Zetas ‘hitman’ trial details assassination cell activity in U.S. and Mexico

A federal grand jury in Laredo, TX, convicted a Zetas-linked “hitman” on a raft of conspiracy, racketeering and weapons charges on Jan. 25, after hearing testimony that outlined activities of the gang’s vicious assassination cells on both sides of the southern border. During Castillo-Chavez’ trial, said the FBI, jurors heard testimony from several Zeta hitmen who committed murders in Laredo, TX, as well as Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and Monterrey, and Nuevo Leon, in Mexico. In addition, said the agency, several defendants who testified as witnesses for the government detailed cocaine and marijuana trafficking from Mexico to Dallas, Texas, and New York City. Further testimony outlined murders and attempted murders committed by “sicario” (assassin) cells in Laredo between June 2005 and April 2006. The United States also presented telephone interceptions which described in detail the gruesome murders and disposal of the bodies of two U.S. citizens kidnapped and killed in Nuevo Laredo, said the agency...more