Laredo police have man accused of being Zeta hit man

By Jason Buch
jbuch@express-news.net
Updated 06:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 31, 1969

Laredo police say they have custody of a man accused of acting as a hit man for the Zetas drug trafficking organization.

Wenceslao Tovar Jr., 26, is accused of killing Bruno Juarez Orozco in June 2005 in front of an industrial park on Laredo's northwest side. According to court documents, Tovar is accused of being a member of a group of sicarios, or hit men, who were stalking Juarez Orozco. They used a fake police light to pull over their target and attempted to handcuff him. When Juarez Orozco fought back, Tovar shot him with an AR-15 rifle, according to the documents.

Few details are available about Tovar's arrest, but a Laredo police spokesman said he was arrested in Mexico and turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service this afternoon at one of the city's international bridges. More details are expected shortly.

The killing was part of a string carried out in Laredo by hit men for the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel. The leader of the crew that Tovar was part of, Gabriel Cardona Ramirez, has pleaded guilty to five murders in the U.S. and admitted to killing two U.S. citizens in Mexico. He's currently serving an 80-year prison sentence in Texas and a life sentence in federal prison. The joint investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Laredo police that broke up Cardona Ramirez's and other hit crews has resulted in half a dozen convictions in state court and 13 guilty pleas in federal court. Last year a federal jury in Laredo could not decide on the guilt or innocence of one defendant accused of taking part in a 2006 double homicide that Cardona Ramirez ordered.

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