Drug cartel hit list found in Southern New Mexico
By Adriana M. Chávez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 06/20/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

Law enforcement officials in El Paso on Thursday said they have no knowledge of a drug cartel hit list in El Paso similar to one circulated in southern New Mexico.

Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos confirmed the existence of the list Thursday, but he denied it was uncovered by his agency.

Cobos said the list was included in an intelligence briefing from the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security that was shared with several law enforcement agencies that engage in periodic conference calls.

The conference calls are in response to a recent spike in drug-related borderland violence. The report that referred to the list was received about a week ago, Cobos said.

Cobos would not divulge the 15 to 20 names on the list, but said they included current or former residents of El Paso, Luna and Doña Ana counties, as well as Albuquerque, among other places. Some were referred to by family name, he said.

Cobos said he was not sure whether the note made specific death threats against those listed.

"I don't know what terminology was used," he said. "The way it was briefed to us is that the implication (was) that these people were going to be targeted -- targets of violence."

Pahl Shipley, spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security, would not confirm or deny the existence


of the list, but said an investigation was in progress.
"The state of New Mexico, including the Department of Public Safety and Department of Homeland Security, takes any threat, whether corraborated or uncorraborated, very seriously and it will be fully investigated," Shipley said.

News of the hit list broke soon after an e-mail began circulating that warned of drug traffickers possibly targeting three El Paso nightclubs in East El Paso, but Andrea Simmons, spokeswoman for El Paso's FBI office, said agents haven't confirmed the e-mail's validity.

"There's no way to confirm who sent it. What if somebody's playing a prank?" Simmons said. She added that the e-mail has been "floating around for at least a week."

El Paso Police Department spokesman Javier Sambrano also said he wasn't aware of any drug cartel hit lists targeting anyone in El Paso. At least three such hit lists targeting law enforcement officials have been made public in Juárez.

Also Thursday, another e-mail began circulating among Juárez residents warning them to stay away from businesses and other public places linked to drug activity. The e-mail states those areas might become targets of violence, and lists a number of gyms, restaurants and bars, and Borunda Park and La Feria Expo, the city's monthlong summer fair.

At least two other men have been killed as a result of the violence in Juárez since Wednesday afternoon. About 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, José Antonio Gómez Lobatos, 29, was shot multiple times at Juárez General Hospital, police said. Thirteen bullet casings were found at the scene.

At 1:45 a.m. Thursday, police found the body of Carlos Eloy "El Caly" Rivera Muñoz near Pavorreal and Avenida de los Aztecas streets in the Granjas de Chapultepéc neighborhood. Police said Rivera had been shot in the neck and abdomen.


Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117.

The Las Cruces Sun-News contributed to this story.








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