Authorities in rural Ohio have not been able to provide answers as to what led to 8 family members being brutally executed by gunmen. The brazenness of the criminal act, the lack of answers, as well as the finding of a marijuana growing operation have led many to ask if the executions were carried out by a Mexican drug cartel over rivalries or debts. 

As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, authorities in Ohio discovered the bodies of 8 victims who had been shot “execution style” in three separate properties in a rural area in the state’s southern part. While the victims had been beaten and shot in the head, the gunmen had spared some infants including a newborn baby.

Just two days after the gruesome murders, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office confirmed that a marijuana growing operation had been found in the properties where the murders took place.  On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine announced that they had sent more than 100 pieces of evidence for DNA and print analysis and that authorities had received more than 450 tips that were being investigated. 

The brutality of the crime added to the presence of drugs for commercial trade adds fuel to the speculation that drug cartels or drug trafficking may have been the motive for the gruesome crime.

Despite being nowhere near the border with Mexico, Ohio has seen a large presence by Mexican drug cartels and street or prison gangs connected with those criminal organizations.

Mexican drug cartels have become synonymous with brutal executions thanks to their constant activities such as the unending number of murders in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas where two rival factions of the Los Zetas cartel continue to fight for power. The civil war of sorts has resulted in a constant number of gory executions that include beheadings and dismemberments.

Drug cartels have not limited their executions to Mexico or to border cities like Laredo, El Paso, Brownsville, Mission or others. Currently two suspected members of the Beltran Leyva cartel are on trial in Dallas in connection with the execution of a cartel connected Mexican attorney in Southlake, Texas. 

Last year, fishermen enjoying their Spring Break vacation in the beach resort city of South Padre Island ended up finding the headless body of a Central American man who had been tortured and killed by a Mexican drug cartel, Breitbart Texas previously reported.  The murder appears to have been related to a drug operation that authorities claim was led by a corrupt U.S. Border Patrol agent with ties to the Gulf Cartel.

In recent years, Mexican drug cartels, primarily the Sinaloa cartel have managed to flood the the U.S. Midwest with heroin using Ohio and one of their main distribution hubs.

In November 2015, Breitbart Texas reported on a large scale heroin distribution cell stopped by Ohio’s  Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities were able to track down the members of the operation to the Sinaloa Cartel, which became a mainstream name thanks to its famous leader Joaquin Guzman “El Chapo” Loera.

Also in 2015, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration released their most recent report showing the influence and spread of Mexican drug cartels in America. The study revealed that the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel as being the dominant cartels in Ohio. 

In 2008, The Columbus Dispatch published a story about how Mexican drug cartels were spreading into the Midwest and managed to take control of the drug trade in Ohio, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.