q. All right. Now, was Norwin living with
someone at that time?
A. He was living with his wife, Marisa.
Q. Children?
A. And their children.
Q. And how did it progress from there? Did it
get bigger?
A. Well, it got bigger and bigger, because all
the family was working at that time with him.
Q. Working in the drug business?
A. In the drug business. It was Ernesto.
Ernesto was his brother. There was another -- Ernesto
Meneses. Then how do you call, their -- well, all the
family, you know, Jaime, Omar, Roger.
Q. Roger?
A. Yes. Those people are called nieces, or how
do you call?
A GRAND JUROR: Nephew?
THE WITNESS: Nephews. I'm sorry.
MR. HALL: They're all nephews of --
A. of Norwin.
Q. -- Norwin?
A. Yes.
Q. Are they Jaime's sons?
A. Jaime's sons, yes.
Q. Roger?
A. Roger and Omar were nephews.
Q. Now, do you know where Jaime lives?
A. No. At that time he was living in Pacifica
also.
Q. He was in Pacifica somewhere?
A. Yes.
Q. How about Guillermo?
A. Guillermo appears --
Q. Later?
A. -- later.
Q. All right. Is Roger around at that time?
A. Roger was around Meneses, Norwin. And Omar
and another called Jairo Morales Meneses was the big
one, nephew from Norwin, Jairo.
Q. Jairo, was the big one as far as the drug
business was going?
A. Yes. His father also. The father of Jairo.
Q. Was that Jaime or was that someone else?
A. No, Jairo Morales, the father, Jairo
Morales.
Q. Do you know his name?
A. Right now I cannot remember.
Q. And you say they were the big ones as far as
the family members doing something. What were they
doing at that point from what you know?
A. At that time, they were doing like -- I
remember he told me because I keep some accounts from
Norwin, okay? The first year, they make about 900
keys.
Q. They sold 900 keys?
A. Right.
Q. Jairo and the people that worked for him?
A. Norwin and the people that worked, Jairo --
Q. I see. Norwin all together and his family
members including Jairo?
A. Yes.
Q. And you did some books for him?
A. Yes, I did some books because I was in
charge to collect some money from L.A. customer, and I
was doing, you know, like two keys.
Q. Was there a particular place that Norwin
kept these keys of cocaine? Did he keep them in his
house or some other place?
A. No. At that time they had some warehouses.
Norwin was in love with a lady called Margarita
Castagna, and they were keeping in Margarita
Castagna's house some of the merchandise because I
went one time to pick it up right there.
Q. Where did Margarita Castagna live?
A. Near the Cow Palace.
Q. In South San Francisco?
A. Yes.
Q. And it was in a house?
A. It was in a town house.
Q. Town house?
A. (Witness nods head.)
Q. And she would keep a lot of kilos there?
A. Yes.
Q. Is that the only place you saw the kilos?
Is that where you picked them up from?
A. Well, two or three more warehouses, but I
don't remember -- when I came, I don't remember the
address because they took me there.
Q. These might be places that you might be able
to identify if you were out and saw the area?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Now, how did you progress in the
business? You started off with two or three keys,
then what happened?
A. Yes. In the beginning I start doing just
because the contra, because I was working and selling
cars.
Q. That was your legitimate job?
A. Yes, my legitimate job. So after that, in
1983, okay, the contra gets a lot of money from the
United States, and they were -- when Reagan get in
power, Mr. Reagan get in the power, we start receiving
a lot of money. And the people that was in charge, it
was the CIA, so they didn't want to raise any money
because they have, they had the money that they
wanted.
Q. From the government?
A. Yes, for the contra revolution.
Q. Okay.
A. So we started -- you know, the ambitious
person, we started doing business by ourselves.
Q. To make money for yourselves?
A. Yes.
Q. There's a lot of money to be made?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, did you stay in Los Angeles?
A. Yes, I stayed in Los Angeles.
Q. And did you come in contact -- after '83,
'84 when you went in business for yourself, you pretty
much maintained business until you were arrested?
A. No. Well, I retired in 1986.
Q. You retired?
A. Yes.
Q. All right.
A. I went to live in Miami, and I started doing
business. I put my business in a restaurant and a
rent-a-car business.
Q. Legitimate businesses?
A. Legitimate businesses.
Q. Okay. Now, let's talk about that period of
time between, say, this first point when you're just
doing two keys and helping the contras to when you
retired in '86. What was your business like then
after you started doing business for yourself? What
was it like until your retirement? How did it work?
A. Well., you know, I started -- I bought the
restaurant, okay? I bought the -- well, the business,
the rent-a-car --
Q. No, no. I probably didn't make myself
clear. Not your businesses in Miami. How did you do
the drug business?
(Proceedings interrupted.)
MR. HALL: Q. Your drug business from when
you started working for yourself until you retired,
obviously was a lot more drugs than just two kilograms
at a time.
A. Yes.
Q. How did it work?
A. I work it because when I fight with Norwin,
the Colombian people started, you know, pushing me
along, trying to cross Norwin, and they go with me and
talk to me that I can make it myself. So they started
doing business, and they gave me the credit.
Q. Does that mean that you started getting the
kilograms yourself as opposed to having to get them
from Norwin?
A. Well, no. After a period of time, okay,
because in 1982, we put a business with Norwin Meneses
in L.A. called -- it was marketing, okay, marketing,
called Chicalina Restaurant.
We put a silk screen business that was
taking care because Norwin had a problem with his
wife, and he sent his wife to L.A. to live with his
children. So I was in charge of taking care of Marisa
and the children and put the business right there,
start a life for them.
Q. I see.
A. So at that time, I'm in charge of all that.
But then he continues fighting with her, so I didn't
want to take any chances with the fight with a wife
and husband. So I decide to stay alone. And I
spoke -- the Colombians spoke with me, and they
offered the credit to me.
Q. So that they would be delivering the cocaine
directly to you?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, before you retired, what's the most
cocaine you got at any one time from Norwin?
A. Well, from Norwin, I got 50 or 40.
Q. 40 at a time?
A. Yeah.
Q. And can you give us any kind of estimation
of how much total you would have gotten from Norwin
before you retired?
A. How many I received from Norwin?
Q. Yes.
A. Well, it was -- I received from him, okay,
not for me, because it was -- I was only the
administrator at that time. I received, in L.A.,
about 200, 300..
Q. All right. Now, your retirement didn't
last, is that right, in Miami with these businesses?
A. Excuse me?
Q. You went back into the drug business after
you went back to Miami?
A. Yes.
Q. How did that happen?
A. That happened that I make a bad move in my
business. It was -- my business was growing so fast
that I make a contract, you know, that I could -- I
make a contract with some German people.
Q. To buy cars?
A. Yes, to rent some cars to them. I make a
contract, 3,000 cars to be rented to the German
people. But I didn't have enough cars. So I get a
credit from Chrysler for 250 cars, and I get a credit
from General Motors of 300 cars. And they give me the
credit, but the first, the one that gave me the credit
was Chrysler because I was working with --
Q. Well, as opposed to going into all that, it
didn't work?
A. It didn't work.
Q. You owed a lot of people a lot of money?
A. It didn't work, and, you know, I had to get
cash. I lost -- because Chrysler didn't send me the
cars, so I had to give my cars that were renting
expensive away. So I lost 300,000 in three months.
Q. So you had to go back to the cocaine
business?
A. Yes. That was in 1989.
Q. Did you have, after that, after you'd gone
back into the business in '89, more dealings with
members of the Meneses family?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Now, who did you start dealing with
now that you're back in business in '89?
A. In '89, back in business, I started doing
business with Jose Gonzales in San Francisco. He was
the-contact with the Meneses family because I, I know
all the Meneses family, their names, okay. But I
never -- at that time, I never come to deal with them
because Norwin didn't let me to be in touch with them.
So I was in touch to Jose Gonzales, spoke
with the people, with Omar, with Guillermo. They
introduce me to Guillermo by phone the first time, and
all the people, Cornejo, Roger, Omar and Jairo
Morales.
Q. How about Ernesto?
A. I know Ernesto just in Nicaragua one time.
Q. So you didn't have any drug dealings with
him?
A. No.
Q. Now, what were your dealings with Guillermo,
Roger and Jairo? Was it supplying drugs to them?
A. Yes. Jose -- okay. I was working in Miami,
okay? So I get the contact for these people. I get
the, the contact, the Colombian contacts, a contact
right here in San Francisco. So Jose was in charge of
San Francisco. He came to talk, and they delivered to
Jose right here in San Francisco.
Q. Who is they?
A. Jose Gonzales.
Q. Who delivered it to him?
A. Colombians.
Q. Is it fair to say that you would contact the
Colombians and tell them, "Deliver so much to Jose
Gonzales in the Bay Area somewhere"?
A. Yes. I knew a lot of Colombian people in
Miami, and they were my friends because my business,
the renting business, and seen before also. I knew a
lot of people from Colombia.
The problem is that I wasn't working. I do
a lot of favor for a lot of people to get in touch
with them, but I never, at that time, never make a
business until 1989 at the end. I started getting a
contact for me in 1990.
Q. All right. So you primarily dealt with
Guillermo, Roger and Jairo during '90 and '91?
A. Yeah. The first one was Jairo. Jose passed
to Jairo, okay? Jairo, he told me that he would
control the family. Jairo Morales.
Q. How much business were you doing with him?
A. At that time, they got about 50.
Q. 50?
A. 50 keys.
Q. 5-0?
A. 5-0.
Q. Okay.
A. And they started making the list of -- Jairo
started making distribution with Jairo and Omar, with
the family.
Q. He would get 50 keys and then pass.it on to
other members?
A. Yes. We have it in the warehouse, 50 keys--
right here in San Francisco, so they made the
distribution.
Q. Where is that warehouse?
A. That warehouse was -- well, they keep it --
I don't know where. They keep it in hotels.
Q. So you really didn't become part of that;
you just ordered it to be sent here?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you have personal dealings with Roger?
A. Yes.
Q. After Jairo?
A. Yes. Mauricio Gonzales.
Q. What were your dealings with Roger?
A. Okay. The problem was that Jairo Morales
was caught.
Q. Was what?
A. Was put in jail.
Q. Caught?
A. Put in jail. The deal with a woman, so they
get him, and they let him -- there's a lot of accounts
to us. So I said to Mauricio Gonzales to pick up the
money from Meneses because Jose was at that time in
Nicaragua and was in charge of that, and I was
responsible. I was getting a commission from all of
that.
Q. Okay.
A. And Jose was in charge of San Francisco, and
Jairo was the other one. Jose was in Nicaragua, and
Jairo was in jail. So I sent Mauricio Gonzales.
Q. Now, Mauricio Gonzales, is that Roger?
A. No. That was --
Q. Who was that?
A. That was the first, the deal with Roger
Meneses.
Q. He was the one that you hired in Miami?
A. Yes.
Q. To go to San Francisco and deal with Roger?
A. Yes, because he used to live here and he
knows all the people.
Q. I see. Now, did you yourself deal with
Roger then or was it just through Mauricio?
A. Well, after, because it was dangerous for me
because it was my, you know, the money I had to pay
because I was responsible in front of the Colombians.
So I came here and I told Mauricio, "You speak." Then
he had introduced me to Roger in the restaurant.
We're going to Denny's Restaurant.
Q. Denny's?
A. Denny's Restaurant.
Q. And did you start delivering to Roger then?
A. Roger, yes.
Q. How much did you deliver to him?
A. To him, because he was on probation, some
kind of probation, so he didn't want more than two.
Q. More than two kilograms?
A. Yes.
Q. Is that all you ever provided him?
A. Mauricio provided him.
Q. Do you know how many times you provided him
through Mauricio these two kilograms?
A. About four months, something like that.
Q. Four months?
A. Four or five months in 1991.
Q. Would that be once a month for four months?
A. No, once a week.
Q. Once a week for four months?
A. Yes.
Q. So eight kilograms a month for four months,
32, thereabouts?
A. Yeah.
Q. It's a rough figure.
A. That was when Mauricio came to the picture,
or when I knew him because before I didn't know. I
didn't have control.
Q. And how about Guillermo?
A. Guillermo, I knew him in December 1990 in
L.A.
Q. All right.
A. Because before that, he did a deal with Jose
in the same way, but I didn't know him. I knew him in
December 1990 in L.A. He went to pick me up at the
hotel about -- I was in L.A. at that time about three
days. I went to his house. I knew his wife, a
Bolivian girl, his child, just born, about two months
old at that time. And I spent two nights with him.
But in that time, we couldn't do any business.
Q. Did you do any business later?
A. In January I started delivering.
Q. January of '91?
A. '91.
Q. Okay.
A. I started delivering about five a week.
Q. For how long?
A. Oh, until June 1991.
Q. So for a year and a half?
A. A year and a half.
Q. Okay.
A. It was not continual because sometimes we
didn't have the suppliers, okay, but five or ten a
week.
Q. Five or ten a week most weeks, not every
week, for about a year and a half?
A. Yes. Sometimes it was one month without no
merchandise, but that was it, that they could do it.
Q. All right. Now, in this later part, where
did the -- the cocaine came from Colombia?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know what happened to it from there?
How did you get ahold of it or what did you cause to
happen?
A. Well, some of the merchandise come from --
you want --
Q. Give me the different routes, right.
A. Okay. The coke, the Colombians bring it to
Mexico. They bring all this stuff to Mexico. They
cross the border, and then the Mexicans deliver it to
us.
Q. In San Francisco?
A. In L.A., in San Francisco.
Q. Okay. And was there any other way that it
came to you? Did it come through Miami ever?
A. Before, yes, in 1982, 1983, before.
Q. When you were getting it through the contras
it was coming through Miami?
A. Yes. And with Norwin, we make about three
or four flights for him in Miami, from Miami to here.
Q. And how many other customers or how many
other distribution areas did you have? You had the
Meneses' here in the Bay Area.
A. Yes.
Q. And people that were related to them such
as, you mentioned Cornejo, Raphael Cornejo. Were
there any other people?
A. Yes. Shimar Gonzales is from Redwood City
who had a case.
Q. But he wasn't related to the Meneses'?
A. He already died last year.
Q. Did you have other points in the United
States that you had this cocaine distributed to?
here?
A. In L.A.
Q. So it was L.A. and San Francisco?
A. Yes.
Q. Were the Meneses' your biggest customers
A. Yes.
Q. Between the whole family, the various
members of the whole family?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Now, when did you stop
delivering to the Meneses'?
A. Well, in 1991, in June, because I gave --
the last time that I gave ten keys, I didn't give him,
okay? Mauricio delivered it to him. But at that
time, his father just died, okay, so I came here and
visited him.
Q. He, who?
A. Guillermo.
Q. Guillermo, his father --
A. He was killed in Nicaragua.
Q. I see.
A. So he just died. I came to give him the
condolences for his father. An I went to his house
and I, at that time I delivered ten keys.
Q. Where was that?
A. That was, it's an apartment.
Q. In San Francisco?
A. In San Francisco.
Q. All right. And again, you need to see that
place again?
A. Yes, I know where it is.
Q. Now, what happened to Norwin when you went
back in business in '89, '90, '91? Where was Norwin
at that time?
A. Norwin was in Nicaragua.
Q. He had gone back?
A. Yes.
Q. He had taken his wife and his smaller
children back?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. And did he leave then Guillermo,
Roger and Jairo in the business here?
A. Yes. Jaime, also.
Q. Jaime, also, which you mentioned was his
brother.
A. He's a nephew. There is a Jaime brother and
Jaime nephew. Jaime brother was killed in Costa Rica
also.
Q. I see.
A. Jaime, senior.
Q. Jaime, senior. Jaime, junior, being his
son, stayed on and was in the cocaine business here in
San Francisco?
A. Yes.
Q. And you supplied him cocaine, too, during
'90, '91?
A. No. Jaime, no. Jaime, no. I didn't get in
with Jaime.
Q. All right. But you just knew that he was in
the business?
A. Yes.
Q. But you had no personal dealings with him?
A. No.
Q. All right.
A. I dealt with him when I used to because he's
the only one that I dealt with with Norwin. I did two
or three times-with him in Norwin's time.
Q. Back in the early '80s?
A. Right.
Q. Now, you mentioned about bringing it in from
Mexico to the United States. How was that done?
A. Okay. Norwin, at that time when I finished
with Guillermo in June, June 1991, because I delivered
at that time ten keys to his house, he took about two
months, one month and a half to pay me. And he told
me the next day.
I started finding out that they were
bringing some of the stuff from Nicaragua. So that
money they used to sell whatever belongs to me. They
sell it, and then they pay the border. They pay the
expenses with the money that I -- well, with the money
that he has. That's because he didn't pay me.
I find out because I, you know, I make phone
call to Nicaragua, I make phone call to Norwin.
What's going on with this guy that Mauricio told me he
owes about $60,000 balance.
So I find out that they were bringing a car
with Guillermo from San Salvador, this guy, and
crossing the border with 35 or 40 keys in the car.
Q. Just smuggling it in in the car?
A. Yes. They want to bring the stuff from
Nicaragua.
Q. They went their own way with it?
A. Yes.
Q. In other words, they were kind of cutting
you out, were they not?
A. Yes.
Q. They were taking money that they owed you,
driving down unbeknownst to you to Nicaragua, buying
cocaine there and bringing it up?
A. No, no. That was Norwin's cocaine.
Q. Oh, it was Norwin's cocaine?
A. Yes. Well, he was supplying Guillermo with
all this stuff. At that time I find out that they
have, with my connection, they have $1,000. And when
Norwin was, you know, put in jail in Nicaragua, they
found only 725. So I suppose that they sold about
250. They brought 275 from Nicaragua with Guillermo.
Q. And that was cocaine other than the one --
A. They were doing -- after that, I never saw
again Guillermo, you know. I just heard from Omar or
from Roger that he was doing, he was bringing the
stuff, and the stuff that he was bringing was in
powder so it was difficult to sell.
Q. So they had their own supply, and they
didn't buy from you anymore?
A. Yes.
Q. Did they pay you the $60,000 they owed you?
A. Yes.
Q. So your last dealing with them is June of
'92, thereabouts?
A. Yes, June or July.
Q. All right. Now, did you know the name
Norman Valario?
A. Yes.
Q. Does he enter into this picture, Norman
Valario?
A. Well, the day that I delivered it to
Guillermo, that day I went to his house, also I
delivered ten keys to Norman Valario.
Q. Is he related to the Meneses' somehow?
A. He used to work when he was 19 years old
with Norwin in San Francisco, and he was one of the
best sellers for Norwin Meneses in San Francisco.
Then he retired because he went to Miami.
He didn't retire. He went to Miami and
lived with his wife. Then he get divorced and he was
a lot of contact with the Colombian family like Ochoa
family. The Ochoa family was a good friend with him.
So he started doing business from Panama, but big
business from him, just putting in Miami.
Q. So he became a big dealer in Miami?
A. Yes. But he all the time, I don't know, he
want to be so bigger and bigger and bigger that he
lost about one trip, and he went broke.
Q. He didn't save much?
A. No. He was buying himself. He crossing the
Ochoa Family.
Q. But the only dealing you had with him was
ten keys at one point?
A. One point, yes.
Q. Can you name any other members of this
organization or this family that were introduced to
you by the Meneses' that you became involved with
supplying cocaine here in the Bay Area in that later
time period, '89, '90, '91, '92?
A. There is this Morales family also. There is
another brother from Jairo Morales that is in the
business also. It's the same name that the father,
that the Morales father had, Jairo Morales' name.
Q. Is that the Jaime, junior and senior that
you've told us about before?
A. No, Jaime's another.
Q. It's somebody else?
A. Jairo Morales Meneses is a son from Norwin's
sister. They had a factory, some candy factory right
here.
Q. Candy or cheese?
A. In Hayward.
Q. Was it cheese?
A. No, candy. A lot of candy.
Q. How much cocaine did you supply to Jairo
Morales Meneses?
A. He was in charge of all 50. About 200.
Q. You told us about that before. That's the
same Jairo?
A.Yes, same Jairo.
Q. How about other people besides who you've
told us about?
A. Well, right now I cannot be in quantity so
exactly.
Q. Sure. I understand.
A. I don't know.
Q. Those are the ones that you remember right
now?
A. Yes. Well, we make 50, 50, 200, and then
50, 125 all together.
Q. How much all together?
A. It's 225. Two trips of 50, 425 in that
period of time, 1990, 1991, in that period of time.
Q. That's what you sold the Meneses family in
total, '90 and '91, those years, 425 kilograms
approximately?
A. Something like that. I cannot be exactly.
I'm sorry.
Q. I understand. You have to do some
additional -- you can do additional work on this if
you were asked, could you not? You have some ledgers,
et cetera --
A. Yes.
Q. -- that you were arrested with that might
help you in being exact?
A. Well, when we were finding out my papers,
when we went looking around my papers, we find out
some accounts that, you know, that they, they found
some -- we found some accounts that I put Guillermo
Meneses, Omar Meneses, Roger Meneses. That was the
balance, because they used to pay cash, most of them.
Q. So your records aren't complete?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And you can do some additional work
by going around, if you were allowed to?
A. Verify the places.
MR. HALL: Okay. All right. I believe
that's all the questions I have of Mr. Blandon.
I would like to have a minute after your
questions of filling you in a little bit about where
we might be going with this case. You're going to be
hearing about it for a time period.
But this is only the beginning, so to speak.
We are primarily bringing this witness because he's
available now and because it provides a little
historical background about how all this began.
Any questions?
GRAND JURY FOREPERSON: Any questions?
MR. HALL: Okay. Before you get up,
Mr. Blandon, let me see what the martials want to do,
how they want you to proceed from here. Okay,
Mr. Blandon.
(Witness excused at 11:50 a.m.)
(Proceedings heard before the Grand Jury
reported but not transcribed from 11:50 a.m. to
12:01 p.m.)
(Whereupon, proceedings adjourned at 12:01 p.m.)
CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
I, Carla Soares, a duly authorized
shorthand reporter, do hereby certify:
That the foregoing transcript constitutes
a true, full and correct transcript of my shorthand
notes taken as such reporter of the proceedings herein
and reduced to typewriting under my supervision and
control to the best of my ability.
CARLA SOARES