Mexican cartels infiltrate Houston

Houston Chronicle ^ | March 7, 2009, 9:28PM | DANE SCHILLER

[PureSolace]

Recent arrests in a mistaken killing point to the perilous presence of gangs

The order was clear: Kill the guy in the Astros jersey.

But in a case of mistaken identity, Jose Perez ended up dead. The intended target — the Houston-based head of a Mexican drug cartel cell pumping millions of dollars of cocaine into the city — walked away.

Perez, 27, was just a working guy, out getting dinner late on a Friday with his wife and young children at Chilos, a seafood restaurant on the Gulf Freeway.

His murder and the assassination gone awry point to the perilous presence of Mexican organized crime and how cartel violence has seeped into the city.

Arrests came in December when police and federal agents got a break in the 2006 shooting as they charted the relationship and rivalries between at least five cartel cells operating in Houston. A rogue’s gallery of about 100 names and mug shots taken at Texas jails and morgues offers a blueprint for Mexican organized crime.

Houston has long been a major staging ground for importing illegal drugs from Mexico and shipping them to the rest of the United States, but a recent Department of Justice report notes it is one of 230 cities where cartels maintain distribution networks and supply lines.

At Chilos, the real crime boss was sitting at another table, as were two spotters. The hitman waited in the parking lot for Perez to leave the restaurant.

“I just remember that guy coming up to us and he started shooting and shooting and shooting and never stopped,” said Norma Gonzalez, Perez’s widow. He was hit twice.

[PureSolace]

...

[PureSolace]

Jose Perez was enjoying a night out with his wife, Norma, in 2006 when hitmen with a Mexican drug cartel mistook him for a rival trafficker and gunned him down.

Authorities say Santiago “Chago” Salinas ran a cell that smuggled cocaine for Mexican cartels and was the intended target of the hit that killed Perez.

Surveillance Video at THIS LINK.

Surveillance video from a security camera captures the slaying of Jose Perez, who was killed in a case of mistaken identity outside Chilos, a Houston seafood restaurant. Mar 6, 2009

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[VR-21]

Our government has failed us, miserably.

[Global2010]

MSM news if they do report the drug cartel war at the border will say it is almost over the border in America.

Me thinks it came here long time ago.

[BellStar]

Poor terrified wife ran!

[BellStar]

Can’t secure our borders, can’t stop drugs, can’t agree if we do or don’t want to stop drugs, can’t fix Washington! Why don’t we just all walk into the Gulf and get it freaking over with.

[Gator113]

“...... presence of Mexican organized crime and how cartel violence has seeped into the city.”

“Seeped.... “SEEPED”! No, there hasn’t been any seeping. This national problem has been around for a long, long time... they flooded into our communities... there was no seeping.

More MSM B/S.

[Caipirabob]

R.I.P. and may God watch over and protect his family.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

I have another plan....ah, skip it.

[Dante3]

bttt

[BBell]

"Court documents indicate Steven Torres, 26, one of the men charged with helping Zamora with the 2006 killing, confessed “his part involving arranging the murder.” In 2002, he was sentenced to 10 years probation after being convicted of a murder he committed when he was 16."

10 years probation for murder?

[BBell]

I loved this line from the second to last paragraph.

"In another instance, men armed with assault rifles attacked a Houston home. The resident used a handgun to kill one and wound another before the survivors left."

Got to love these armed citizens that fight back.

[SwinneySwitch]

Ping!

If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Infiltrate? BS!

They have been invited by our leaders to come and make a “better life” for themselves. These are also people who's “family values don't stop at the Rio Grande.”

Without the will to secure borders and an aggressive effort to winnow the wheat from the chaff, you can no more keep the more dangerously violent criminals out than you can the marginally less violent criminals.

This flood of mexican criminals is a direct result of the open border agitators and undocumented worker supporters who have fought so hard to allow criminals unfettered access to our streets. Those damnable criminal alien cheerleaders are personally responsible for each and every death, rape and robbery committed by one of these so called “god's children”.

[Arrowhead1952]

The illegal invasion continues ping.

[Arrowhead1952]

Oh, I see you also found this thread.

[Eye of Unk]

I used to live in Houston Tx for several years, it would be incredibly easy to form up a bounty hunter club and have citizens take care of things.

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[AuntB]

“Can’t secure our borders, can’t stop drugs, can’t agree if we do or don’t want to stop drugs, can’t fix Washington! Why don’t we just all walk into the Gulf and get it freaking over with.”

I would like to see a poll.

Which country has more beheadings and 300 bodies dissolved in acid?
Which country has killed more journalists than any other?
Which country is responsible for more kidnappings than any other?
Which country has organized crime cells in 230 cities in the USA?

I bet 10% of the US population couldn’t answer it correctly.
We’ve been invaded by the most dangerous group on earth (the government’s words, not mine) and we don’t even know it, thanks to the media, liberals and Rinos.

[Diogenesis]

"Our government has failed us, miserably."

[AuntB]

"This flood of mexican criminals is a direct result of the open border agitators and undocumented worker supporters who have fought so hard to allow criminals unfettered access to our streets. Those damnable criminal alien cheerleaders are personally responsible for each and every death, rape and robbery committed by one of these so called “god's children”. "

Can't be repeated often enough. We need a 'wall of shame' dedicated to the worst of the worst of them. I nominate McCain.

[Diogenesis]

The Congress has their own protection, their own laws,
and they DO NOT CARE ONE IOTA FOR RAPED, MURDERED or
THREATENED AMERICANS.

[AuntB]

I wish you were wrong. You’re not.

[a fool in paradise]

Thank you Mayor White. < /sarc >

[a fool in paradise]

Welcome to America 2.0

[a fool in paradise]

Is this south of the border now?

[a fool in paradise]

At this size of an operation of drugs in Houston, I doubt that it comes as a complete surprise to our law enforcement officers.

There is probably some of the same corruption that is found in Mexico and border towns. But that is an inconvenient question to ask.

How high does the corruption run.

[ColdWater]

" The resident used a handgun to kill one and wound another before the survivors illegal alien gangsters left." (fixed).

[brytlea]

I agree. What a sad story.

[brytlea]

That really is outrageous. It sends out a signal. The wrong signal.

[a fool in paradise]

I’ve seen reports of the previous DA prosecuting a homeowner who killed a home invader (who’d stalked the home and returned to violently enter the home while the family was there).

The getaway car driver was questioned but not prosecuted and the homeowner was denied knowing the name of the second man. When asked what he should do to avoid a retaliatory strike from this man, he was told to circle the block a couple times before returning home.

The city is much more interested in traffic tickets (speeding, red lights, dui). Those make the city money and don’t fill up jail cells. If you prosecute (possibly illegal alien) suspects, you have to provide the defense as well and house them while awaiting trial plus it is risky to approach such crazed gangsters. Cops are demanding that they now ride two to a patrol car.

When the police don’t feel safe? How are the citizens supposed to feel in this city?

[AuntB]

“There is probably some of the same corruption that is found in Mexico and border towns. But that is an inconvenient question to ask.

How high does the corruption run.”

I wonder if we’ll ever know for sure. Both Madoff and Sanford schemes were dealing with Mexican drug cartels. Both gave big $$$ to politicians. Did they do the bidding of the donors and therefore the cartels? One thing we do know is that the cartels gained power because of open border politicians.

[DirtyHarryY2K]

I moved out of Houston [my home town] in 82’ It's about to get as bad out here in the sticks. Between the illegals and the “meth monsters” the rural areas are starting to look like 3rd world war zones. Lock and load! it will get worse before it will get any better.

[TADSLOS]

"Our government has failed us, miserably."

Yep, and still is, at an ever increasing rate.

[DirtyHarryY2K]

Texas' Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

[willgolfforfood]

Houston IS a sanctuary city...

[wolfcreek]

“Mexican cartels infiltrate Houston”

I’d say about 40 years ago. (how long it took people to wake up)

[dirtman]

I think you can find at least half of those 10 most wanted fugitives working for the Houston city council.

[Iscool]

The war on drugs is a hoax...The war on terror is a hoax...They spend billions of our money on the war on drugs and they refuse to close the gates that they enter thru...

We are a gullible bunch...

[VR-21]

The pigs did eventually start wearing clothes didn’t they Diogenesis. I do hope the bastards enjoy their mordidas (there’s no point in wondering about their consciences).

[cradle of freedom]

There are many well-funded advocacy groups collecting statistics on all sorts of various victim groups. But what about the victims of illegal aliens? In order to collect all the statistics and data necessary to convince the public that there is a national problem, there has to be a generous flow of funding. You notice that we rarely hear about the many crimes committed by illegal aliens. That is because there is no money in collecting the data. The big foundations don’t give a d@mn about victims of illegal aliens. Most of the big foundations are liberal and they could care less how many Americans are killed by illegals. The only people who are trying to bring the problem to the public’s attention are the small, grassroots citizens groups trying to stop illegal immigation. They are not very well funded.

Here is an excellent website that features many names and faces of the vicims of illegal alien murderers. It features some posters of victims which can be downloaded if you like. It is called operationbodycounty.com.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

How high does the corruption run.

The question is who ISN'T in the pockets of mexican cartels and illegal worker employing criminal syndicates.

That's a much shorter list.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping; post. BTTT!

[PGalt]

Thanks for the link to the most wanted.

[rabscuttle385]

We need a 'wall of shame' dedicated to the worst of the worst of them. I nominate McCain.

I wholeheartedly second that nomination.

[stevie_d_64]

That which has failed, can be fixed...

The right button has not yet been pushed...But the safety cover has been flipped back and the finger is poised...

With everything that is going on, I give all of it about another 6 months and we’ll know...

Do I like that it might take that long, no, but in our positions, we actually have more important things to deal with, and this specific issue is about 3-4 down on the list...

And it may actually be impossible to get to this one because of the “other” problems...

What would be interesting to see, if anyone can actually come up with something that is really doing well these days...

Right off the bat, I got nothing...

[wolfcreek]

“I got nothing...”

Same here. Tooo many issues at once, scrammble Homey’s brain.

[ChrisInAR]

The war on drugs is a hoax...The war on terror is a hoax...

Thank goodness there are a few people here who are willing to admit the truth. Both of them have been as successful as Lyndon Johnson's "War" on Poverty, & it's insanity to expect a different result.

The only thing these "Wars" do is increase the size & power of the federal government into our lives -- & THAT is what the original intent of the war-makers who started them were.

[stevie_d_64]

I went to get a haircut yesterday...The young lady who has cut my hair in the past told me she is thinking about going to Mexico this springbreak with her parents for a visit to thier old hometown...

I told her that I would really hold off on that because I would hate to see her become a statistic...

We’ll see if she can convince the parents to hold off this year...