Two Mexican citizens have been convicted of having taken part in a cartel execution in a Dallas suburb earning them an automatic life sentence in federal prison. A third man connected to the execution had previously pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Two of the three men had been police officers in Mexico under the employ of the Beltran Leyva cartel.
The conviction of 59-year-old Jesus Gerardo “Chuy” Ledezma Cepeda and his cousin 60-year-old Jose Luis Cepeda Cortes came after two weeks of federal trial in Dallas, information released by the FBI revealed. The third defendant, 32-year-old Jesus Gerardo Ledezma Campano, Chuy’s son, had previously pleaded guilty to his role in the murder and had testified against his father and uncle.
As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the three relatives had carried out a complex surveillance operation aimed at tracking down Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, an attorney for the Gulf Cartel who had been living in the Dallas suburb of Southlake. On May 22, 2013, Guerrero Chapa was coming out of a shopping center with his wife when a cartel assassin pulled up to his luxury SUV and fired multiple 9mm shots through his window killing him.
Federal authorities caught up with the Cepeda brothers and Ledezma in the Rio Grande Valley, as they were entering the country. Court records released at the time revealed that the men had previously travelled into the country with the purpose of stalking Guerrero Chapa in order to have him killed.
According to the FBI, the men had been acting under orders of Rodolfo “El Gato” Villarreal Hernandez, a leader with the Beltran Leyva Cartel who had a personal vendetta against Guerrero Chapa. The execution was due to Villarreal blaming Guerrero for his father’s murder.
The three relatives who had law enforcement backgrounds in Mexico, placed surveillance cameras throughout the neighborhood where the victim lived, they placed GPS tracking devices and used numerous vehicles in order to track his movements prior to the actual execution.
For the murder, Villarreal sent out two of his assassins from Mexico who travelled to Southlake to execute Guerrero Chapa. One of the assassins was the gunman while the other was the getaway driver, both hit-men remain at large.