Roger Sandino Martinez, known as "Chocoyo," was a veteran [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] drug trafficker and [[FDN]] operative who took over [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]]'s [[South Central Los Angeles|South Central L.A.]] cocaine operation after Blandón relocated to [[Miami]] in 1987. Blandón's attorney [[Brad Brunon]] called him "an Original Gangster Contra."[^1] ### Drug Trafficking History DEA records show Sandino was arrested in October 1980 in Hialeah, [[Florida]], with 50,000 Quaalude tablets. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and received thirty months in federal prison. Despite his conviction and being in the U.S. illegally, Sandino was never deported. In 1984 he set up an import-export business in Miami with a Coral Gables attorney who was in business with Blandón's FDN associates, including former National Guard major general [[Gustavo Medina]] and businessman [[Donald Barrios]].[^1] ### The Virginia Cocaine Case In April 1986, Sandino was arrested as part of the biggest cocaine case on the Atlantic Coast. [[DEA]] agents in Norfolk, Virginia, charged him and fourteen others, including the son-in-law of Bolivian cocaine kingpin Roberto Suarez-Gomez, with conspiracy to import 700 pounds of cocaine worth $158 million. The cocaine belonged to the DEA, which had brought it from [[Bolivia]] for a reverse sting. Agents seized $1.3 million from Sandino and his associates. Sandino somehow wriggled out of custody and the DEA issued a fugitive warrant. When [[LASD Major Violators]] detective [[Thomas Gordon]] ran Sandino's name through NADDIS months later, there was no mention of the Virginia indictment or fugitive warrant. Sandino was never brought to trial.[^1] ### Taking Over the Blandón Network After fleeing Virginia, Sandino appeared in [[Los Angeles]] and took over Blandón's drug operation, partnered with Jose "Chinito" Gonzalez. [[Ricky Ross]] continued calling Blandón in Miami to place orders, and Sandino's partner Gonzalez handled pickups and deliveries. Blandón continued as middleman, solving problems and collecting commissions. "Roger Sandino was one of these guys from the old days, the old [[Contras|Contra]] connection," Brunon said.[^1] ### Cincinnati Operations Blandón confirmed that he and Sandino visited Ross in Cincinnati, where Ross had relocated and was selling Blandón's cocaine throughout the Midwest. Ross also wired money to Florida in [[Chepita Blandon|Chepita]]'s name, which Blandón said was paid to Sandino "because Roger Sandino was my partner in the business."[^2] ### Capture and Escape In July 1991, Texas DEA agents captured Sandino outside Plano, Texas, with fifty-four kilos of cocaine in his car. Within two weeks, the San Diego DEA had him making tape-recorded calls to Blandón in an effort to set up a reverse sting. But Blandón's intelligence network detected the setup. When Sandino suggested doing a deal with a certain couple in Miami, Blandón warned: "They are going to put you in jail, dumb fuck, but quickly." Blandón quit returning Sandino's calls. On August 16, 1991, the DEA admitted the investigation "had been compromised." Sandino then escaped from the Chula Vista hotel where the DEA had been holding him, fleeing to Nicaragua. The DEA refused to explain why it had left a federal fugitive unattended. Former Nicaraguan antidrug czar [[Roger Mayorga]] said in 1997: "If the DEA wanted Roger Sandino he is very easy to find. They never asked us to arrest him, I can tell you that."[^3] Blandón also told DEA informant John Arman that Sandino had a planeload of cocaine crash-land near San Rafael del Sur, Nicaragua, in June 1990, and local peasants carted away much of the dope, selling it at the market for ten to twenty dollars a kilo. Aviation records confirmed the crash of a plane carrying 1,000 pounds of cocaine; the pilot was a captain in the Colombian Air Force.[^3] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 20: "It is a sensitive matter" [^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 21: "I could go anywhere in the world and sell dope" [^3]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 23: "He had the backing of a superpower"