Posted on 01/04/2007 1:08:18 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
LAREDO — In the face of the impunity under which Mexican drug cartels operate along the border, police here secured an arrest warrant for Miguel Treviño Morales, identified as a high-ranking regional Gulf Cartel leader, in connection with a 2006 double homicide.
A police official confirmed Treviño was a wanted man after his name appeared in a probable cause affidavit for another defendant in the same case.
Juan "Cordless" Ramos, 24, was arrested Tuesday in Laredo in connection with the April 2, 2006, shooting deaths of Jesus Maria Resendez, 36, and his nephew Mariano Resendez, 15, just inside the city limits on U.S. 83.
Police recovered more than 60 shell casings from AK-47 assault rifles and a 9 mm handgun in one of the brashest cartel hits ever to occur on the Texas side of the border.
Treviño and Ramos are among at least eight suspected of having a hand in the ambush, according to the affidavit.
Treviño ordered and paid for the hit, the affidavit alleges. He remains a fugitive.
Ramos faces two counts of murder and a count of engaging in organized criminal activity. He remained in Webb County Jail in lieu of $600,000 bond.
Another defendant had named Ramos as a lookout who informed the "hit squad" about where Resendez was, the court document states.
But the affidavit goes much further, painting a rare, detailed picture of the inside of a paid drug cartel hit.
Raul Jasso, 24, suspected of being one of the shooters, told investigators the killers met in the Laredo home of Jose Guadalupe Martinez, 26, to plan the hit and again afterward, the affidavit states.
Another, Gabriel Cardona, told police that Martinez provided the weapons used, according to the document. Martinez remains at large.
Aurora Isabel del Bosque, suspected of being a lookout, was arrested in October. She posted bond and was released.
Jasso and Cardona were both arrested and charged in the killings. According to court records, Jasso pleaded guilty to reduced charges in December and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
According to the affidavit, Cardona told investigators that Treviño gave him the order to kill Resendez. The document identified Treviño as the "head of a criminal organization cell base out of Nuevo Laredo pertaining to the Gulf Cartel (Zetas)."
The Zetas, a designation originally reserved for the cartel's ruthless enforcement arm of ex-military officers, now is used to identify anyone within the Gulf Cartel ranks.
Stratfor, an Austin-based intelligence analysis company, identified Treviño in a report as a cartel "gatekeeper" for Nuevo Laredo, charged with keeping operations smooth and collecting fees.
Furthermore, Cardona told investigators that he met with Treviño in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, after the shooting and was paid $50,000 for the operation, the affidavit states.
The investigation is ongoing, and more arrests could follow, police spokesman Juan Rivera said.
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mcastillo@express-news.net
Nice reading material for all the OBLs out there.
Los dos Laredos ping!
Just celebrating the RATS first 100 hours.
If they're not going in whole hog, they shouldn't even bother.
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