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  1. #1
    Member Pitac56's Avatar
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    North Texas Cartel hit ?

    http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05...southlake.html

    Southlake Texas is considered upscale.

    Edited to display complete article.

    Gunman in Southlake slaying was “trained to do this,” police chief says

    Posted Thursday, May. 23, 2013

    BY DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR.
    dramirez@star-telegram.com

    SOUTHLAKE — A gunman who was trained to kill swiftly took just seconds Wednesday evening to fire at least nine shots at a Mexican attorney as his wife placed shopping bags in their Range Rover at Southlake Town Square, the city’s police chief said Thursday.

    The killing was carried out by “an organization trained to do this activity,” Police Chief Stephen Mylett said.

    Mylett declined to confirm reports that the victim, Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, 43, was an attorney for the violent Gulf cartel in Mexico.

    The Mexico City-based news magazine Proceso reported Thursday that Guerrero was “executed” in Southlake. The magazine described him as an alleged narcoabogado (lawyer for drug dealers) who is believed to have participated in the “legal defense of members of the Gulf Cartel.”
    Guerrero, his wife and three teenage children have lived in Southlake two years, Mylett said. A police officer “will be stationed with his wife until this threat passes,” he said.

    The shooting was recorded by surveillance cameras placed throughout Town Square, allowing investigators to establish that Guerrero and his wife parked at 6 p.m. near the gazebo and a Victoria’s Secret shop in the 100 block of Grand Avenue, about a block and a half from City Hall.

    After shopping, they returned to the Range Rover. Guerrero sat down in the passenger seat at 6:46 p.m while his wife stowed her packages.
    At 6:47 p.m., a slow-moving white sport utility vehicle pulled up behind the Range Rover. The gunman, whose face was partially covered with some kind of cloth, stepped out and walked quickly toward Guerrero, firing several times and hitting Guerrero in the upper body.

    The gunman got back into the SUV, which drove away and turned west on Southlake Boulevard (Farm Road 1709).

    Guerrero’s wife was not hit.

    “An off-duty officer was on the steps of City Hall, and he heard the shots,” Mylett told reporters. “The officer was there in seconds but the [gunmen] already had left.”

    Police found nine shell casings. Mylett said the type of weapon had not been determined.

    He released photos of the gunmen’s SUV. Investigators had not yet determined the make and model of the vehicle. The Texas plates might have the letters “BHY.”

    Guerrero was pronounced dead a short time later at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.

    Mylett said he didn’t believe that the gunmen are still in the area.
    “This was done by an organization with a specific target,” he said. “There is no continual threat here.”

    Guerrero was in the U.S. legally, but Mylett said he did not know his immigration status.

    The attorney had a private business in Mexico and had practiced law in Texas, mostly in McAllen, in South Texas, Mylett said.

    Several area and federal agencies have joined the investigation, Mylett said. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed Thursday that their agents are assisting police, but declined to provide additional information. They referred all questions back to Mylett.

    No prosecution

    The Proceso article said newspaper reports in Mexico “indicate that Guerrero was arrested on charges of drug trafficking in February 2002.” But the article said he was “released by alleged lack of elements to prosecute it.”

    The Gulf cartel is known to have recruited the paramilitary group Los Zetas, former Mexican military commandos, to carry out violence. The Zetas have since formed their own cartel. Proceso reported that Guerrero worked for the Gulf cartel when it was run by Osiel Cardenas Guillen, a key recruiter of the Zetas. Guillen pleaded guilty in 2010 to U.S. drug charges and is serving a 25-year sentence in a federal “supermax” prison.

    ‘Crime is crime’

    On Thursday morning, shoppers at Southlake Town Center, a mix of upscale shops and eateries and also home to City Hall, said they were somewhat reassured that police believe the shooting wasn’t random.
    Colleen Hendricks, a Southlake resident of 15 years, said she comes to Town Square several times a week.

    “Since it appears targeted, I feel more comfortable,” Hendricks said. “If it wasn’t, it would have made a big difference for me.”

    Anne Marie Cattane was having a picnic in the courtyard with the 1-year-old boy she cares for.

    “It was so close to 7 o’clock, teenagers and families are out here dining, shopping,” she said. “Crime is crime, but you expect it to happen in the middle of the night.”

    Southlake had not had a homicide since 1999, and before that since 1994. Both were domestic killings

    Staff writers Bill Miller and Susan McFarland contributed to this report.
    Domingo Ramirez Jr., 817-390-7763

    Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05...#storylink=cpy



    Last edited by Newmexican; 05-31-2013 at 04:41 AM. Reason: complete article

  2. #2
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Attorney fatally shot in Southlake represented Mexican drug cartel

    Posted Saturday, May. 25, 2013

    BY JESSAMY BROWN AND DIANE SMITH

    jessamybrown@star-telegram.com, dianesmith@star-telegram.com
    A 43-year-old Mexican citizen gunned down this week at Southlake Town Square had represented members of a powerful drug cartel whose leaders were recently sentenced to U.S. federal prison, according to media reports on both sides of the border.

    It was not immediately clear whether attorney Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa was involved in the two cases.

    Gulf Cartel leader Juan Roberto Rincon-Rincon was sentenced to life in prison May 15 in a federal court in Brownsville for his role in a drug-trafficking conspiracy that involved more than 10 million kilograms of marijuana.

    The sentence was enhanced because he used “grenades, rocket launchers, homemade cannons and automatic weapons” during the operation, according to a news release.

    In the District of Columbia on May 13, Aurelio Cano Flores — also a leader in the Gulf Cartel, which operates on the South Texas-Mexico border — was sentenced to 35 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $15 billion in drug proceeds for conspiring to import cocaine and marijuana into the U.S., according to a news release.

    Guerrero, who was gunned down Wednesday night in Southlake, was not listed in court documents as one of the attorneys for Rincon-Rincon. Documents on the Cano case were not available.

    The Mexico City-based newsmagazine Proceso, which reported Thursday that Guerrero was “executed,” described him as an alleged narcoabogado (a lawyer for drug dealers) who is believed to have participated in the “legal defense of members of the Gulf Cartel.”

    The Dallas Morning News reported that Guerrero was the personal attorney to Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen, citing a U.S. investigator who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

    Cardenas is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. on drug-trafficking and other charges.

    A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Dallas said agents have not confirmed any criminal investigations tied to Guerrero or whether he was indeed an attorney for the cartel.

    Asked Friday about possible ties to the Rincon-Rincon case, Southlake Police Chief Steve Mylett said that “we are exploring all information, links, and connections to recent and past events to determine the identity and motivation of the murderers. … We are preparing for a very lengthy investigation which will require painstaking patience and persistence. These are not your typical criminals and thus they cover their tracks pretty well.”

    18 tips called in

    Authorities have received 18 tips on the shooting since a news conference Thursday, Mylett said.

    “As with any investigation of this nature, we have the very slow and arduous task of thoroughly examining evidence, interviewing witnesses and following up on leads,” Mylett said. “We are not going to sacrifice quality for speed.

    “This is an ongoing investigation and, ultimately, our goal is to track down and arrest the person who pulled the trigger, along with any other individuals involved in this homicide.”

    The investigation team includes representatives from the FBI, the DEA, the Homeland Security Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

    Mylett has said Guerrero’s killing — the first in Southlake since 1999 — was carried out by “an organization trained to do this activity.”
    The gunman fired at least nine shots at Guerrero as his wife placed shopping bags in the couple’s Range Rover.

    Counselors at Carroll schools

    The Guerreros, who have lived in Southlake for about two years, have three children. Mylett said a police officer “will be stationed with his wife until this threat passes.”

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Friday that Guerrero was a Mexican citizen living legally in the United States.
    A spokeswoman for the Southlake-based Carroll school district declined to say whether the children are enrolled.

    “Police have chosen not to release any information about the family,” said Julie Thannum, assistant superintendent for board and community relations.

    The school district has not taken additional security measures, Thannum said.

    “We have not put anything special in place that night or since. But, obviously, just like everybody in the Metroplex, we are watching it very closely,” she said. “It’s a little bit of a shocker.”

    Counselors were on standby to work with students who might want to discuss the fatal shooting.

    ‘Deal with the consequences’
    Rincon-Rincon was a leader of the cartel — known as a lieutenant or plaza boss — who used violence and bribed law officers and news media as part of the operation, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Houston.

    The 42-year-old from Matamoros, Mexico, was convicted of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute and import more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana from January 2002 until his arrest in October 2011.

    During sentencing, U.S. District Judge Hilda G. Tagle told Rincon-Rincon that “you enjoyed the fruits of that lifestyle. Now, it is time for you to deal with the consequences,” the news release states.

    As plaza boss, Rincon-Rincon was accused of “maintaining control of the region to ensure safe passage of the Gulf Cartel’s narcotics and ensuring no narcotics passed through his area … without his approval or knowledge,” according to the release.

    Cano, 40, who worked as a police officer in Mexico, was convicted in February of one count of conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, “knowing and intending the substances would be unlawfully imported into the United States,” according to a news release from the Justice Department.

    “As a leader of the Gulf Cartel, one of the most notorious criminal enterprises in Mexico or the United States, he endangered the lives of innocent people on both sides of the border,” acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said.

    http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05...presented.html


    http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05...presented.html
    Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05...#storylink=cpy




  3. #3
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Slain Drug Cartel Lawyer Was U.S. Informant

    Southlake attorney gunned down last week worked with U.S. agents

    By Scott Gordon
    Thursday, May 30, 2013

    SEE VIDEO STORY AT LINK:

    The Mexican drug cartel attorney who was slain execution-style in Southlake last week had been a confidential informant for the U.S. government, NBC 5 has learned.
    Juan Guerrero Chapa, 43, had worked for the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, secretly providing inside information on cartel operations to American investigators.
    HSI is part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
    Guerrero was gunned down at about 7 p.m. May 22 at the Southlake Town Square by a masked man who jumped out of the back seat of a white sport utility vehicle, police said. It was the first homicide in the upscale suburb since 1999.
    The attorney had worked for top leaders of the Gulf Cartel, including former top boss Osiel Cardenas, who is now in prison in the United States.

    RELATED STORIES



    It was unclear if his role as an informant may have leaked to the cartel, providing a motive for his killing. At least two U.S. trials of high-ranking Gulf Cartel members have concluded in recent weeks.
    Guerrero, a Mexican citizen, his wife and three teenage children had been living in Southlake for two years, police said.
    They had been living in the U.S. legally, according to ICE spokesman Carl Rusnock. High-level informants from Mexico or other countries are sometimes allowed to live in the United States as long as they are cooperating.
    Rusnock had no comment when asked about Guerrero’s role as an informant. He referred questions to Southlake police.
    Southlake police spokeswoman Kim Leach also declined comment.
    Along with the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, HSI investigates drug crimes.
    With 6,700 special agents, HSI is the second-largest federal law enforcement agency. Only the FBI is bigger.

    http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Sla...209598171.html



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