Saturday, October 25, 2008

TTSOML #149: The Murder Of Nacho

I met Nacho in the orchard near my grandparents house when I stayed at the cabins. If anyone said a thing against me (which never happened, really), he would talk them down for HOURS, and they would just sit and listen to him defend me. No one argued with him. He was a big guy and probably had some street smarts. Whatever he was involved in, which was some kind of drug trafficking, he had one of the softest hearts of anyone I've ever known. He was a big teddy bear type and there was even a memorial written about him in the Wenatchee World honoring him. I guess he meant a lot to more people than I realized. He was very proud of his children, and he did have a few, with different mothers, but I think he actually tried to keep in touch. He kept all of their photos with him and showed them to me.

I met his son, Nacho Jr., who worked with his father one summer. He was a very good worker, one of the best. He picked more bins, faster than most everyone. These guys worked so hard, sometimes their hands would be all scratched up and bloodied. These people do not get enough credit for what they do. I wanted to work in the orchard too, but my family wouldn't allow it. They thought it would be too hard on me. But I was willing to do the same work.

I knew women were occasionally "paid for" in the orchards. There were actually women who would go to the orchards, knowing they could secure a job very quickly. A lot of the guys were away from their families for months, and others were single. It was fairly common. I met one of these women, and what surprised me, is at least the one I met personally, was SO seriously smart. I had no idea there were such brainy hookers. I mean, she wasn't an intellectual exactly, but this woman thought FAST and was very quick-witted, funnier than me, and could keep a conversation going with any of the guys. They'd all pal around and joke with her. She was sort of a hooker, but their friend too.

I don't know if I should say thios, but out of cultural interest, I think it's interesting...These guys sort of wanted to talk to someone as much as they wanted sex. And one time, Nacho paid for a whole group of guys to take a turn with the women. I think it was just her. As far as I could tell, it wasn't a gang rape or anything. He paid her ahead of time and then the next thing I knew, all the guys were running into the cabin asking for condoms.

She never seemed like a victim to me, but I did feel badly when I saw her two boys in her car with her. They were elementary school aged and I wondered if she really did it just to support them or what. She'd come around later though, and just be chatty and honestly, this woman didn't seem to have any mental issues--she seemed very tough and solid, despite her profession. I remember Christa asking me if they had raped her and I said I didn't think so, and I would be the first one to defend someone I thought was taken advantage of. I never saw anything. I stayed in the cabin and they took off for the orchard.

Nacho swore a lot but was a pretty gentle guy. He took a liking to me. Of course Nacho wasn't his real name, it was his nickname, but I don't know what his real name was. He never told me.

At one point, I think after I'd gained his confidence, he showed me his radio-CB thing he had which was high tech. He said you couldn't just get that kind on the regular market. It picked up communications between police everywhere and had a long range, but I can't remember exactly why it was special. It was higher quality though, and I don't know where he got it. It was a walkie-talkie thing.

I can't remember if I told Christa about it or not. I think I kept some stuff quiet.

After I moved to downtown Wenatchee, I was in touch with Nacho a couple of times. I gave him my phone number and he came to my apartment twice, to help me make a couple of calls to Mexico on his phone, to the baby's father. I didn't want it on my phone, and we used his cell phone. He made the calls for me. Otherwise, nothing else happened. I never had anything "going" with Nacho in any way. He never tried anything and was always very respectful. I think he sort of implied he could be interested, but I made it clear I liked him as a friend. He didn't say anything rude, just, "I could take care of you" and "You need someone to take care of you." That was it. But we were buddies. Well, I guess, more of acquaintances in a friendly way or something because we didn't know that much about eachother. We made calls to Mexico to get ahold of the father and that was it.

I called him on or about Christmas of 2006. I had made batches of sugar cookies with frosting for a bunch of people. My housemates, my neighbors, Nacho, and a few others. I drove around, making deliveries and then called a few people to see if they wanted to come over to pick them up. I didn't have any money, but I had food stamps. LOL. So I bought ingredients for making cookies for people.

Right before he came over for that visit, maybe a week or a few weeks before he came over, I finally wrote to the FBI field offices in Portland, Oregon and possibly Seattle, Washington. I know I wrote Portland and maybe called them. I had become concerned, or felt guilty, for telling Nacho and the guys about Raul Bujanda and Armando Garza. I told Christa one of the orchard workers identified Bujanda and said he knew him, and that the other one took note like he was going to pass information on or knew something about them and didn't say anything.

As much as I liked Nacho, I was worried someone might try to kill Bujanda if they knew him already. Or something. I didn't know who was who in the chain or line-up.

Not long after I gave this information to the FBI, Nacho was shot down and killed in Yakima, Washington. All the police kept saying it was a "drug deal gone bad", but I spoke with his long-term girlfriend and she said there were no drugs. And she would tell me the truth, because she admitted to being involved, or how he was involved in dealing, but on that day or night there were no drugs. This is what she said happened:

Nacho asked her if she wanted to go with him to meet someone, over in Yakima, about a day or two after I gave him my Christmas cookies and he'd picked them up. She said they didn't have any drugs with them and there was no "deal". When they went in, the guy just wanted to talk to them, and he took Nacho aside to another room, because he didn't want Nacho's girlfriend to hear what they were talking about.

She heard the level escalate, and then Nacho came out of the room and the other guy, Mexican, came out of the room after him with a gun drawn. Nacho's girlfriend panicked and froze, and I'm not sure if there were 2 other guys there too. I would have to check with her. Any reporter could, and her name is Linda and her story has been the same from Day One.

At any rate, it was all over a conversation, and no drugs were present. It was just meeting. So the guy told Nacho to get down on his knees and "BEG". Nacho refused, and kept walking and maybe said he would never beg. As he walked out of the house, he was shot down on the sidewalk, and Linda was there as he died.

They caught the guy later, I believe, in L.A. or some part of California. I believe he was Mexican and not in the country with regular papers, Mexican nationality, not just ethnicity.

Because this happened after I told the FBI about Nacho, I wondered what was going on. I think it's possible someone in the FBI was involved, and was worried Nacho had done too much talking. I tried to protect one life, of someone in the FBI who had abused me, and another life was taken. And the police just chalked it up to "drug deal gone bad" even when the witness kept telling them repeatedly it hadn't been about that.

So what was it about, exactly?

Saying a drug dealer got killed over a "drug deal gone bad" when it's not about that, is like claiming a prostitute can never be raped and that she was asking for it. Covers can be used quite easily.

I think the FBI has a lot of dirty people in their bureau, personally.

I should add how I discovered Nacho was dead. I believe he visited me on Christmas Day and died on December 27, 2005. I tried calling his cell and a woman answered. I asked who it was and why she had Nacho's phone and they hung up. I KNEW Nacho would never give his cell phone to someone else. I immediately had this "feeling" that Nacho was in trouble. I don't remember if it was just intuition or the woman said something that made me think this, but I called the police, Wenatchee police, and they scoffed and said he was probably just missing. I told them he could be in trouble and they had better listen to me. They didn't. So then I called the FBI and told them and whomever I got ahold of took it seriously. I think they were the ones to tell me that yes, the database showed he'd been killed and that the case was in Yakima. Then they asked me how I knew something was wrong. I told them someone else was answering his cell phone and that's how I knew, because he would never give his cell phone to someone else. If someone else had it, something was up.

I wondered if someone had thought Nacho was the one who "knew" Bujanda. I never told anyone which guy knew him. I just said Nacho had the radio and did drug dealing. I wondered if someone got to Nacho, thinking he was the one who knew Bujanda. I told Christa, but I wouldn't tell her the names of the guys and she asked which guy knew Bujanda directly. I wouldn't tell her so someone may have assumed. Someone may have also assumed Nacho was the father of my child.

He wasn't, but he was the only one visiting my apartment regularly. Well, a couple of times. Maybe getting cookies from me on Christmas Day made it look like he was the likely father. I don't know.

It could have been a random kill, that IS possible. But I have a feeling it wasn't. And not all the time, but usually, I am right.

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