US Marine Turned Drug Trafficker Wanted a ‘Narcocorrido’ Written About His Exploits

During the summer of 2020, an active United States Marine based in San Diego, California commissioned a narcocorrido—a drug ballad—about himself. He wanted the lyrics to include his work as a serving marine, but also to highlight how he managed to become a major drug trafficker. 

Roberto Salazar II, 26, was sentenced earlier this month to 12 years in prison for leading a drug trafficking network to import and distribute heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and illicit fentanyl, according to U.S. authorities. 

"In one line that Salazar suggested to the songwriter, he boasted: “I wanted to study and became a soldier, but I liked the fast life better,” court documents show.

Salazar began his criminal scheme in 2015, before his military career, and kept at it until September 2022 when he was captured, according to court documents. A U.S. citizen, he entered the United States Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego in 2018, from where he recruited two other former marines to smuggle drugs from the border cities of Mexicali and Tijuana to San Diego.

Salazar would obtain cars in the U.S. that were driven to Mexico to load drugs into the engine compartments. Couriers would then drive them back across the border into the U.S., according to prosecutors.

The couriers were getting $2,000 from Salazar each time they successfully managed to get into the U.S. undetected in the drug-filled cars. Several of the drug smugglers who worked for Salazar, including the two former marines, were caught at the San Diego-Tijuana border by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in 2021, according to court records. 

Salazar directed his people to only use BMW’s because of the “unique engine compartment” that allowed drugs to be easily hidden, according to court documents. 

"Salazar had become so involved in drug trafficking that he was in the process of commissioning a Mexican songwriter to write a drug ballad known as a 'narcocorrido' about him," the U.S. attorney's office said.

Salazar’s criminal history goes back to 2013 when he was 16 years old and, along with his father, Roberto Salazar I, began smuggling people from Tijuana to San Diego, according to court documents. 

His father was living in the U.S. undocumented and was deported to Mexico when his son was about 9 years old. 

Salazar II was arrested in September 2022, although the details of his arrest or how authorities learned about his drug trafficking network were not shared on court documents or by the authorities. 

During his first court appearance, Salazar told the judge he had “messed up” and that “this is my first and last time I’m ever going to be in trouble,” according to court documents. 

"This case involved a marine who was supposed to protect and defend our country, but instead brought great harm to Americans by trafficking fentanyl and other dangerous drugs," U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman stated in a press release after his sentence. "He also betrayed his solemn oath by recruiting other marines to do the same."

Salazar’s case isn’t the only criminal scheme run by marines. From 2019 to 2021, a group of some 16 United States Marines led a massive human smuggling ring running through several U.S. states. 

The criminal network was based out of Camp Pendleton and was charging up to $11,000 to migrants to be smuggled into the U.S across the border with Mexico.