Busted smuggling ring leads to arrests in one homicide case, other possible slaying victim near Mission
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August 26, 2010 12:00 AM
Jared Taylor

NEAR MISSION — Gilberto Aguilar paid the ultimate price.

The drug smuggler had just delivered 300 pounds of marijuana to a customer for his boss in early February. Aguilar went back there several hours later to steal the load back for himself.

The customer recognized him by his voice, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

That would spell the end for Aguilar.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested three people in connection with Aguilar’s slaying and the possible killing of his suspected hit man. Aguilar was found beaten and shot to death Feb. 6 in a field near the intersection of Mile 11 1/2 North and Texan Road.

His boss, whose name authorities did not disclose, allegedly leads an Hidalgo County-based marijuana wholesaler that would typically deliver several-hundred-pound loads to area clients, Treviño said.

When the boss learned Aguilar angered one of his customers, he sought revenge.

Investigators believe Aguilar, an illegal immigrant, was kidnapped and taken to a house on the 2600 block of Ken Street — north of the intersection of Mile 5 North and La Homa Road — and was beaten with brass knuckles before he met his fate at the end of a gun barrel in a rural field.

He was found with a gunshot to the chest and Rata — Spanish slang for thief — written on his head.

The homicide case remained open for several months until Texas Rangers and Department of Public Safety narcotics investigators working their own investigation into the smuggling group helped “fill in the missing pieces,â€