Operation BISHOP Makes a Move on Barcelona Road

Special to La Feria News

At approximately 9 pm yesterday, July 12, 2016, Investigators with the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office Special Investigations Unit, along with Homeland Security Investigations Special Agents and Task Force Officers, executed a search warrant on a two-story illicit clandestine casino located at 5733 Barcelona Road Brownsville, Texas.  Inside the building, investigators found approximately 50 machines in four rooms.

From the outside, the building appeared to be abandoned – it had overgrown grass, an abandoned pool, and boarded up windows; but it did to have a recently constructed privacy fence. Investigators believe this was installed so passers-by would not notice the multiple vehicles parked at the property.  All the patrons were cited, two arrests were made for both misdemeanor and felony charges, and motherboards were seized.  Hugo Muniz, 35 and Abel Chapa, 33, were the persons arrested during the raid.

Muniz admitted to being in charge of paying out cash to patrons and was armed with a Glock-22 .40 caliber pistol at the time of the arrest. The Cameron County District Attorney’s Special Investigation Unit will continue to aggressively root out the underground casinos in Cameron County.  This operation would not have been a success but for the help of the assisting agencies; thank you to the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and Customs and Board Protection for their support in this operation.