A convicted Houston gun trafficker is providing U.S. agents information about a Mexican drug cartel for which he admitted supplying arms, court documents show.
As part of his plea agreement, Christian Garza was sentenced to three years in federal prison and received leniency in exchange for telling U.S. officials about his criminal contacts, The Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.
Garza also provided information about firearms sales to "highly sought fugitives who are believed to lead one of the most violent Mexican drug cartels, the Zetas," papers submitted to a federal judge by his lawyer, Connie Williams, indicated.
The Zetas cartel, a crime organization founded by ex-Mexican military personnel and known for its gruesome efficiency, is flourishing across the border from Texas as it battles rival traffickers and the Mexican government, the Chronicle reported.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives named Houston as the key point of origin for weapons traced from Mexican-organized crime scenes back to the United States. Garza wasn't a member of the cartel, never met with any of the Zetas and never took guns across the border, his attorney said.
Federal agents "were more interested in the higher-ups, the people who could connect them to what was going on down in Mexico," Williams said. "He put his 2 cents in. There was another layer between him and the Zetas."