http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3733935.html

March 19, 2006, 2:33PM

American slain in Nuevo Laredo
Associated Press

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — A U.S. citizen who lived in San Antonio, was stabbed to death in this violent Mexican border city, police said today.

Officers found the corpse of Joe Cantu, 47, on the street near Nuevo Laredo's main Reforma avenue shortly before midnight on Saturday, said Victor Almanza, a state police detective.

Cantu had 13 knife wounds in his chest, arm and hands, Almanza said.

Contacted today, U.S. consular officials had no information on the incident.

Police found a cellular phone, a Texas driver's license, and a small amount of money on the body of the victim, indicating that he had not been robbed.

Since Jan. 1, there have been more than 50 slayings in this city of 330,000 across the border from Laredo.

Investigators say most of the violence is connected to a turf war between rival drug gangs fighting for billion-dollar smuggling routes into the United States.