REVERSE IMMIGRATION

It seems as though Mexico is also suffering from Americans crossing the border who join the criminal cartels and work their way up through the ranks.

U.S.-BORN MEXICAN CARTEL BOSSES

Borderland Beat
June 30, 2013

Several key members of the Gulf Cartel and other Mexican drug syndicates have ties to the Rio Grande Valley.

Bencicio Lopez, known as “Comandante Veneno,” (commander venom in English) is a Houston native who grew up in Roma and also climbed to a leadership role in the Gulf Cartel.

Lopez was a close confidant of Samuel “Metro 3” Flores Borrego, whose death led to a split within the cartel.

After Flores Borrego’s death, Lopez worked with other commanders to avenge the death of his friend and became the leader of a cartel cell that also worked in the Ribereña area. Lopez had been wanted by San Juan Police in connection with a 2010 failed cartel kidnapping that resulted in the death of Roberto Hinojosa, who tried to fight off the kidnappers as his wife and young son were in the room.

Authorities arrested Lopez and his spouse along with two bodyguards on June 13. In addition to the murder charges, the group is also facing state drug charges and could face federal conspiracy charges, officials have said.

Juan Garcia Abrego, the legendary leader of a Matamoros based smuggling organization which eventually became known as the Gulf Cartel led his organization with an iron fist from the 1970’s — when he inherited it from his uncle Juan N. Guerra — until his arrest in 1996 and later extradition to the U.S., where he was convicted of numerous drug trafficking counts and is now serving several life sentences. While Garcia Abrego was a kingpin based in Matamoros, he was actually born in La Paloma, a small community just south of San Benito.

Edgar “La Barbie” Valdez Villarreal, a Laredo-born drug trafficker who became a leading figure of the Beltran Leyva Cartel and spearheaded control of a splinter faction when an internal struggle for control broke out within the group. Mexican authorities arrested him in 2010 and he continues to fight various drug charges, as well as U.S attempts at extradition. He earned his nickname from boyish face, thus being compared to a Ken or Barbie doll.

Mario “Comandante Popo” Peña, a Roma native who grew up to control a Gulf Cartel cell in the Ribereña area, which is across the Rio Grande from Starr County.

Peña began his career in local street gangs in Roma and built his way up to the rank of commander within the Gulf Cartel, where he became a folk hero in Miguel Alemán. Peña, whose body was covered in tattoos, was killed in March. His family told The Monitor that Peña died “with honor.” Following his death, his body was brought from Mexico to Roma and buried during a private service.

Rosalio “Bart” Reta and Gabriel Cardona, two Laredo teenagers who are serving 70- and 80-year prison sentences for a series of ordered hits for the Zetas. At age 13, the pair began taking on murder-for-hire jobs when Zeta gunmen trained them as hit men.
Cardona was arrested in 2006, while Reta turned himself in at around the same time after the Zetas tried to kill him for attempting to carry out unsanctioned hits in Mexico.