Battle for the Border: Cartel Battle Heads North

Reported by: Jordan Williams
Last Update: 11:00 pm

HOUSTON - Houston is a huge hub for drug and human trafficking. The city's highways make it easy for the criminals to blend in. More than two million people provide plenty of cover.

Mention drug cartels in Houston and people remember the murder of Jose Perez.

"He actually was a real good husband - a good dad," said Norma Perez, the victim's wife.

She was with him when he was killed in May 2006. The couple and their children had finished eating dinner a Chilo's Seafood on Gulf Freeway. Jose Perez had just put his 6-month-old son in the backseat of the family car.

Surveillance cameras caught what happened next. A gunman jumped out from behind an SUV and started shooting. Jose Perez collapsed on the sidewalk and died as his 4-year-old daughter watched.

People inside the restaurant scattered, as the gunman ran off. Police were suspicious from the start. Investigators said it was possibly a case of mistaken identity and the wrong person inside the restaurant was targeted.

That hunch proved true. Jose Perez was wearing an Astros jersey. It was the same style of shirt a man named Santiago Salinas was wearing. Salinas was the intended target and still inside the restaurant when Jose Perez was shot. Investigators say Salinas had upset rival drug traffickers.

None of it makes sense to Perez's widow.

"I want that person to see my husband's face whenever they eat, when they sleep, when he wakes up... I want him to see my husband's face," she said.

Four men were eventually charged, convicted and sentenced. The hit squad's accused ringleader was a former Houston parks and recreation employee, who police say worked for years to smuggle millions of dollars in cocaine from Mexico to Houston.

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia knows his city is a popular spot for smugglers. He calls Houston a strategic staging point, a place where his deputies frequently find stash houses packed with pot or cocaine.

"We've had drugs being produced from South and Central America and Mexico. We have had those drugs in our community," the sheriff explains. "In my opinion, that crossover happened a long time ago."

Police and sheriff's deputies know cartels are already operating there.

The Houston area has close to 10,000 documented gang members, according to the FBI's national gang threat assessment. "Our street-level gang members are being exploited, manipulated, and strategically utilized to enhance the cartel operations on this end of the border, so those are obviously concerns for us," explains the sheriff.

"Now in terms of the spillover violence - the mayhem that you see occurring south of the border - no, to that extent, it's not happening here," says Garcia.

"They know to keep a low-profile from us. They know they don't want to cross paths with local law enforcement, especially the Harris County Sheriff's Office."

CHANNEL 5 NEWS headed outside of Houston to check out a massive marijuana growing operation in Liberty County. Four million dollars worth of marijuana was nestled deep in the woods.

Neighbors, like Glenda Watson, are still stunned.

"We never saw anything or heard anything," she says. "From what I understand it has been going on for years and nobody knew."

Liberty County sheriff's investigators call it the largest and most-sophisticated growing operation they've ever seen. It's easy to see why people living nearby were so surprised about the big drug raid. It's located in the middle of nowhere in the piney woods of southeast Texas, about 60 miles from the streets of downtown Houston.

Watson says, "You really don't want that around you - or your grandbabies or your kids - any of that. Yeah, I was scared."

Investigators haven't explained why they think the operation is tied to the cartels. The accused growers ran away into the woods as officers moved in.

Watson tells us whoever was involved is probably long gone by now. "I have guns," she adds, "I'm not afraid."

Until the criminals are caught, she'll keep a close eye on her 4-year-old granddaughter.

Back in Harris County, the sheriff has his own conclusions and concerns.

"To me, this is evidence that the border is still porous. To me, this is evidence that the cartels aren't giving up," he says. "And this is evidence to me that local law enforcement is a front-line defense to our homeland security."

Some experts have suggested the cartels would rather grow some of their drugs in the U.S. rather than risk trying to get everything through the checkpoints.

"We've had incredible shipments coming to this community for years. Now it's becoming harder, but they're still working at it. And we have to stay vigilant and diligent," says the sheriff.

Garcia tells us he'll never tolerate drug cartels.

But for Norma Perez, the damage is done. The widow is left raising two young children alone.

It's painful proof, even innocent lives are being lost as the battle for the border gets fought hundreds of miles away from Mexico.

www.krgv.com