drug cartel

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Families of Missing Want 'Stew Maker' to Help

Man who dissolved bodies may be able to identify kidnap, murder victims

(Newser) - Families with loved ones missing in Mexico are hoping that "the stew maker" can give them closure, the Los Angeles Times reports. A day after the arrest of Santiago Meza Lopez—who confessed to dissolving at least 300 bodies for drug cartels—dozens of people lobbied Tijuana police...

Top Mexican Drug Fighter Murdered on First Day

Official tortured, shot 11 times within 24 hours

(Newser) - A retired army general appointed as Mexico's new top drug-fighting official spent his first day on the job being tortured and murdered, CNN reports. The corpses of the general, his aide and his driver were found in a pickup truck on a road near Cancun. The general's body showed signs...

Border Crackdown Can't Weed Out Mexican Cartels

Marijuana smugglers get creative, or turn to growing dope inside US

(Newser) - The Mexican marijuana trade is flourishing, and border-protection efforts do little to deter powerful cartels from working in the US, the New York Times reports. Smugglers drop ramps over border fences and drive across, or use a new tactic: planting the pot in the US. Cartels now function in 195...

'Stew Maker' Dissolved 300 Corpses in Mexico Drug War

Cartel branch paid $600 a week for disposal

(Newser) - A Mexican man has confessed to chemically dissolving 300 bodies produced by Mexico’s drug war, Reuters reports. A breakaway cartel faction paid Santiago “the Stew Maker” Meza $600 a week to dispose of bodies they brought him, he said. He dumped the bodies in industrial drums filled with...

Mexicans Eye Death Penalty to Stem Drug Murders

Politicians consider reinstating capital punishment to stave off tide of violence

(Newser) - Mexican lawmakers are considering bringing back the death penalty in the wake of an overwhelming tide of murders and kidnappings linked to drug cartels, reports the BBC. The Green Party, usually a staunch foe of capital punishment, is leading the campaign to reinstate it. Surveys show 70% of Mexicans want...

Mexico's Drug Lords Target Reporters

Station attack comes with clear message to drop coverage

(Newser) - The epidemic of violence related to Mexico's drug trade has spilled over into media coverage of the situation, with drug lords attempting to scare journalists out of doing their jobs. Mexico is one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters, reports the Christian Science Monitor: Eleven died...

Drug Arrest Knocks Crown Off Beauty Queen

Some fear pageant's drug ties run deep

(Newser) - A Mexican beauty pageant winner lost her title yesterday after being arrested with a top drug trafficker, the New York Daily News reports. Authorities said Miss Sinaloa, Laura Zúñiga Huizar, was collared along with leaders of the Juarez drug cartel, an arsenal of weapons, and $55,000 in...

Mexican Beauty Queen Busted With Drug Mobsters

Miss Hispanic America found traveling with cartel's Mr. Big in gun-filled truck

(Newser) - Miss Hispanic America 2008 will be finishing this year in jail after cops busted her traveling with seven alleged drug cartel mobsters, the Houston Chronicle reports. Laura Zuniga, from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa, was stopped at a military checkpoint near Guadalajara in a truck full of guns, ammunition and...

12 Headless Crimefighters Found Near Acapulco

Remains believed to be retribution for earlier shootout

(Newser) - Mexican police have found 12 headless bodies an hour away from Acapulco in the capital of Guerrero, a popular destination for Americans on holiday. The dead apparently included soldiers and a high-ranking police officer, reports the Los Angeles Times. Nine heads were bundled in plastic bags and dumped at a...

Savage Figure Lurks Behind Tijuana Killings

Mexican officials fear even posting Garcia Simental's photo

(Newser) - Many of the charred and maimed victims of Tijuana’s recent drug violence bear one similarity: the three-letter marker of Teo Garcia Simental, a shadowy crime boss authorities fear too much to hunt, the Los Angeles Times reports. A kidnapper and extortionist, Garcia operates a network that keeps victims caged...

Mexico Busts Former Drug Czar
 Mexico Busts Former Drug Czar 
Nov 22, 2008 7:26 AM CST

Mexico Busts Former Drug Czar

Former head of elite 'corruption-proof' unit accused of passing info to drug cartels

(Newser) - The former chief of Mexico's anti-drug operations has been arrested on suspicion of taking massive bribes from drug cartels, the Wall Street Journal reports. Noe Ramirez, accused of  pocketing $450,000 for passing information on investigations to drug kingpins, is the highest-ranking official arrested so far in "Operation Cleanup,...

Mexico's Drug Violence Seeps Into US

Nearly 200 American cities affected by cartels

(Newser) - Mexico’s drug violence has been creeping northward into the US for the past several years, and officials now say that cartel-related crime has hit 195 American cities spanning every state except Vermont and West Virginia, the Los Angeles Times reports. Atlanta has emerged as a trafficking hub, but the...

Drug Kingpins Corrupt Elite Mexican Unit

Top anti-drug agents accused of passing information to traffickers

(Newser) - Two senior officials from an elite Mexican anti-drug unit have been arrested and charged with spying for drug cartels, the Los Angeles Times reports, and dozens of agents have been fired following a tip-off from a captured informant. Prosecutors say the officials leaked information to the gangs they were supposed...

Mexico Will Deport Cuban Migrants Headed for US

Crackdown aimed at drug, human trafficking

(Newser) - Mexico agreed yesterday to deport Cubans passing through the country to reach the US, the Los Angeles Times reports. Increased US patrols in the waters between Cuba and Florida have smugglers using land routes through Mexico to transport would-be immigrants. Mexican authorities have arrested 2,000 undocumented Cubans this year,...

Kidnapped Boy Found in Las Vegas
Kidnapped
Boy Found in Las Vegas
Oct 19, 2008 5:25 AM CDT

Kidnapped Boy Found in Las Vegas

Cole picked up alive after grandpa crossed Mexican drug cartel

(Newser) - A 6-year-old Nevada boy kidnapped by men believed linked to a Mexican drug cartel has been found in “extremely good condition” walking on a Las Vegas street. Some 100 detectives had been working 12-hour shifts to find Cole Puffinburger, who was abducted from his Las Vegas home Wednesday by...

Drugs Linked to Boy's Kidnapping
Drugs Linked
to Boy's Kidnapping
Oct 17, 2008 3:15 PM CDT

Drugs Linked to Boy's Kidnapping

Police target 'person of interest' as search for Cole continues

(Newser) - A 6-year-old boy’s kidnapping is tied to "significant amounts of money and drugs," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Police say some of the boy's family are involved in illegal drugs, and are seeking a "person of interest," the Associated Press notes, as the nationwide search...

More Than 2 Dozen Killed in Mexican Drug Violence

Body of newspaper editor found as violence continues

(Newser) - Mexican gangs battling over drug routes to the US show no signs of easing up on the mayhem, the Los Angeles Times reports. In a spasm of violence over the last 2 days, gunmen raked patrons of a bar in Chihuahua and killed 11; a newspaper publisher was shot to...

12 Bodies Dumped Near Tijuana School

City's rampant drug war threatens residents

(Newser) - A dozen bodies were found piled up near an elementary school in a working-class Tijuana neighborhood yesterday, signaling a rare instance of the city's rampant drug war spilling over into a residential area. Police found a bag full of severed tongues nearby and a message indicating the violence was between...

DEA Nabs 175 Mexican Drug Cartel Suspects

Nationwide initiative a key step in border drug war, authorities say

(Newser) - US officials arrested 175 suspected Mexican drug traffickers this week in raids in a dozen states, the LA Times reports. Prosecutors believe the suspects are part of the violent Gulf cartel, considered to be a driving force in Mexico’s escalating drug wars. The raids were part of a 15-month...

Drug Crime Looms Over Everyday Life in Mexico

People alter habits to guard against risk of violence

(Newser) - The effects of the wave of violent drug crime in Mexico--one paper puts this year’s related deaths at 2,682--have seeped into everyday life in the once-pacific country, the New York Times reports. “You have to be more careful with everything these days,” says a watchdog. Some...

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