A plot to assassinate Sheriff Joe Arpaio by the Mexican Mafia was broken up by sheriff's deputies a few days ago. The plot was to have an inmate, Samuel Matta, who was furious about having some of his illegal alien family members deported from Arizona by the sheriff, carry out the act. Matta attempted to get out of the jail on bail at which point he would use a high powered rifle to shoot the sheriff in a public setting. The plot was foiled by deputies after an investigation that began in March 2012.
Below is from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office
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(Phoenix, AZ) Detectives from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s Threats Unit today arrested three maximum security inmates for conspiracy to commit murder stemming from a complex plot from assassinating Sheriff Arpaio to killing a fellow inmate.
Mark Cons (DOB 3/23/79), and Rudolfo Santos (DOB 6/10/75), members of the Mexican Mafia currently housed in the Sheriff’s 4th Avenue Jail on serious felony charges, were served with arrest warrants by Sheriff’s detectives this morning.
Samuel Matta, (DOB 3/3/83) a member of a documented street gang and who is currently incarcerated in the state prison in Florence, was served this afternoon. All three inmates are charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of another jail inmate.
The investigation began in March of this year after Sheriff’s detectives were tipped off by an inmate in jail on multiple homicide charges that Samuel Matta was allegedly planning to publicly assassinate Sheriff Joe Arpaio using a high powered rifle.
Matta, who was planning to carry out the assassination plot once he was released from jail, believed that the Sheriff was personally responsible for the deportation of some of his members of his family to Mexico from their home in El Mirage, Arizona.
The investigation into the Arpaio murder plot then led to yet another plot where these three inmates were conspiring to kill another inmate, a rival gang member.
Matta was not successful in his bid to be released on a $1,800.00 bond therefore could not carry out his plan to assassinate the Sheriff.
The detectives, however, did capture audio surveillance which unveiled a conspiracy to murder another inmate for the sole reason that he is a member of a rival gang. That murder plot was also foiled by Sheriff’s detectives.
The entire investigation unfolded in April of this year, a month which saw higher than usual levels of gang and racial tensions inside Fourth Avenue Jail. One such situation involving dozens black and Hispanic inmates in April prompted Arpaio to order a near two-week lock down of the Maximum security jail in downtown Phoenix.
Sheriff Arpaio says, “Given our jailhouse clientele, my staff is always monitoring situations which can potentially lead to violent criminal activity both inside and outside of the jail walls. In this case, their professionalism and perseverance prevented two potential murders.”
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