In an appeal launched just over a month ago, the 10th circuit US Court of Appeals is hearing an appeal against a detention order of the US District Court for the District of New Mexico upholding a magistrate judge's ruling that Lorena Cisneros of Albuquerque (New Mexico) be detained pending trial, revoking a prior Arizona federal magistrate judge order permitting conditional release until trial.

The case arises out of the US government's investigation and pending prosecution of an alleged criminal enterprise known as the Cisneros Organization which has been under investigation by state and federal authorities since at least 1995 on allegations of murder; manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana; laundering money generated by criminal activity; possessing and selling stolen vehicles; and tampered with and intimidated witnesses against them in criminal prosecutions, including the the murder of such witnesses.

• Court documents say that in 1998, state prosecutors were forced to file a motion dismissing their case against the Cisneros Organization after three prosecution witnesses were murdered.
  On September 19, 2002, a New Mexico federal grand jury returned a 17-count, second superseding indictment against 9 alleged members of the Cisneros Organization ... Lorena Cisneros was named in 2 counts of the indictment: the counts alleging a RICO (Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations) conspiracy and a Stolen Vehicle Conspiracy.

Among specific predicate acts of racketeering activity underlying the RICO charge was an alleged conspiracy to murder a potential witnesses against the Cisneros Organization, Jose Moreno Sr. who was murdered, with his son, on January 12, 2000.

Lorena Cisneros was arrested on September 20, 2002, in Phoenix, Arizona, on a warrant issued by the New Mexico district court.

On October 4, 2002, an order denying a government's request that Cisneros be detained until trial was issued on a judge's conclusion that that Cisneros was not a serious flight risk or a danger to the community. She was released on her own recognizance.

On November 27, 2002, the government filed a motion with the New Mexico district court seeking an order revoking Cisneros's release order and detaining her pending trial, claiming that it had learned that evidence indicated that Cisneros was aware of the plan to murder Jose Moreno, Sr.

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