http://www.lmtonline.com/articles/2009/ ... 880516.txt

Zeta circus

Sicario draws national eye
By JASON BUCH
LAREDO MORNING TIMES
Published: Friday, March 13, 2009 4:05 AM CDT

A pretrial hearing for Rosalio "Bart" Reta gave a glimpse of the stepped-up security expected at the Zeta sicario's murder trial later this month.

Sheriff's deputies questioned drivers pulling into the Webb County Justice Center's parking garage and packed the 49th District Court, where Reta, 19, will go to trial March 23 on charges that he murdered Moises Garcia Dec. 8, 2005.

Reta has been convicted of murder and is serving a 40-year prison sentence for driving another sicario, or hit man, to a botched hit in January 2006 that ended in the death of Noe Flores, their target's half brother.

The teenage sicario's 2007 trial for Flores' murder generated national media attention and heightened courthouse security.

Reta successfully appealed the conviction, and his trial last year on the same charge lacked the same level of coverage and the same level of security.

This time, the national media are back.
CNN and Details magazine sent journalists to Laredo this week, when Reta's trial was originally scheduled to take place.

The Austin-based public radio program Latino USA was in town last week interviewing local officials about border violence, and ABC's Nightline and Newsweek have expressed interest in the story.

It has been about two years since the violence in Nuevo Laredo, the result of warring between the Zetas, a faction of the Gulf Cartel, and the Sinaloa Cartel, spilled over into Laredo.

While it's quiet here, violence persists in Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, and, to a lesser extent, in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen.

But those cities don't have the successful prosecutions of cartel hit men that Laredo has.

The prosecution of Reta and a handful of his associates in state district court has provided the news media with a snapshot of what police investigators were able to uncover about the Zetas' workings in Laredo.

A parallel case being prosecuted in federal court, the result of the combined Drug Enforcement Administration and Laredo Police Department "Operation Prophecy," focuses on not only the Zetas' violent crimes, but also their drug-smuggling operations in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Wire taps, phone tolls and statements made to police by Zeta sicarios have been entered into evidence in these court cases, providing reporters with a wealth of information about the organization.

Thursday's hearing dealt with pretrial housekeeping. Judge Joe Lopez denied a motion by defense attorney J. Eduardo Peña to prevent prosecutors from talking about the Zetas and upheld earlier rulings excluding statements Reta made to Laredo police investigators.

(Jason Buch may be reached at 728-2547 or jbuch@lmtonline.com)