Posted on 03/06/2009 5:12:27 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Convicted murderer already serving 80 years
Maria Villarreal pleaded with the judge to ask Gabriel Cardona Ramirez where he disposed of her son's body.
Standing before U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez on Thursday, Villarreal asked her for help finding the body of her son, 14-year-old Inez Abundo Villarreal, who died in March 2006 at Cardona's hands.
"I know the pain your mother is going through, but the stronger sorrow is mine because she knows where you are," Maria Villarreal said to Cardona.
"I am begging you on my knees that you tell the judge where my son is."
Alvarez did ask Cardona to disclose to authorities where he buried Villarreal after she sentenced him to life in prison for murdering Villarreal and 19-year-old Alfonso "Poncho" Aviles in Nuevo Laredo during a nine-month killing spree on both sides of the border on behalf of the Zetas.
She ordered Cardona, a 22-year-old U.S. citizen, to begin serving that sentence after he finishes serving 80 years in state prison for five murders in the U.S. he took part in during 2005 and 2006.
Cardona pleaded guilty in August to the charge of conspiracy to kidnap and kill in a foreign country, admitting to the 2006 killings of Villarreal and Aviles in Nuevo Laredo. Cardona killed Aviles because Aviles was a member of the Sinaloa Cartel and trying to kill Cardona.
In a telephone conversation with convicted Zeta sicario Rosalio "Bart" Reta intercepted by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, Cardona bragged about how he slashed the two teenagers with a broken bottle, gathered their blood in a cup and made a toast to the Santisima Muerte, or death saint.
He later disposed of their bodies in a barrel filled with liquid fuel, a method known as a guiso, or stew.
Cardona was the leader of a group of hit men working for a faction of the cartel known as the Zetas, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno said during Thursday's sentencing hearing.
He was the only member of a group of teenage sicarios, or hit men, operating in the U.S. who was in contact with the Zetas leadership in Nuevo Laredo.
Once a group of army deserters who acted as enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas now control drug trafficking operations in Nuevo Laredo.
Cardona worked for Miguel "El 40" Treviño Morales, who at the time ran the Zetas' operations in Nuevo Laredo and now is No. 2 in the organization, according to court records.
Cardona oversaw hits in the U.S. during the organization's war against factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Cardona betrayed no emotion during the hearing, and he spoke only to complain about his attorney and to apologize to the U.S. government and the Laredo community.
Cardona was arrested three times during his killing spree and posted bond each time, despite being arrested on two separate murder charges.
Alvarez said she was sure if Cardona were released again, he would kill again.
He is lucky he is not facing the death penalty, she said.
"I have not seen remorse as I have seen in other cases from defendants who have committed crimes much less heinous than yours," she said.
"I think you're very lucky you're not facing the death penalty, because quite frankly I think this is a case that screams out for the death penalty."
Cardona was charged along with more than 30 people in a 47-count federal indictment that targets the Zetas.
Federal prosecutors allege members of the organization committed violent crimes to further their drug trafficking and money laundering enterprises.
The racketeering case against the Zetas is the product of Operation Prophecy, a multiagency effort led by the DEA and the Laredo Police Department.
So far 13 people have pleaded guilty in the case, and 20 names remain blacked out on the indictment.
Reta, one of the sicarios who worked for Cardona, is scheduled to go to trial Monday for one of the killings Cardona supervised.
Another sicario, Jesus Gonzalez III, who was wanted in Laredo on murder charges, was stabbed to death last month in a Mexican prison.
(Jason Buch may be reached at 728-2547 or jbuch@lmtonline.com)
Gee. Wonder how long before the LeftTards will be wearing t-shirts with his face on them?
If they stewed him, there is little if any remaining
“remains”.
Is it possible to have consecutive sentences thus:
First: Life
Next: Death
Then commute the first...
He's Zeta. They aren't human in terms of displaying compassion or remorse.
For many years I’ve thought we were lucky to have the illegals/immigrants we have and not the muzzies like in Europe.
Now, with this growing death-cult in Mexico, our luck is running out.
Los dos Laredos ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
80 years in prison, and when you get out you carry the “felon” brand? Why is that not considered more “cruel and unusual” than capital punishment?
Yeah, she's full of life.
Ping!
Why don’t you start your own thread instead of trying to divert this one?
Sorry man. I thought I was on a MoDo thread.
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