Mexican Cartel Boss ‘El Gato’ Threatens Top Border Official with Corpse in Suitcase

MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon – A cartel boss wanted in the U.S. for allegedly ordering an assassination in Dallas sent a suitcase containing a body to the top cop in the region. The case was sent as a threat since José Rodolfo “El Gato” Villarreal Hernandez believes the officer is tied to another criminal organization.

This week, cartel gunmen dropped a suitcase wrapped in foil with a body inside. The suitcase bore the message, “Feliz Navidad Gallo,” or Merry Christmas Gallo. The package was left between Monterrey and San Pedro. Inside, authorities found the body of Martin Adolfo Valdez Martinez, a previous state police officer in Tamaulipas.

Law enforcement sources consulted by Breitbart News revealed the message is aimed at San Pedro’s new Security Secretary Jose de Jesus Gallo, who is believed to have sided in the past with another criminal organization. The threat follows the execution of a transit cop and a series of banners warning Gallo to cooperate, days after he took office.

According to authorities, the cartel gunmen delivered the suitcase under orders of José Rodolfo “El Gato” Villarreal Hernandez, the leader of an independent cartel that broke from the Beltran Leyva and is linked to much of the violence in San Pedro and surrounding areas.

Breitbart News recently published the only known photograph of El Gato, who is currently wanted in the U.S. for allegedly ordering the murder of Gulf Cartel attorney-turned-government informant Jesus Guerrero Chapa. Guerrero Chapa was living in the Dallas suburb of Southlake when gunmen murdered him after a long-term surveillance operation. Villarreal had a personal vendetta against Guerrero Chapa, who he blamed for the murder of his father. Detectives with Nuevo Leon’s State Investigation Agency recently arrested Villarreal’s brother, Ramon “El Mon or Gatillo” Villarreal, also wanted in the U.S. for alleged connection with Guerrero’s death.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Nuevo Leon.